AFP news

Kyiv said Thursday its forces were gaining ground in Donbas, as Moscow claimed it had killed two generals in a missile strike earlier this week -- the same day strikes on a restaurant in east Ukraine killed at least 12 people.

Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations on Thursday condemned the burning of the Koran by an Iraqi living in Sweden, warning such acts "inflame" the feelings of Muslims around the world.

France's civil air authority said Thursday it had ordered airlines to cancel flights to and from three airports because of a strike by air traffic controllers.

EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday are to look at ways to press aid on Tunisia in a bid to stem migrant boat departures for Europe.

Saudi authorities were investigating Thursday after an assailant and a security guard were killed in an exchange of gunfire outside the US consulate in Jeddah, the gateway city for the massive hajj pilgrimage taking place in Mecca.

The death toll from a Russian missile strike on a restaurant in eastern Ukraine rose to 11 on Wednesday, including children, as the Kremlin insisted Russian forces only hit military-linked targets.

Hundreds gathered in the Sudanese capital Khartoum Wednesday to pray for peace on the first day of the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday, but gunfire shattered the brief respite, residents said.

African painted dogs, a species thought to have become extinct in Uganda four decades ago, have been spotted in the far northeast of the country, the wildlife authority said.

The streets of Sierra Leone's capital were quiet on Wednesday, a day after President Julius Maada Bio was sworn in for a second term following an election his main rival slammed as "not credible."

Unrest erupted in France for a second night in a row as balaclava-clad protesters burning rubbish and shooting fireworks clashed with security forces in violent demonstrations over the fatal shooting of a teenager by police.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that no new nuclear agreement was on the table with Iran, after quiet new diplomacy between the adversaries.

US President Joe Biden said Wednesday that "pariah" Vladimir Putin is "losing" the war in Ukraine, but it is too early to tell whether the Russian president has been weakened by the mercenary Wagner group's aborted rebellion.

Nigerians marked the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha on Wednesday with prayers, celebrations and family dinners as many navigated high inflation, a steep currency devaluation and growing transport costs.

Madonna is recovering after falling ill with a "serious bacterial infection" that landed her in an intensive care unit for several days, her manager Guy Oseary said in a statement Wednesday.

Geoffrey Hinton, one of the so-called godfathers of artificial intelligence, urged governments on Wednesday to step in and make sure that machines do not take control of society.

Experts have recovered presumed human remains from what is left of the Titan sub that imploded during a dive to the Titanic wreck, with the death of five people, the US Coast Guard said Wednesday.

With the imminent end of the UN's Mali peacekeeping mission seemingly no longer in doubt, negotiations at the UN are still foundering over the timetable for their departure, which Bamako wants "without delay", according to diplomatic sources.

Norway's government gave the green light Wednesday to 19 oil and gas projects worth more than 200 billion kroner ($18.6 billion), a decision that outraged climate activists.

Swedish police said they have granted a permit for a protest where the organiser plans to burn a Koran outside Stockholm's main mosque on Wednesday, the start of the Muslim three-day Eid al-Adha holiday.

Soldiers in eastern Ukraine swiftly unpacked a large grey drone and launched it to check the cloud level and survey the area, just kilometres from Russian positions.

Outside a bustling fruit market in Senegal's Dakar region, three trucks are blocking the road while a dozen men sweat to unload the precious cargo.

Twenty-six Ugandans on Tuesday sued French oil giant TotalEnergies in Paris for reparations over alleged human rights violations at its massive megaprojects in the country, as climate protesters targeted its UK headquarters.

Fighting raged in the Sudanese capital on Tuesday, the eve of the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday, after paramilitaries seized Khartoum's main police base.

Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio was re-elected to serve a second term with 56.17 percent of the vote, the head of the electoral commission said Tuesday, prompting the runner-up to "categorically reject" the result.

The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions aimed at disrupting gold mining activities that fund the Wagner Group in Africa, vowing to hold the mercenaries accountable for abuses days after they staged a mutiny in Russia.

At least four people were killed and more than 40 wounded in a Russian missile strike that hit a restaurant in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, authorities said Tuesday.

In 2013, Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky pulled off one of the greatest Wimbledon shocks when he demolished Roger Federer on Centre Court.

Massive crowds of robed Muslims gathered for the "stoning of the devil" ritual in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as the biggest hajj pilgrimage since the pandemic draws to a close.

"Shuga" is expected to reach several million followers when its third South African series debuts on Tuesday, with an especially high audience among young women, who account for around quarter of all new HIV infections in Africa. HIV campaigners have over the years played an important behind-the-scenes role in shaping the show's plots.