POLITICS & POLICY

US President Joe Biden's national security advisor briefed Benjamin Netanyahu on the "potential" of a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia after holding talks in the region, the White House said Sunday.

The Paris Paralympics are expected to give the movement the biggest boost since the mould-breaking 2012 London Games - and organisers hope they will help to move the rights of disabled people to the top of the list of global priorities.

South Africa's top court ruled Monday that graft-tainted former president turned firebrand opposition challenger Jacob Zuma is ineligible to stand for parliament in next week's general election.

New Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on Monday vowed to defend the island's democracy, as he called on China to end its military intimidation of the self-ruled island.

The naysayers said the maddening multicoloured cube that Erno Rubik invented 50 years ago would not survive the 1980s.

Manchester City created English football history on Sunday, beating West Ham 3-1 to win their fourth straight Premier League title and break Arsenal's hearts as Jurgen Klopp made an emotional Liverpool exit.

The DR Congo military on Sunday said it had thwarted an "attempted coup" near the offices of President Felix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa involving "foreigners and Congolese".

Russian attacks on Ukraine's Kharkiv region on Sunday killed at least 11 people, said authorities in the border area facing a new offensive by Moscow's forces.

Stood in the middle of a Tblisi demonstration, Russian emigre Ivan looked on with a tinge of nostalgia as thousands of Georgians protested against a highly-controversial law targeting NGOs and the media.

Saudi designer Tima Abid got her start at a time when fashion shows were taboo and tourism, apart from religious pilgrimages, was almost nonexistent in the Gulf kingdom.

The warning left Margarita Galan with no choice but to abandon her mayoral bid in a Mexican town where three candidates have already been murdered ahead of June elections.

Standing on the shore of Taiwan's Kinmen island, Taiwanese tourists snap photos of the skyline of China's Xiamen city that is clearly visible across the sliver of water separating them.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an exclusive interview with AFP on Friday he expects Russia to step up its offensive in the northeast and warned Kyiv only has a quarter of the air defences it needs to hold the front line.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with AFP on Friday warned Russia could intensify its offensive and said Kyiv would only accept a "fair peace" despite the West's calls for a quick solution.

WADA applies the World Anti-Doping Code and the related standards in an even-handed way," he said.

Nina Kozyr looked around the courtyard of the evacuation centre in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, hoping for news of her parents.

Russian forces were pressing ahead Friday with their offensive in north-east Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin said there were no current plans to occupy Kharkiv city, the regional capital.

Israel lashed out Friday at South Africa's case before the UN's top court, describing it as "totally divorced" from reality, as Pretoria urges judges to order a ceasefire in Gaza.

Born at the bottom of the Hindu faith's rigid caste system, voters like Anil Sonkar will determine whether Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns to power next month.

US troops early Thursday anchored a long-awaited temporary pier, meant to boost aid deliveries into war-ravaged Gaza, to a beach in the besieged Palestinian territory, the US military said.

Far-right leader Geert Wilders told AFP Thursday it could take "years" for the Netherlands' new government to fulfil its pledge to opt-out of the EU asylum system, but vowed the nation would enforce its strictest asylum policy ever.

Ukraine warned on Thursday it faced a "very difficult" military situation in its northeast Kharkiv region, where Moscow has made its largest territorial gains in 18 months since launching a surprise offensive last week.

Israel said Thursday that five of its troops were killed by friendly fire in a Gaza battle, as a rift emerged inside the war cabinet on how the Palestinian territory should be ruled in future.

US President Joe Biden unveiled steep tariff hikes on Chinese green tech this week, hitting imports like electric vehicles, chips and solar cells -- and adding stress to US-China ties.

It's crunch time for Donald Trump's defense team as they take another stab Thursday at Michael Cohen, the key witness in the criminal trial in which the former president is accused of fraudulently covering up his affair with a porn star to influence his first presidential bid.

Some 30,000 Georgians took to the streets Wednesday in the latest round of a weeks-long mass protest against a "foreign influence" law whose adoption by parliament has prompted a blizzard of international condemnation.

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that hot US inflation data has lowered his level of confidence that price rises will slow back down towards the bank's long-term target.

As Israel keeps up its campaign against Hamas, Arab leaders are mapping out ways to support post-war Gaza, placing one major condition on their involvement: a pathway to Palestinian statehood.

Walking between the corrugated iron shacks of the informal settlement west of Johannesburg she calls home, Lutho Makheyi points out trenches filled by dirty rainwater holing the unpaved streets.