AFP news

The UK's second biggest city on Tuesday admitted that it cannot balance its books, blaming Conservative governments for years of under-funding.

Over 900 people were killed or injured by cluster munitions in Ukraine last year amid broad Russian use of the widely-banned weapons, propelling global casualty figures to record levels, a report showed Tuesday.

The UAE pledged $4.5 billion in clean energy investments in Africa on Tuesday at a landmark climate summit aimed to showcase the continent's potential as a green powerhouse.

The risk of bombing has made it virtually impossible to insure ships leaving Ukraine via the Black Sea, leaving the sector to find an alternative route, especially for grain.

Russia has cemented its position as the world's top grain exporter with the help of a bumper harvest and cut-rate prices while its war in Ukraine has upended the market.

Struggling Chinese developer Country Garden has made multi-million-dollar interest payments on two outstanding loans, reports said Tuesday, narrowly avoiding what would have been its first default.

G20 per capita coal emissions continue to rise despite climate pledges and transition efforts by some members of the group of major economies, new research showed Tuesday.

Carlos Alcaraz surged into the quarter-finals of the US Open on Monday as upsets dominated the women's draw with Ons Jabeur and Jessica Pegula becoming the latest highly ranked players to go crashing out.

William Webb-Ellis may or may not have been the creator of rugby but the residents of the French Riviera town of Menton where he is buried have embraced the Englishman as one of their own.

The head of the International Energy Agency urged the United States and China to set aside their differences and align on climate change, warning in an interview Monday that "geopolitical fractures" risked holding back the clean energy transition.

Qantas' veteran chief executive Alan Joyce announced his early retirement Tuesday, as Australia's once-loved national carrier faced searing criticism over price gouging and poor service.

Southeast Asian leaders will gather Tuesday in Indonesia for talks set to be dominated by the crisis in Myanmar and China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea.

Tesla and Chinese carmakers showed off their newest electric models at the Munich auto fair on Monday, throwing down the gauntlet to their European rivals as competition in the sector intensifies.

Eritrean troops allied with Ethiopia's government "committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity" in Tigray, raping, enslaving and executing civilians for months after the signing of a peace agreement, Amnesty International said Tuesday.

Invasive species that wreck crops, ravage forests, spread disease, and upend ecosystems are spreading ever faster across the globe, and humanity has not been able to stem the tide, a major scientific assessment said Monday.

General Brice Oligui Nguema, who was sworn in as Gabon's new interim president on Monday, was unknown to much of the public before he led a coup last week that ended 55 years of rule by the Bongo dynasty.

The swearing-in of Gabonese coup leader Brice Oligui Nguema as interim president on Monday seals the downfall of the Bongo dynasty that ruled the oil-rich central African country for over half a century.

French authorities were on Monday imposing a newly-announced ban on the abaya Muslim dress for women in schools, with over 500 establishments under scrutiny as children across the country returned to class.

Russia damaged a grain export hub in a massive drone attack, Ukrainian officials said Monday, as Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Moscow hoping to revive the deal allowing Ukraine to export grain through the Black Sea.

Premier Li Qiang will lead China's delegation to the G20 summit in India this weekend, Beijing said Monday, all but confirming President Xi Jinping will snub the meeting of the world's biggest economies.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday in a long-shot bid to revive a Ukrainian grain export agreement in time for the autumn harvest.

Taiwan woke up Monday to toppled trees, floods, and persistent rainfall after Typhoon Haikui made landfall on the island and swept overnight across its central mountain ranges.

Algeria said Sunday its security forces had opened fire this week after a group of jet skiers from Morocco ignored warning shots and refused to comply with orders to stop.

Ivory Coast's ruling party appeared set for a landslide victory according to partial results Sunday from local elections expected to gauge support two years from presidential elections, electoral commission data showed.

Thousands of demonstrators in Niger on Sunday held a third day of rallies calling for former colonial ruler France to withdraw its troops, as sought by the junta which seized power in July.

Across the globe, data servers are humming, consuming both megawatts and precious natural resources to bring life to our digital world.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday announced the departure of defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov, calling for "new approaches" a year and a half into Russia's invasion.

Five civilians were killed by bombs that "fell on their homes" in Khartoum, a Sudanese medical source told AFP, a day after an air strike in the city's south killed at least 20 civilians.

Thousands rallied Saturday in Niger's capital Niamey to demand that former colonial ruler France withdraw its troops as sought by a junta which seized power in July.