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Squeaky-clean Sunak bids to become UK's first Hindu PM
Before his spectacular falling-out with Boris Johnson, former finance minister Rishi Sunak was on a rapid rise that could still end with him installed as Britain's first prime minister of colour.
Zelensky's challenges as his fate plays out on battlefield
Catapulted into a war he didn't start, Volodymyr Zelensky is now left with little choice but to prevail militarily against Russia, analysts told AFP.
Italy fate in parties' hands after Draghi asks: 'in or out?'
Italy held its breath Wednesday as the country's fractious parties furiously debated whether to support popular Prime Minister Mario Draghi at a crucial confidence vote to end a political crisis that could send Italians to snap elections.
In eastern Ukraine, volunteers recover bodies of war dead
Returning to his refrigerated white truck with a red cross on its side, Oleksiy Yukov ends another tough day of collecting bodies from the frontline in eastern Ukraine.
European stocks retreat, euro edges higher
European stocks retreated Wednesday as the EU took precautionary measures in the face of reduced Russian gas supplies.
Russia says military aims expanding in Ukraine, pummels Kharkiv
Russia said Monday that its military aims in Ukraine have expanded beyond the industrial Donbas region as its forces launched deadly barrages over the east and the south of the country.
High treason: Ukraine's Zelensky moves against 'spies'
Ukraine's army is putting up fierce frontline resistance against Russian troops, but President Volodymyr Zelensky's shock dismissal of two top law enforcement officials has revealed another front in the war closer to home -- against spies and Kremlin sympathisers.
UN records hundreds of killings and rights violations by Taliban
The Taliban have carried out hundreds of human rights violations in Afghanistan since seizing power last year, the United Nations said Wednesday, including extra judicial killings and torture.
Italy's Draghi lays down conditions for government survival
Italy's popular Prime Minister Mario Draghi told the country's fractious parties Wednesday they would have to support him at a crucial confidence vote or accept responsibility for a crisis analysts say could end in snap elections.
Italy's Draghi calls for 'new pact' if coalition to survive
Italy's Prime Minister Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Wednesday the only way out of a political crisis threatening the country's stability was a new government pact based on "courage, selflessness, credibility".
China condemns US warship passage through Taiwan Strait
China on Wednesday slammed Washington as "a destroyer of peace" in the Taiwan Strait, following the latest in a series of passages by US warships through the waterway.
More cunning than the 'old fox': Sri Lanka's new president
New Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe's election on Wednesday is the fulfilment of a lifetime's ambition for a veteran political operator who is the nephew of one of his predecessors.
Senior lawmaker says EU supports Taiwan's 'sovereign' existence
A senior European Union lawmaker said Wednesday that Taiwan's future should be decided by its own people and that the EU backs the island's "sovereign" existence, in a pointed warning to Beijing.
Stock markets rally on tech bounce, earnings hope
Equities piled higher Wednesday following a surge on Wall Street, as investors grow hopeful in the ongoing earnings season, while sentiment was also boosted by news that Russian gas flows to Europe will not be cut off.
Final two candidates for UK PM to be decided
The final two candidates to become UK prime minister will be decided Wednesday, with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt battling it out with frontrunner Rishi Sunak.
Last man standing: Russia former mayor does not 'fear' prison
Yevgeny Roizman tries to conceal his sadness behind a mountain of work at his charity fund in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, where visitors queue to see him.
China to fine ride-hailing giant Didi more than $1 bn: reports
China is preparing to hit ride-hailing giant Didi with a fine of more than $1 billion to wrap up a long-running probe, media reports said, boosting investor hopes that the country's tech crackdown is winding down.
Raising temperatures: Pakistan climate catastrophist Sherry Rehman
When Sherry Rehman speaks it seems as though the world is ending.
Crunch time as Italy's Draghi faces parliament
Italy's political crisis comes to a head Wednesday as Prime Minister Mario Draghi discovers whether his fractured grand coalition can be saved or if snap elections are unavoidable.
Indigenous Canadians hopeful ahead of Pope's apology for school abuse
For decades, trauma has lingered in the tiny Indigenous Canadian community of Maskwacis. But some hope to finally find a degree of closure during a visit by Pope Francis to apologize for the Church's role in a century of abuse.
Police arrest 17 US lawmakers at abortion rights protest outside Supreme Court
At least 17 Democratic lawmakers, including prominent progressives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, were arrested at an abortion rights protest outside the Supreme Court in Washington on Tuesday, police said.
Russian fire pounds Ukraine, as Putin announces 'progress' on grain exports
Russian shelling pounded eastern and southern Ukraine Tuesday as President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would only ease the path for Black Sea exports of Ukrainian grain if the West lifts sanctions on Russian shipments.
Myanmar military landmine use amounts to war crimes: Amnesty
Myanmar junta troops are committing war crimes by laying landmines on a "massive scale" around villages where they are battling anti-coup fighters, rights campaign group Amnesty International said Wednesday.
Erdogan presses case against Syria's Kurds at Iran-Russia-Turkey summit
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pressed his case for a military offensive against Syria's Kurds at a summit in Tehran Tuesday, despite Iran's supreme leader warning against such a move.
Sri Lanka parliament to vote to replace president who fled abroad
Sri Lanka's parliament votes Wednesday for a president to replace Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled abroad last week after his palace was stormed by angry protesters now bracing for a crackdown from his likely successor.
US Senate moves to bring Finland, Sweden into NATO
The US Senate on Tuesday took its first step towards bringing Sweden and Finland into NATO, with bipartisan support for the new alliance members following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Azerbaijan starts return of people to recaptured areas
Azerbaijan on Tuesday began the process of returning its people to land recaptured from Armenian separatists in what Baku calls "The Great Return" following a 2020 war over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh.
Ukraine calls for ramp-up of US precision rocket systems
Ukraine's defense minister asked Tuesday for the West to scale up drastically its supply of precision rocket systems, calling them a "game-changer" that could allow a counteroffensive against Russian invaders.
Turkish court says Erdogan had right to annul women's treaty
Turkey's top court on Tuesday ruled that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had the right to pull his country out of a European convention against gender-based violence.
UK's Sunak tops Tory MPs' latest vote as race narrows to three
Britain's former finance minister Rishi Sunak again topped the latest vote by Conservative MPs to choose a new prime minister, as another candidate was eliminated to leave three contenders in the race.
Biden highlights decline in US gasoline prices
US gasoline prices have fallen from historic highs earlier in the summer, a retreat highlighted by a politically beset White House as a sign of moderating inflation.
Biden sets up sanctions in ramped-up effort on US detainees
President Joe Biden on Tuesday opened the way for sanctions against governments that unjustly imprison Americans and ordered more detailed travel warnings after a series of high-profile detentions.
Putin in Iran for Syria summit overshadowed by Ukraine war
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Tehran for talks Tuesday on the Syrian war at a three-way summit overshadowed by fallout from his country's war on Ukraine.
Jafar Panahi: jailed Iranian director who won hearts in Europe
Acclaimed Iranian director Jafar Panahi, jailed as part of a crackdown on the country's filmmakers, for years defied a ban on his work to carry on making deeply human tales of Iran's social and cultural struggles that won a loyal following abroad.
Eni, Total, Occidental sign $4 bn Algeria oil contract
Italy's Eni, US major Occidental, France's Total and the Algerian group Sonatrach signed a $4 billion oil and gas production-sharing contract Tuesday for the Berkine field in the country's southeast.
Thousands of Sudan's Hausa protest after deadly clashes over land
Thousands of Sudan's Hausa people protested in multiple cities Tuesday, demanding justice for dozens of comrades killed in a deadly land dispute with a rival ethnic group in the country's south.
Ukraine lawmakers vote to sack prosecutor general, security chief
Ukrainian lawmakers on Tuesday endorsed the president's decision to sack the country's top prosecutor and security chief, rubber stamping Ukraine's largest political shake-up since Russia invaded.
Iran warns Erdogan off Syria operation, ahead of summit with Putin
Iran warned Turkey that any offensive in Syria would be "detrimental", ahead of a trilateral summit on Tuesday with Russia that has been overshadowed by fallout from Russia's war on Ukraine.
Outsider seeks to break dynastic hold on Sri Lankan politics
Former journalist and rights activist Dullas Alahapperuma is an unlikely contender to be Sri Lanka's leader, but is the main challenger to the current acting president in a parliamentary vote Wednesday.