AFP news

At least eight people, including five women and two children, died on Wednesday in a new attack in DR Congo's troubled east, local people told AFP on Wednesday.

As many as 13,000 tonnes of cobalt powder are thought to be hoarded in the Chinese-owned Tenke Fungurume mine -- equivalent to seven percent of the world's production last year.

Russian investigators on Wednesday said they had launched a criminal investigation after award-winning journalist Elena Milashina was badly beaten in Chechnya.

UN observers appealed on Wednesday for greater access to Europe's largest nuclear plant, after Moscow and Kyiv traded accusations over a possible "catastrophic" act of sabotage at the Russian-controlled facility in Ukraine.

Facebook behemoth Meta officially launched Threads, its text-based rival to Twitter, on Wednesday, with more than five million sign-ups in the first few hours -- but its release in Europe has been delayed over data privacy concerns.

Chinese companies investing in minerals used in the renewable energy industry have been accused of more than 100 human rights and environmental abuses around the world since 2021, according to a report released on Thursday.

Award-winning Russian investigative journalist Elena Milashina, who was badly beaten in the restive republic of Chechnya, is in a "difficult" condition in a Moscow hospital, her editor told AFP Wednesday.

Relief swept Senegal and its foreign allies on Tuesday after President Macky Sall said he would not seek a contested third term in office, a move that defused fears of further deadly protests.

Joseph Guret surveyed the charred remains of his tobacco shop outside Paris, one of the hundreds of businesses ransacked in riots that have caused an estimated one billion euros across France.

Humanity's failure to draw down planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions -- 41 billion tonnes in 2022 -- has thrust once-marginal options for capping or reducing CO2 in the atmosphere to centre stage in climate policy and investment.

The risks of harvest failures in multiple global breadbaskets have been underestimated, according to a study Tuesday that researchers said should be a "wake up call" about the threat climate change poses to our food systems.

Moscow said Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian territory would "not be possible" without US and NATO help, escalating its rhetoric after reporting it had downed five drones near the capital on Tuesday.

The United Nations on Tuesday warned the world to prepare for the effects of El Nino, saying the weather phenomenon which triggers higher global temperatures is set to persist throughout 2023.

Inside Kyiv's St Michael's cathedral, mourners gathered Tuesday to bid farewell to Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, who died of her wounds suffered in a Russian missile strike on a restaurant.

South Sudan's leader Salva Kiir on Tuesday pledged that delayed elections set for next year would go ahead as planned and that he would run for president.

Carlos Alcaraz prepared to launch his Wimbledon campaign on Tuesday as two-time champion Andy Murray aimed to roll back the years on a damp day at the All England Club.

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.

Elon Musk spent the weekend further alienating Twitter users with more drastic changes to the social media giant, and he is facing a new challenge as tech nemesis Mark Zuckerberg prepares to launch a rival app this week.

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

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 secretary general Jens Stoltenberg had already lined up a job as head of the central bank in his native Norway when Russia's invasion of Ukraine pushed allies last year to ask him to stay on.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Senegal braced for a potential showdown on Monday as President Macky Sall prepared to make a long-awaited announcement on whether he plans to seek a controversial third term.

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.