WORLD

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi granted a pardon Wednesday to researcher Patrick Zaki, state media said, a day after Zaki's three-year jail term sparked an outcry from local rights groups and Western governments.

Hundreds of Israeli activists marched from Tel Aviv towards Jerusalem on Wednesday to protest against the hard-right government's planned judicial overhaul, which they fear threatens liberal democracy.

The United States on Wednesday announced a new $1.3 billion military aid package for Ukraine featuring air defense systems, anti-tank missiles, drones and other equipment.

Ukraine expects its fight to regain land lost to the Russian invasion to be long and grinding, a senior presidential aide in Kyiv told AFP Wednesday.

Protesters set fire to Sweden's embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad early Thursday, an AFP journalist said, ahead of a planned burning of a Koran in Sweden.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ended a Gulf trip aimed at securing investments by signing agreements worth more than $50 billion in the United Arab Emirates, Emirati state media said Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend a BRICS nations summit in South Africa next month, the country's presidency said on Wednesday, ending months of speculation.

Security officials shot in the air and used firehoses Wednesday to disperse dozens of Afghan women protesting against an order by Taliban authorities to shut down beauty parlours, the latest curb to squeeze them out of public life.

Indian conglomerate Tata Group announced plans Wednesday to build a GBP4 billion ($5.2 billion) electric car battery factory in Britain to supply its Jaguar Land Rover brands, bolstering the country's efforts to phase out fossil fuel vehicles.

Arresting Vladimir Putin would amount to a declaration of war on Russia, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa wrote in court papers released on Tuesday as the country wrangles over hosting the Russian leader.

Germany has made strides in expanding its onshore wind power capabilities this year but needs to pick up the pace to meet key targets for the decade, a sector study said Tuesday.

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited gas-rich Qatar on Tuesday to wrap up a Gulf tour centred on energy security and cooperation with Tokyo's main suppliers.

Thousands of Israeli protesters crowded railway stations and blocked roads on Tuesday in the run-up to a parliament vote on the government's judicial reform agenda opponents say would "dismantle democracy".

Spain's competition watchdog said Tuesday it has slapped US tech giants Amazon and Apple with fines totalling 194 million euros ($218 million) for collusion in the sale of products.

Concerns about a possible influx of Sudanese refugees to the West are misplaced, a senior US official told AFP on Tuesday, as millions in the war-torn nation flee their homes.

Joe Biden and his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog on Tuesday discussed tensions over a controversial judicial shake-up inside Israel that the US president has branded the work of an "extremist" government.

Swathes of Europe baked Tuesday in a heatwave trailed by wildfires and health warnings, as parts of Asia and the United States also suffered under extreme weather.

Asian markets mostly rose Wednesday following a Wall Street rally as investors grow increasingly optimistic that the Federal Reserve will soon end its interest rate hiking cycle and the US economy will avoid a feared recession.

Iran, largely shunned by western tourists, is making a push to attract visitors from wealthy Gulf Arab states and other nearby countries to boost its sanctions-hit economy.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Doha Tuesday, the second leg of a Gulf tour after a stop in Saudi Arabia where he clinched a deal to provide drones to the kingdom.

"We discussed ways to strengthen brotherly relations and cooperation in all fields, and intensify contacts and visits between senior officials of the two countries. I sensed the willingness [of the UAE] to further develop the partnership with Tunisia, especially in the economic and investment fields," Tunisian minister, Nabil Ammar said.

Indian tycoon Gautam Adani on Tuesday denounced fraud accusations against his group by a US investment firm as a "deliberate attempt" to damage its image, at the first annual general meeting since the scandal.

Global warming poses a threat to all humankind and requires a new kind of cooperation between China and the United States, US climate envoy John Kerry told Chinese officials on Tuesday.

Wetlands just outside India's Kolkata have for generations provided tonnes of food daily and thousands of jobs as they filter sewage through fish ponds -- but rapid urbanisation is threatening the ecosystem.

The new head of the World Bank said Tuesday that growing divides between rich and poor nations risked deepening poverty in the developing world, at a meeting of G20 finance ministers in India.

The United Nations on Monday handed over a vessel that will take on board oil from a decaying tanker in the Red Sea off war-torn Yemen, an operation aimed at averting an environmental catastrophe.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Monday that millions of people facing hunger will "pay the price" of Russia's decision to exit the Ukraine grain deal.

The collapse of the Black Sea export corridor, which allowed the export of more than 32 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain over the past year, should have little immediate impact but over the medium term create market tension and push up food prices.

Israel has decided to "recognise Morocco's sovereignty" over the disputed Western Sahara region, the royal office in Rabat announced Monday, citing a letter from the Israeli prime minister.