AFP news

BRICS leaders on Wednesday will debate admitting new members to their five-nation bloc as it pursues a bigger role in shaping world affairs it sees as dominated by western powers.

Ukrainian professor-turned-soldier Fedir Shandor shot to fame when he taught his students remotely from the trenches.

The head of Russia's aerospace force General Sergei Surovikin has been sacked, state media said Wednesday, after he disappeared from public view following a failed mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group in June.

Rusted Russian tanks, which the Kremlin had hoped would parade victorious through Kyiv days after it invaded Ukraine, have instead been lined up as war trophies ahead of Ukraine's independence day.

Asian markets drifted between gains and losses Wednesday with traders struggling to maintain momentum from the previous day's much-needed bounce as they contemplate an extended period of elevated interest rates.

Military helicopters and ziplining commandos rescued eight people, including six schoolboys, who were trapped for hours on Tuesday in a stricken cable car high above a remote Pakistani valley.

Straddling the frontier between Lebanon and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, the picturesque village of Ghajar has become a lightning rod for tensions between the hostile forces on either side.

The world's biggest digital companies will have nowhere to hide starting Friday, when the toughest EU rules on online content since social media first burst onto the scene enter into force.

The United States said Tuesday it was imposing visa sanctions on Chinese officials pursuing "forced assimilation" of children in Tibet, where UN experts say one million children have been separated from their families.

PGA Tour chief executive Jay Monahan said Tuesday he is confident of meeting a December 31 deadline to hammer out details of the tour's merger with Saudi-backed LIV Golf.

From Quebec to British Columbia to Hawaii, North America is facing an extraordinary wildfire season -- and regions both near and far have found themselves increasingly blighted by smoke exposure.

India readied Wednesday for its latest attempted Moon landing, a historic moment for the world's most populous nation as it rapidly closes in on milestones set by global space powers.

BRICS leaders meeting in South Africa this week will consider expanding the five-nation bloc at a time of great interest in the group that accounts for a quarter of global wealth.

US tech giant Meta on Tuesday asked a Norwegian court to defer a ban on behavioural marketing based on users' personal information, which has landed it a heavy fine in the country.

The African Union said Tuesday that it had suspended Niger's membership in the wake of a military coup, but responded cautiously to a threatened military operation to restore its ousted president, as Nigerien TV said 12 soldiers were killed in a new attack by suspected jihadists.

Former OPEC president Diezani Alison-Madueke has been charged with bribery offences relating to her time as Nigeria's oil minister, the UK National Crime Agency said on Tuesday.

The African Union said Tuesday it had suspended Niger until civilian rule in the country is restored and would assess the implications of any armed intervention in the troubled Sahel nation.

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.