AFP news

A policeman waves reporters away from a desert prison in Xinjiang, part of a network of detention facilities transformed by China's shifting policies in the northwestern region.

Homes of people who went missing in China's crackdown on its Muslim minorities stand locked and silent in Xinjiang's rural heartland.

Russia "must stop" its blockade of Ukrainian seaports after pulling out of a United Nations and Turkey-mediated deal to ensure grain shipments, European Council president Charles Michel said Friday.

G20 leaders meet this weekend during what is likely the hottest year in human history, but hopes are slim that the divided grouping can agree ambitious action on the crisis.

President Joe Biden arrives in Vietnam on Sunday on a mission to bolster US influence, but the heavy emphasis on countering rival China will likely confine human rights concerns to the margins.

Stocks sank again Friday after another report pointing to a resilient US jobs market added to the misery for investors who fear the Federal Reserve is not finished with its campaign of monetary tightening.

North Korea on Friday announced it had built a "tactical nuclear attack submarine" as part of its effort to strengthen its naval force, the state news agency KCNA reported.

Divided G20 leaders will descend on New Delhi from Friday, with host Prime Minister Narendra Modi seizing a chance to occupy the geopolitical centre stage and hammer home India's growing diplomatic clout.

Astronomers have discovered the first "bubble of galaxies," an almost unimaginably huge cosmic structure thought to be a fossilised remnant from just after the Big Bang sitting in our galactic backyard.

France's top administrative court on Thursday upheld a government ban on traditional over-garments worn by some Muslim women in schools and rejected complaints it was discriminatory and could incite hatred.

US President Joe Biden headed for the G20 in India on Thursday promising that the summit would "deliver" despite the absence of the Chinese and Russian leaders.

Apple shares fell sharply for a second straight session Thursday following reports of significant Chinese restrictions on iPhones at government offices and state-backed entities.

Armenia on Thursday accused arch-foe Azerbaijan of preparing a "fresh military provocation" by massing troops on their border and near the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Renewables funding, global finance reform and carbon taxes head the demands formulated by African nations at a summit in Nairobi this week as the world heads towards annual climate negotiations.

Philips said Thursday it had clinched a deal in the United States to settle claims related to a recall of sleep respirators that rocked the Dutch medical tech firm.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised what he called Ukraine's "extraordinary resilience" against Russian aggression during a visit to Chernigiv region Thursday as he concluded a surprise two-day trip.

Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan met Qatar's emir on Thursday during his third trip abroad since war broke out in April, after also visiting Egypt and South Sudan in recent days.

France's highest administrative court is to rule on Thursday whether a school ban on abayas, traditional over-garments worn by some Muslim women, is legal.

Turkey's new Wall Street-trained finance chief will kick off a global investment roadshow at the G20 summit in New Delhi on Friday to drum up support for his rescue plan for the troubled emerging economy.

Hundreds of articles praising Bangladeshi government policies apparently by independent experts have appeared in national and international media but the authors have questionable credentials, fake photos, and may not even exist, an AFP investigation has found.

Data from China on Thursday showing falling exports fanned more fears about a slowdown in the world's second-biggest economy, which has struggled with its post-Covid recovery.

Traditional mud-brick houses that the people of northern Syria have built for thousands of years risk disappearing, as 12 years of war have emptied villages and left the buildings crumbling.

China's exports and imports sank again in August, data showed Thursday, adding to growing pressure on authorities to introduce fresh stimulus for the world's number two economy even as the figures showed some sign of improvement.

Asian investors took fright Thursday at a forecast-busting reading on the US services sector that revived speculation the Federal Reserve could lift interest rates again, compounding a spike in oil prices that has fanned fresh inflation fears.

For two and a half decades, it has been a top and consistent goal for the United States across very different presidencies -- encouraging the rise of India.

US Vice President Kamala Harris, China's premier and Russia's foreign minister will gather at an East Asia summit in Indonesia on Thursday, offering a rare chance of direct, top-level diplomacy between their sparring nations.

Google on Wednesday said it will mandate that political advertisements on its platforms disclose when images and audio have been altered or created using tools such as artificial intelligence (AI).

A high-level delegation of Chinese officials will visit North Korea this week to attend celebrations for a key national holiday, state media reported Thursday.

The United States will provide depleted uranium tank ammunition to Ukraine as part of more than $1 billion in military and humanitarian aid announced by Washington on Wednesday.