Tehran, Iran--Iran’s oil exports to China hit an all-time record in August despite continued US pressure on the country, according to data from a major international energy data company.The Sunday report by Fars news agency said Iran’s oil exports to China had reached an average of 1.5 million barrels per...

PARIS, FRANCE - Rescuers in Morocco were scrambling on Sunday to reach people trapped under the rubble after a powerful earthquake that killed more than 2,000 people and decimated entire villages.Here's what we know so far:  Strongest-ever in MoroccoA 6.8-magnitude quake, according to the US Geological Survey - the strongest in...

Paris, France - A world facing catastrophic climate change is perilously off course in meeting goals for slashing carbon pollution and boosting finance for the developing world, according to the UN's first official progress report out Friday.The 2015 Paris treaty has successfully driven climate action, but "much more is needed now...

LYON, FRANCE - President of Saudi Arabia’s Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority ‘Nazaha’ Mazin bin Ibrahim Al-Kahmous on Friday visited the headquarters of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) here.The Saudi and Interpol staff discussed several topics of common interest.   The two sides discussed cooperation between Nazaha and Interpol in the...

Paris, France - The United Nations called on Thursday for strict rules on the use of AI tools such as viral chatbot ChatGPT in classrooms, including limiting their use to older children.In new guidance for governments, the UN's education body UNESCO warned that public authorities were not ready to deal with...

"2023 is the year that climate records were not just broken but smashed," said Mark Maslin, a professor of climatology at University College London.

Some 175 nations are working to reach a landmark agreement by end-2024 that will curb plastic pollution, which ends up in oceans, birds' stomachs and on mountain peaks. Microplastics have even been detected in blood and maternal milk.

Taking a dig at President Emmanuel Macron, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that Macron should focus on "situation inside France instead of paying attention to questions of interference in other countries." Iran had rebuffed French accusations over Tehran's interference in Lebanon that France sees as a roadblock to end...

PARIS, FRANCE - Attempts to change the existing world order threaten to weaken the West and especially Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron said at the annual conference of his country’s ambassadors here.“The situation on the international arena is becoming more complicated, which is fraught with the risk of the West...

Mancini's resignation from the Italy job came as a major shock, as earlier this month he had been handed responsibility for the country's Under-21 and Under-20 teams. He was heavily criticised for his decision especially following early reports that he was set to accept a mega-money move to Saudi, which...

Paris, France - Silicon Valley's favorite philosophy, longtermism, has helped to frame the debate on artificial intelligence around the idea of human extinction.But increasingly vocal critics are warning that the philosophy is dangerous, and the obsession with extinction distracts from real problems associated with AI like data theft and biased algorithms.Author...

TEHRAN, IRAN - Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has met with diplomat Assadollah Assadi, recently freed by Belgium in a high-profile prisoner swap case in May, the presidency site said on Saturday."The claimants of human rights have shown once again that they do not adhere to any law," Raisi said in reference...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia--Neymar was greeted with much fanfare Friday as he arrived in Saudi Arabia where he joins a growing list of big names lured to the oil-rich kingdom.The 31-year-old Brazil forward who will be unveiled as an Al-Hilal player on Saturday after six seasons with French champions Paris Saint-Germain landed...

The speedy filling of storage facilities means the bloc is "in a much more stable position than it was this time last year," when Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices soaring, EU Energy commissioner, Kadri Simson, said.

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Agnes Pannier-Runacher, Minister for Energy Transition of the French Republic met and issued a joint communiqué:The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of the French Republic acknowledge that energy is one of the main pillars of their...

PARIS, FRANCE - The International Energy Agency said Friday it had revised upwards its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2023 as demand is "scaling record highs".World oil demand already hit a record 103 million barrels per day in June and August and "could see yet another peak", the Paris-based...

The number of new COVID-19 cases reported worldwide rose by 80 percent in the last month, the World Health Organization said, days after designating a new "variant of interest". The WHO declared in May that Covid is no longer a global health emergency, but warned the virus will continue to...

Paris, France - French winger Allan Saint-Maximin on Sunday signed a three-year deal with Saudi Arabia's Al-Ahli after leaving English club Newcastle as the cash-rich and ambitious Gulf kingdom's league snared another top-level player."We pick the best, and he's one of them," Al-Ahli said on social media.The financial terms of the...

LONDON, UK - Allan Saint-Maximin has confirmed he is to leave Newcastle before an expected move to the cash-rich Saudi Pro League.The French winger, heavily linked with a £30 million ($38.5 million) move to Al-Ahli, posted a farewell message on his Instagram account.In it he professes his love for the Premier...

Paris, France - Italy and Turkey have asked to jointly host the 2032 European Championship, UEFA announced on Friday.European football's governing body said it had "received a request" from the Italian (FIGC) and Turkish (TFF) football federations "to merge their individual bids into one joint bid".In 2021, UEFA initiated a bidding...

Results due to better sales in Japan, North America.

The painful PMI data comes as the European Central Bank is eyeing a further rate hike this week in its quest to tame inflation.

NEW DELHI, INDIA - Energy ministers from the group of 20 nations meeting in India on Saturday failed to agree on a roadmap to phase down the use of fossil fuels in the global energy mix.A final statement after the meeting did not even mention coal, a major contributor to...

PARIS, FRANCE - New carbon-cutting plans by this year's UN climate talks host the UAE were branded "insufficient" by an analysis on Thursday that hit out at the oil-rich nation for allegedly undermining its own targets with plans to increase fossil fuel production.The UAE, which will host the COP28 United Nations...

Abu Dhabi, UAE - The United Arab Emirates and France reviewed the prospects of growing bilateral trade exchanges and advancing investments across various fields during the meeting between UAE Minister of Economy Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, and the visiting French Minister Olivier Becht. Two sides discussed investment exchanges in innovative...

Paris, France--From subtly shifting the position of Ramses II's sceptre, to touch-ups on a necklace or headdress, ancient Egyptian artists were more creative than previously thought, according to a study published Wednesday.Using new portable imaging and chemical analysis techniques, an international team of scientists took a fresh look at paintings in...

Nearly 140 countries have taken a first step towards reaching agreement on a fairer distribution of tax revenues from multinational firms, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said. Some 138 countries, which account for over 90 percent of global economic output, agreed on a first draft of a convention...

Paris, France - The world's wealthiest nations must urgently prepare for the impact of an imminent "AI revolution" that will change jobs, create new ones and make others disappear, the OECD said Tuesday.The rapid development of artificial intelligence -- with tools that can generate essays, create images and even pass medical...

Threads, billed as the killer of Twitter, a platform that has tumbled into chaos under the leadership of mercurial tycoon Elon Musk, has added more than 100 million users in its first week in app stores.

Algiers, Algeria - Algeria's state oil company Sonatrach said on Sunday it had signed contracts to boost gas production under an existing agreement worth about $740 million with French giant TotalEnergies.The companies will increase output from two Sahara desert fields in southeastern Algeria, for export to France and elsewhere in Europe,...

The shipping sector is under fresh pressure to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels as the International Maritime Organization sealed a deal on Friday that raises its emissions-reduction targets. In Arcachon Bay in southwest France, the startup Beyond The Sea tested a blue inflatable kite sail to pull a specially-designed...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia--Saudi Arabia and France have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to cooperate in the field of energy, with a focus on renewable resources.In this connection, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and his French counterpart, Agnes Pannier-Runacher, signed the agreement.The two countries released a joint statement...

PARIS, FRANCE - Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture are expected to increase by 7.5 percent in the next decade, said a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).The projected greenhouse gas emissions are just less than half the projected output...

BEIRUT, LEBANON - The vice-governors of Lebanon's central bank plan to resign unless politicians swiftly name an incoming governor, two senior officials at the crisis-hit country's top financial body told AFP on Thursday.The term of embattled three-decade chief Riad Salameh ends this month with no successor in sight, setting the stage...

Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the UN's World Meteorological Organization, warned on Monday that El Nino "will greatly increase the likelihood of breaking temperature records and triggering more extreme heat in many parts of the world and in the ocean."

PARIS, FRANCE- Elon Musk spent the weekend further alienating Twitter users with more drastic changes to the social media giant, and he is facing a new challenge as tech nemesis Mark Zuckerberg prepares to launch a rival app this week.Zuckerberg's Meta group, which owns Facebook, has listed a new app in...

Paris, France - Twitter has announced that TweetDeck, a popular program that allows users to monitor several accounts at once, will be available only to "verified" users from next month.The social media firm, bought by billionaire Elon Musk last year, has been thrashing around for ways to make a profit, cutting...

At a meeting of more than 300 mayors, whose municipalities suffered damages, Macron said, "Is it a permanent return to calm? I will be cautious, but the peak that we've seen in previous days has passed." "We all want a lasting, republican order," he said.

Protesters, mostly minors, have torched cars, damaged infrastructure and clashed with police in an outpouring of rage since an officer shot Nahel M. point blank as he attempted to flee a traffic stop on Tuesday. The killing was captured on video, which spread on social media and fueled anger over...

France has been rocked by a major wave of violent street protests sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old of Algerian origin, identified only as Nahel M., in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday. The government has deployed tens of thousands of security forces and made hundreds...

President Emmanuel Macron informed Berlin he was postponing a state visit to deal with the urban rioting that has rocked France for the last four nights, as the 17-year-old whose killing by police sparked the protests was laid to rest. Police arrested 1,311 people overnight, the highest figure since the...

Nanterre, France--Sporadic violence and looting hit several cities across France in a fourth night of protests after the fatal police shooting of a teenager, but it was much less intense than previously, authorities said early Saturday.France deployed 45,000 officers backed by light armored vehicles, while crack police units and other security...

A former assistant of Riad Salameh, the governor of Lebanon's central bank, has been charged with money laundering by France. Last year, France, Germany and Luxembourg seized assets worth $130mn in a move linked to a probe into Salameh's wealth. He is accused of having amassed a fortune during his...

PARIS, FRANCE - French Minister of Foreign Trade Olivier Becht said his country and the UAE share a common vision of accelerating the shift to green energy to tackle the growing threats posed by climate change.The two countries are working together on low-carbon energy solutions, he said,  expressing his trust...

French President Emmanuel Macron announced measures including more police and urged parents to keep minors off the streets as he battled to contain nightly riots over a teenager's fatal shooting by an officer. There had been "unacceptable exploitation of a death of an adolescent" in some quarters to justify the...

In early June, European Union countries reached agreement on a long-stalled revision of the bloc's asylum rules. It aims to share the burden of hosting asylum seekers across EU countries, with those refusing to do so having to pay money to the ones that do. Poland and Hungary, which were...

Paris, France-- The19th UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture was awarded to Kassem Istanbouli, Lebanese actor-director, and Hajer Ben Boubaker, French researcher and sound director, at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on June 26, 2023.The event, organized by the Sharjah Department of Culture in collaboration with UNESCO, celebrated the achievements of two...

Paris, France - Kuwait and France discuss bilateral relationship and cooperation on regional and global issues of shared interests on Tuesday. The discussions took place during the meetings between the visiting Kuwaiti Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna...

PARIS, FRANCE -  More than 6,500 people have been arrested following the 2020 dismantling of EncroChat, an encrypted communications tool used by organized crime, Europol said on Tuesday.Close to 200 of the arrests were of "high-value targets", said the organization that assists EU members in international investigations, adding that nearly 900...

PARIS, FRANCE- Common standards unveiled on Monday for companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions could curb misleading climate claims in the corporate world, the chair of the body that wrote the norms told AFP.Currently, most large companies report how many tons of carbon they emit into the atmosphere each year,...