WORLD

Asian markets sank Wednesday as another round of data showed China's economy continued to struggle in June, with little hope that the country's leaders can unveil the blockbuster stimulus needed to kickstart growth.

The European Commission said Tuesday it was "concerned" about China's decision to impose export controls on two rare metals vital for making semiconductors amid an escalating tech battle between Washington and Beijing.

Turkey warned Tuesday it will not be pressured into backing Sweden's bid to join NATO and said it was still assessing whether the Nordic country's entry would benefit or hurt bloc. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan's comments came two days before he was due meet his Swedish counterpart in Brussels to discuss Stockholm's attempt to become the 32nd member of the US-led defence alliance.

A bronze head of Emperor Septimius Severus on display at a Copenhagen museum has become a bone of contention between the Danish museum and Turkey, which claims it was looted during an archaeological dig in the 1960s and wants it back.

China's Xi Jinping urged the leaders of Russia, Iran and other Shanghai alliance states on Tuesday to bo-ost ties and resist sanctions, as Vladimir Putin thanked the bloc for support during a failed rebellion.

Afghanistan's Taliban authorities have ordered beauty parlours across the country to shut within a month, the vice ministry confirmed Tuesday, the latest curb to further squeeze women out of public life.

French President Emmanuel Macron was on Tuesday to meet with hundreds of French officials to begin exploring the "deeper reasons" for the country's plunge into riots after the killing of a teenager at a traffic stop.

NATO's members on Tuesday extended the tenure of alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg for one year, after struggling to find a replacement in the shadow of Russia's war in Ukraine.

Overnight violence in French cities has halved in 24 hours, the interior ministry said Tuesday, a week after riots erupted over the police killing of a teenager at a traffic stop.

A Polish mountaineer has died after summiting the world's ninth-highest peak, officials said Tuesday, becoming the first casualty reported in Pakistan's climbing season.

The United Nations is convening this week a global gathering to try to map out the frontiers of artificial intelligence and to harness its potential for empowering humanity.

Russia on Monday granted the United States consular access to jailed Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich after a more than two-month gap, with the US ambassador reporting him in good health.

Novak Djokovic launched his bid for an eighth Wimbledon title on Monday with a 40th successive win on Centre Court while American stars Coco Gauff and Venus Williams were knocked out.

An international investigation office seen as a "truly historic" first step towards a possible trial of Russia's leadership opened in The Hague on Monday to probe a crime of aggression against Ukraine.

The city government in Paris said Monday it was "not worried" about knock-on effects from almost a week of riots on next year's Olympic Games.

Environmental campaigners protested Monday outside the London-based International Maritime Organization, which is meeting to discuss curbing carbon dioxide emissions from the high-polluting shipping sector.

A top EU climate official said Monday there is a "contradiction" between China's ambitious goals to combat global warming and its continued building of coal-fired power plants.

Israel on Monday began a large-scale military raid including drone strikes and hundreds of troops in the northern occupied West Bank, killing eight Palestinians in what the army labelled an "extensive counterterrorism effort." The operation under the hard-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the biggest of its kind in years, with bulldozers, armoured vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles.

An international office to investigate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine opens on Monday in The Hague, in the first step towards a possible tribunal for Moscow's leadership.

Viktor Grozdov was in a hole. "I was walking along the avenue and thought I'd quickly walk round the hole where the shell fell -- or a bomb, I don't know," recalled Grozdov, sitting in his flat near the town's former cinema.

Ukraine on Monday said its forces clawed back clutches of territory from Russia last week as part of its counteroffensive, as Russia's security service said it foiled an assassination attempt on the head of Moscow-annexed Crimea.

Young rioters went on a daylight looting spree Friday in the French city of Strasbourg, targeting an Apple Store and other shops following the fatal shooting of a teen by a policeman near Paris.

At least 25 people were killed and eight others injured in western India when a bus crashed and caught fire on an expressway early Saturday.

Afghanistan's Taliban government on Saturday seized on an off-the-cuff remark by US President Joe Biden to underscore their claim that there was no Al-Qaeda threat in the country.

The armed wing of Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas has put its weapons on public display, in a first open event drawing hundreds of Palestinians including children brandishing rocket launchers for selfies.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez pledged the EU's "unequivocal" support for Ukraine in Kyiv on Saturday as Spain assumed presidency of the bloc, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hit out at foot-dragging over pilot training by "some" Western nations.

US President Joe Biden will host Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson next week to talk about transatlantic security cooperation and the war in Ukraine, the White House said Saturday.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Saturday that his visit to Kyiv on the first day of Spain's EU presidency showed the bloc's "unequivocal" commitment to Ukraine's bid to join the 27-nation bloc.

Elon Musk announced Saturday that Twitter would temporarily restrict how many tweets users could read per day, in a move meant to tamp down on the use of the site's data by artificial intelligence companies.