AFP news

The number of people known to have died in the horrific wildfire that levelled a Hawaiian town reached 106 on Tuesday, authorities said, as a makeshift morgue was expanded to deal with the tragedy.

For desperate Syrians, a WhatsApp message saying "I want to go to Europe" can be all they need to start a treacherous journey to Libya and then across the Mediterranean.

Kyiv announced Wednesday a cargo vessel had exited its southern port of Odesa along a new maritime corridor, despite an earlier warning from Russia it could target vessels using Ukrainian ports.

Kenya's debt level has reached record highs despite President William Ruto's vow to tame the country's appetite for loans, treasury figures show.

Seventeen troops died in a jihadist ambush in Niger, the government said, in a reminder of the nation's deep security crisis as its military rulers face off against neighbours determined to reverse last month's coup.

Gun battles between two leading armed groups in the Libyan capital Tripoli have killed 27 people and wounded 106, a toll update from the Emergency Medicine Centre said Wednesday.

A court in Iran has sentenced prominent movie director Saeed Roustaee to six months' prison for the screening of his film "Leila's Brothers" at the Cannes Film Festival last year, local media reported Tuesday.

Russia began testing its new digital ruble with consumers on Tuesday, in the hope blockchain technology will help it evade sanctions and tighten control over its citizens.

Neymar said he was relishing "new challenges and opportunities in new places" after he joined Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal from Paris Saint-Germain on a two-year deal Tuesday, becoming the latest big name lured to the oil-rich Gulf state.

Rights campaigners have urged Tanzania to release three people, including a former legislator, saying they could face treason charges for criticising a deal with an Emirati company to manage the country's ports.

Canada's corporate watchdog on Tuesday launched an investigation of Ralph Lauren's Canadian unit over allegations the fashion giant used forced labor from China's Uyghur minority.

Travis King defected to North Korea to escape "mistreatment and racial discrimination in the US Army", state media said Wednesday, Pyongyang's first official confirmation they are holding the American soldier.

Russian missiles killed three people in the Ukrainian city of Lutsk early Tuesday, the latest deadly strike on the west of the country suffering an uptick in aerial attacks.

Military chiefs from the West African bloc ECOWAS will meet in Ghana on Thursday and Friday to discuss possible intervention in Niger, military and political sources in the region said Tuesday.

Religious leaders and politicians in northern Nigeria have opened back-door channels in a frantic attempt to stave off military intervention in coup-stricken Niger.

UK unemployment increased in the three months to the end of June while wages grew at record annual pace, official data showed Tuesday, as the economy struggles with high inflation.

Russia's central bank on Tuesday hiked its key interest rate from 8.5 to 12 percent, after the ruble crashed to a more than 16-month low against the dollar.

At least 35 people were killed in an explosion that created a huge fire ball at a fuel station in Russia's remote Caucasus republic of Dagestan, spurring condolences from President Vladimir Putin.

China on Tuesday released weaker than expected economic data, with slowing retail sales growth pointing to shaky consumer confidence in the world's second-largest economy.

Afghanistan's Taliban government was set Tuesday to mark the second anniversary of their takeover of the country with a military parade in the movement's birthplace, as well as other celebrations of their surge back to power.

UK jets were scrambled Monday morning to respond to two Russian bombers flying north of the Shetland Islands in Scotland, Britain's defence ministry said in a statement.

UBS will pay $1.4 billion to settle US charges that it defrauded investors in the sale of mortgage-backed securities, resolving the last big case stemming from the 2008 financial crisis, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Dinosaur-shaped balloons floated over the coffin of an eight-year-old boy in a western Ukrainian village on Monday, as mourners gathered for a final farewell after he was killed in a Russian strike involving hypersonic missiles.

The Ukrainian military on Monday said it had pushed Russian forces out of pockets of territory along front lines in the east and south of the country, building on a gruelling counter-offensive launched two months ago.

The Russian central bank said it would meet on Tuesday to discuss its key rate, after the ruble slid past 100 against the dollar Monday, its lowest level in over sixteen months.

The African Union on Monday held talks on the Niger crisis as the country's post-coup rulers showed defiance yet also pointed to diplomacy for a potential solution.

Unlike the successes of 1995 and 2007, when the Boks had White captains Francois Pienaar and John Smit at the helm, Kolisi's victory four years ago sparked an upsurge in interest within the Black community.

French authorities said on Monday one person could still be missing after six migrants died when their boat sank in the Channel as they tried to cross to England from France.

The West African bloc ECOWAS is mulling military intervention to restore Niger's elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, after he was detained by members of his guard on July 26.