AFP news

Six children are among the eight people who have been trapped all day Tuesday in a cable car dangling over a deep valley in Pakistan, with military helicopters hovering nearby ahead of a possible rescue attempt.

Microsoft has submitted a new proposal to Britain's competition regulator for the acquisition of video gaming giant Activision Blizzard, the watchdog said Tuesday, after a previous version of the deal was blocked.

Dubai, the world's busiest airport for international passengers before Covid-19, had 41.6 million visits in the six months to June, just over the number recorded in the first half of 2019, Dubai Airports said in a statement.

Moscow said Tuesday it had destroyed a Ukrainian military "reconnaissance boat" near Russian gas infrastructure in the Black Sea, in the latest clash in the waterway since Moscow's withdrawal from a major grain export deal.

Stocks wavered in nervous trade Tuesday as investors struggled to pick up the baton from a Wall Street rally, with the mood darkened by concerns over China's economy and the outlook for US interest rates.

North Korea is planning to launch another satellite just three months after its first attempt to put a military eye in the sky failed, prompting condemnation from Tokyo and Seoul on Tuesday and demands to call it off.

Japan will begin releasing cooling water from the stricken Fukushima power plant on Thursday, 12 years after one of the world's worst nuclear disasters.

With a historic three-way summit with Japan and South Korea, President Joe Biden has further deepened the web of US partnerships in a determined signal to adversaries despite question marks on the political climate at home.

Cambodia's parliament on Tuesday elected long-time ruler Hun Sen's eldest son as the new prime minister, sealing a dynastic handover of power after last month's one-sided election.

Thailand's divisive ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra returned to the kingdom Tuesday, after 15 years in exile and hours before parliament votes to install his party's candidate as the new prime minister.

The United States on Monday approved a $12 billion sale of Apache attack helicopters to Poland, a giant deal with a frontline ally supporting Ukraine in its war against the Russian invasion.

Greece will help train Ukrainian F-16 warplane pilots and assist the reconstruction of Odesa, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Monday.

Cooling weather on Monday gave firefighters for the first time in days the upper hand against what the prime minister described as "apocalyptic" wildfires blazing across western Canada, after tens of thousands of people were evacuated or put on alert.

West African nations have rejected a call by Niger's coup leaders for a three-year transition back to democracy, as the crisis-hit country's neighbours weigh whether to take military action.

Niger has been hit by several jihadist attacks since its president was overthrown last month, but analysts caution against concluding that a long-running insurgency is shifting into higher gear as post-coup uncertainty mounts.

Syrians in the country's rebel-held north on Monday marked the 10-year anniversary of chemical attacks that killed more than 1,400 people near Damascus, one of the conflict's many horrors that went unpunished.

Russian forces destroyed Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow and its Black Sea Fleet, officials said Friday, the latest in a surge of attacks on the capital and the flashpoint waterway.

West African military chiefs held a second day of talks in Ghana on Friday, preparing for a possible armed intervention in Niger after a coup ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.

Following a July coup, Niger has become the latest hotbed of disinformation in the troubled Sahel region as West African powers grapple with crafting a response to the political crisis.

More than four million Yemenis will receive less food assistance as a result of funding shortages, compounding one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, the UN's food agency warned Friday.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to South Africa next week, the foreign ministry said Friday, while confirming the president will attend the BRICS summit in Johannesburg.

Embattled Chinese property giant Evergrande Group filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States on Thursday, court documents showed, a measure that protects its US assets while it attempts to restructure.

US President Joe Biden on Friday will announce new security cooperation at a first-of-a-kind three-way summit with the leaders of Japan and South Korea, hoping to send a message of strength to China which has already made clear its displeasure.

Asian markets mostly fell Friday on growing worries of another Federal Reserve interest rate hike and deepening concerns about China's economy, with the country's property crisis once again adding an extra layer of jeopardy.

North Korea was accused at the UN Security Council Thursday of spending heavily on its nuclear arms program while its people go hungry and lack basic necessities.

Yields on the 10-year US government bond are flirting with a 15-year high this week, amid growing fears that strong growth and low unemployment could keep interest rates higher for longer.

A light plane crashed into a four-lane road near Malaysia's capital on Thursday, killing eight people on board and two motorists on the ground, the local police chief said.

France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy has stirred outrage in Kyiv and Paris by suggesting Russia's invasion of Ukraine could be ended with new referendums in occupied territories.

A civilian cargo ship sailing from Ukraine reached Istanbul on Thursday in defiance of a Moscow blockade that sent tensions soaring after Russia opened fire on a Turkish-owned ship.