WORLD

They are ubiquitous in the United States, controversial in Europe and coveted in South Asia.

"The COP28 Presidency believes inclusivity is a critical enabler to achieving transformative progress across the climate agenda. Only by rising above our differences and working together can we raise our shared ambition and deliver progress to keep 1.5°C within reach," COP28 President-Designate, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber said.

Russian drones damaged port infrastructure in Odesa and targeted capital Kyiv from several directions, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday.

Social media giant Meta on Tuesday said it intends to ask EU-based users to give their consent before allowing targeted advertising on its networks including Facebook, bowing to pressure from European regulators.

Previously, Ukraine exported via the Black Sea on large ships but a wartime deal on safe passage broke down after Moscow exited July 17.

Iran on Tuesday declared a two-day holiday for government workers and banks nationwide as searing temperatures sweep across the country, state media reported.

US lawmakers are probing American investment flows facilitated by BlackRock and MSCI to Chinese companies that Washington has sanctioned, a congressional panel announced Tuesday.

Workers lowered a hammer and sickle from a towering sculpture overlooking Kyiv on Tuesday in a campaign to remove Soviet icons that ramped up after Russia invaded last year.

Fitch downgraded the United States' top-notch credit rating by a step on Tuesday, citing a growing federal debt burden and an "erosion of governance" that has manifested in debt limit standoffs.

Tunisian President Kais Saied sacked Prime Minister Najla Bouden without explanation Tuesday night and replaced her with former central bank executive Ahmed Hachani, whom he tasked with overcoming the "colossal challenges" facing the cash-strapped North African country.

The British government on Tuesday officially acknowledged that the Islamic State group committed "acts of genocide" against the Yazidi people in 2014.

A Palestinian gunman opened fire at a group of Israelis in a settlement in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, wounding six people before being shot dead, police said.

The leader of an influential Pakistan political party called Tuesday for better state-provided security after an Islamic State suicide bomber killed 54 people -- almost half of them children -- at an election gathering.

The China-Arab States Expo serves as an international trade and economic cooperation platform to enhance economic and cultural ties between China and the Arab countries including United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A missile strike on a residential building killed six and wounded dozens in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's hometown on Monday, as Russia said it stepped up strikes against military facilities in response to attacks on its territory, including Moscow.

Two men set the Koran alight outside parliament in Stockholm on Monday, an AFP reporter saw, at a protest similar to previous ones that have sparked tensions between Sweden and Muslim nations.

Myanmar's junta extended the country's state of emergency by six months on Monday, signalling a delay to elections they had pledged to hold as the military battles anti-coup fighters across the country.

After bust-ups with Mali and Burkina Faso, France is now watching its relationship with Niger spiral downwards following the Sahel's third military takeover in as many years.

The Euclid space telescope, launched July 1 on a mission to shed more light on elusive dark matter and dark energy, has reached its destination orbit and on Monday its European operators revealed its first test images.

US officials met with Taliban representatives in Doha, where they denounced the deteriorating human rights situation in Afghanistan -- particularly for women and girls, according to a statement from the State Department on Monday.

At least four people were killed including a 10-year-old child after a Russian missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rig on Monday, officials said.

Chinese authorities announced new measures to boost consumption on Monday, as fresh economic data suggested that the country's post-Covid recovery is running out of steam and growth is slowing.

Frustration as other foreign nationals were set free. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has classified his detention as arbitrary and confirmed the family's details on his abduction.

Automatic weapons and anti-tank fire shook south Lebanon's Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp on Monday, after fighting killed six people over the weekend, an AFP correspondent said.

Blood-stained chairs, scattered ball bearings and shoes shed by the dead, wounded and panicked bore testimony Monday to the carnage caused by a suicide bombing at a Pakistan political event.

Iraq, which borders with Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia, has long been a transit country for the region's ballooning trade in the amphetamine-type drug and other narcotics.

At least 44 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded Sunday by a suicide bombing at a political gathering of a leading Islamic party in northwest Pakistan, officials said.

Authorities from Afghanistan's vice ministry created a bonfire of confiscated musical instruments and equipment in Herat province at the weekend, deeming music immoral.

Sweltering without air conditioning during the day and plunged into darkness at night, many Egyptians have responded with anger and ridicule to government measures for reducing energy consumption.