AFP news

Russia admitted two years into its invasion of Ukraine on Friday that it was "in a state of war," as it launched a massive wave of missile and drone attacks on its neighbour's territory.

Newspaper clippings, books and first-hand accounts of people who said they visited other planets are catalogued in a giant Swedish archive on paranormal phenomena, attracting the curious and researchers from around the world.

Huge donations by firms under criminal investigation or suspected of being shell companies have been funnelled to India's ruling BJP and other parties, new data showed, highlighting the backscratching ties between corporate titans and the government.

With jaw-droppingly low prices and a seemingly endless selection of trendy clothes, Shein has taken the world by storm -- and found itself in the crosshairs of French lawmakers who want to curb the excesses of fast fashion.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Israel Friday to press for a truce in Gaza, ahead of a key UN Security Council vote on a US draft resolution calling for an "immediate" ceasefire.

Normally festive Ramadan nights have become rife with danger in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said hospital director Wisam Bakr, as surging violence casts a long shadow over the Muslim fasting month.

Former Manchester City and Real Madrid footballer Robinho was arrested Thursday in Brazil, after losing a last-minute court bid to delay serving his nine-year sentence for raping a woman a decade ago.

Israel's hopes of reaching the European Championships for the first time against the background of bloody conflict at home were shattered by a 4-1 defeat to Iceland on Thursday while war-torn Ukraine stayed on course for the finals with a last-gasp comeback.

Russia fired more than 30 missiles at Kyiv early Thursday, the largest attack on the Ukrainian capital in weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed retribution for escalating strikes on Russia's border regions.

EU leaders grappled at a summit meeting Thursday with how to get more weapons to Ukraine's outgunned forces while also re-arming their own countries in the face of Russia's emboldened President Vladimir Putin.

On a sunny day on the Athens waterfront, a gentle breeze blows through the smashed windows of the abandoned 2004 Olympics beach volleyball centre.

As the sun sets over the Bosphorus, a long queue forms on a street in Istanbul as people wait for iftar -- the evening meal that breaks Ramadan's daily fast.

She oversees military drills with her father, a military marshal knelt before her, state media use leader-level honorifics to describe her -- a fresh slew of signals indicate Kim Jong Un's teenage daughter Ju Ae could be North Korea's next ruler.

Outside the warehouse in northwestern Spain, it's a freezing, foggy morning but inside it's balmy, the warmth and LED lights fooling 360 hop plants to flower as if it were late August.

Promoting nuclear power was long taboo in Brussels, but a high-profile international summit Thursday will send loud and clear the message that atomic energy -- now touted by its champions as key to fighting climate change -- is back.

The United States has circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for an "immediate ceasefire linked to the release of hostages" in the Gaza Strip, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Living a precarious existence on odd jobs, manual labourer Virender Singh says his relentless struggles to make money are inconsequential compared to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's endeavours to make India great.

As Palestinian climber Faris Abu Gosh encouraged his friend ascending a limestone cliff in the occupied West Bank, the war raging in Gaza momentarily slipped from his mind.

On the streets of a Bogota neighborhood where a businessman was killed for refusing to pay protection money, retired soldiers sporting weapons and camouflage gear keep a watchful eye on every movement.

Indonesia's Prabowo Subianto has been elected president of the world's third-biggest democracy, the elections commission said Wednesday, beating two rivals who have vowed to file legal complaints about the vote.

A top US official said Wednesday that Washington could not predict when a vital $60-billion military aid package for Ukraine would be passed, as a fresh round of aerial bombardments killed civilians in both Russia and Ukraine.

Moscow's criticism of Olympic restrictions on Russian athletes was beyond unacceptable and had reached a "new low", the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Wednesday.

The US Federal Reserve could provide additional clues on Wednesday about how much it will cut interest rates this year, but it is almost certain to leave its key lending rate unchanged for the time being.

Argentina's middle class is vanishing: with austerity cuts introduced by self-proclaimed "anarcho-capitalist" President Javier Milei, ever more people cannot afford schooling or medicine, even those holding down two jobs.

US top diplomat Antony Blinken was set to return to the Middle East Wednesday in a new bid to secure a truce in the Israel-Hamas war as the threat of famine looms in besieged Gaza.

In a tiny television studio in the French capital, two unveiled Afghan women face the camera on a mission to provide a lifeline to their fellow countrywomen back home.

Sequestered at home in a remote Afghan town, 18-year-old Shekiba often roams the house hunting for the patchy internet signal that is her last link to an education.

China lashed out against critics of Hong Kong's new national security law on Wednesday, accusing the British government of having the "mindset of a coloniser" and condemning the EU's "hypocritical" position.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to return Wednesday to the Middle East in a new bid to secure a truce in the Israel-Hamas war.