AFP news

An international office to investigate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine opens on Monday in The Hague, in the first step towards a possible tribunal for Moscow's leadership.

Viktor Grozdov was in a hole. "I was walking along the avenue and thought I'd quickly walk round the hole where the shell fell -- or a bomb, I don't know," recalled Grozdov, sitting in his flat near the town's former cinema.

Ukraine on Monday said its forces clawed back clutches of territory from Russia last week as part of its counteroffensive, as Russia's security service said it foiled an assassination attempt on the head of Moscow-annexed Crimea.

Young rioters went on a daylight looting spree Friday in the French city of Strasbourg, targeting an Apple Store and other shops following the fatal shooting of a teen by a policeman near Paris.

At least 25 people were killed and eight others injured in western India when a bus crashed and caught fire on an expressway early Saturday.

Afghanistan's Taliban government on Saturday seized on an off-the-cuff remark by US President Joe Biden to underscore their claim that there was no Al-Qaeda threat in the country.

The armed wing of Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas has put its weapons on public display, in a first open event drawing hundreds of Palestinians including children brandishing rocket launchers for selfies.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez pledged the EU's "unequivocal" support for Ukraine in Kyiv on Saturday as Spain assumed presidency of the bloc, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hit out at foot-dragging over pilot training by "some" Western nations.

US President Joe Biden will host Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson next week to talk about transatlantic security cooperation and the war in Ukraine, the White House said Saturday.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Saturday that his visit to Kyiv on the first day of Spain's EU presidency showed the bloc's "unequivocal" commitment to Ukraine's bid to join the 27-nation bloc.

Elon Musk announced Saturday that Twitter would temporarily restrict how many tweets users could read per day, in a move meant to tamp down on the use of the site's data by artificial intelligence companies.

Russia's war in Ukraine has had a "corrosive" effect on Russian President Vladimir Putin, CIA Director William Burns said Saturday, with discontent over the conflict creating a "once-in-a generation opportunity" for the spy agency.

US President Joe Biden will head to Europe in a week for a three-nation trip, including a NATO summit, focused on reinforcing the international coalition backing Ukraine as it pursues a counteroffensive against Russia.

Nestle is stepping up its project to combat deforestation in Ivory Coast caused by the growth of cocoa farming, bringing cocoa trading companies directly on board.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked French leader Emmanuel Macron for sending light combat tanks to Kyiv, and Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov was filmed riding in one.

Fierce fighting between the forces of rival generals shook the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Sunday as disease and malnutrition threatened the rising number of displaced. Since April 15, the war between Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has killed nearly 3,000 people and displaced 2.2 million within the country, with another 645,000 fleeing across borders, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Ukraine said on Sunday that Russian troops were advancing in four areas in the east of the country amid "fierce fighting" but reported its forces moving forward in the south.

Data showing inflation easing further boosted Asian markets Monday, fuelled by hopes central banks could be nearing the end of their interest rate hiking cycle.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said Friday that the government was considering "all options" to restore order, including declaring a state of emergency, after a third night of rioting over a police officer's killing of a youth.

Hoping to escape a dire economy and bleak prospects, Egyptians are increasingly attempting the perilous sea crossing to Europe that this month claimed dozens of lives in a shipwreck off Greece.

Some 64 flights were cancelled at Geneva's international airport on Friday, it said, after operations were halted for four hours because of a strike by workers at the start of the busy summer travel season.

An Indian court on Friday fined Twitter $61,000 after dismissing its plea challenging orders to remove tweets and accounts critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

Pakistan could get temporary relief for its ballooning foreign debt with a new stand-by arrangement worth $3 billion announced by the IMF in Washington on Thursday.

Thousands of people on Thursday took to the streets of a Paris suburb to remember a French teen killed by police during a traffic stop, with protesters led by his mother as anger showed no sign of abating.

The Kremlin said Thursday that footage, which could not be verified, apparently showing President Vladimir Putin greeting adoring supporters proved that he has "astounding" support after quelling an armed insurrection.

Mykyta lay in a hospital bed with cuts from shrapnel on his face and body after a Russian missile hit the restaurant where he was having dinner in Ukraine's eastern city of Kramatorsk.

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.

The UK government on Thursday hailed a decision by ChatGPT creator OpenAI to open its first office outside the United States in London.

At a march for the French teen killed by police during a traffic stop earlier this week, protesters described simmering anger in the community over security forces that are widely perceived as aggressive and racist.