PARIS, FRANCE - Wavering ambition by governments and a growing belief that science is politically subjective are great causes for concern in a rapidly escalating climate crisis, an expert told AFP. A cascade of extreme weather events have inflicted devastation in 2023, which the European Union's climate monitor says is likely...

Binance is likely to sell its Russian assets to CommEX.

PARIS, FRANCE - Soaring demand for the raw materials needed for the transition towards renewable energy is creating dilemmas for investors weighing the economic, environmental and human rights risks of such projects. With demand for fossil fuels expected to peak by the end of the decade, the focus is shifting towards...

PARIS, FRANCE - French firm TotalEnergies and Indian group Adani unveiled plans on Wednesday to create a joint venture to develop wind and solar electricity production in India. The joint venture will include wind and solar assets that Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) already operates and is building and developing in India,...

Paris, France - Irish regulators on Friday handed out a 345-million-euro ($369-million) fine to TikTok over data breaches, part of a battle between the European Union and big tech firms on issues from tax avoidance and hate speech to data privacy and monopolistic practices. Here is a summary of the tussles...

The IEA's annual World Energy Outlook, due out next month, will show that "the world is on the cusp of a historic turning point," executive director Fatih Birol wrote in the FT.

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 Morocco A 6.8-magnitude quake, according to the US Geological Survey -...

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...

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...

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

The G20, which accounts for about 85 percent of the world's economy and greenhouse gas emissions, will meet in New Delhi in the absence of China and Russia's leaders, as the invasion of Ukraine, trade and the future of fossil fuels stir tensions.

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.

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...

The for-hire electric scooters that have become ubiquitous in Paris and other cities worldwide will be banned in the French capital on Sept 1.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

London, United Kingdom - World stock markets mostly rose Wednesday as investors jockeyed for position before key US inflation data. London equities climbed after the Bank of England announced that all major UK retail lenders passed stress tests to assess their resilience to economic shocks. Frankfurt and Paris also advanced before...

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...

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.

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...

Al-Jaber, head of the UAE national oil company ADNOC, told ministers from countries of the OPEC oil producers' grouping the industry must "urgently decarbonize its operations and take collective action to eliminate operational emissions".

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

PARIS, FRANCE - European airlines have been hit by a consumer complaint filed with the EU's executive arm accusing the 17 companies of greenwashing, the practice of making misleading climate-related claims. The European Consumer Organization, or BEUC, said Thursday the claims made by the airlines breach EU rules on unfair commercial...

The Atalante has begun using its multibeam echo sounder to create a map of the nearby seabed to "allow Victor 6000 to have a more efficient dive," an IFREMER spokesperson told AFP.

Dubai, UAE-- The UAE and France have reiterated their commitment to widening cooperation in important fields and sectors. The resolve was renewed at the 15th session of the UAE-France Strategic Dialogue held in Paris. The two countries discussed the status of the strategic bilateral investment partnerships, which were signed in...

Paris. France -- The candidature of Saudi Arabia (for Riyadh), South Korea (Busan) and Italy (Rome) for World Expo 2030 would be decided in an election in November this year, the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) said on Tuesday. At the 172nd General Assembly of the BIE on Tuesday, Member...

PARIS, FRANCE -  A major exiled Iranian opposition group on Tuesday expressed fury after Paris police refused to grant permission for a major rally next month, on the grounds it risked creating tensions and being the target of an attack. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a coalition that...

The Saudi-French Investment Forum witnessed the signing of 24 MoUs and investment agreements, collectively valued at approximately $2.9 billion. The forum has assembled key players from both nations, fostering enhanced bilateral relations and providing opportunities for increased investment and collaboration.

With ongoing mega-projects and economic diversification, Riyadh's strong Expo 2030 candidacy has already garnered support from 90 of 170 member states.

St. Petersburg, Russia-- The UAE is seeking to strengthen economic cooperation with many countries in the world in order to ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for generations to come. This was stated by Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, supreme council member and ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, in...

Saudi Arabia has maintained a cautious stance throughout the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, stopping short of condemning the assault while emphasizing the importance of Ukraine's territorial integrity. MBS hosted President Volodymyr Zelensky last month in Jeddah during an Arab League summit, the Ukrainian leader's first visit to the Middle...

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in a lengthy phone call discussed ways to promote ties, state media reported. "The two sides discussed how to promote relations especially about ongoing negotiations and regional developments," IRNA state news agency quoted Raisi's deputy chief of staff Mohammad Jamshidi...