By AFP/Eric RANDOLPHThe conflict between Rwanda-backed forces and the DR Congo is often presented as a struggle to control the valuable minerals that power global electronics.But the focus on "conflict minerals" may obscure other drivers of the viole...

By AFP/Robin MILLARDThe World Health Organization's chief hit back Monday at US President Donald Trump's reasons for pulling the United States out of the agency -- and again urged Washington to reconsider.The United States is by far the WHO's biggest...

By AFP/James PHEBYOnce famed as an industrial powerhouse that produced some of the world's finest steel, Rotherham is now known as the epicentre of the UK grooming scandal, leaving the town angry, ashamed and needing answers.The issue of UK grooming...

By AFP/Pierre-Henry DESHAYESAlmost 96 percent of new cars registered in Norway in January were electric, an unparalleled number in the world and close to the country's goal of selling only zero-emission vehicles as of this year.A total of 9,343 new c...

By AFPPresident Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday rejected Donald Trump's assertions that South Africa was "confiscating" land and said he was ready to explain his government's land reform policy to his US counterpart.Trump's intervention into one of South A...

By AFP/Kenan AUGEARDThe Lac du Der was once just a passing glimpse for hundreds of thousands of cranes flying from Scandinavia in search of sunshine, but with global warming the French reservoir has become an attractive winter retreat.Tens of thousan...

By AFP/Jan FLEMRCzech Anna Adamova is still haunted more than three decades after she was forced into a sterilisation that she says irreparably damaged her life.A member of the central European country's often marginalised Roma minority, Adamova was...

By AFPThe Pakistani Taliban claimed the killing of a police officer as he travelled Monday to guard polio vaccinators on the first day of a nationwide immunisation effort after a year of rising cases.The officer was travelling to guard polio vaccinat...

By AFP/Hiroshi Hiyama and Katie ForsterUS tech giant OpenAI on Monday unveiled a ChatGPT tool called "deep research" that can produce detailed reports, as China's DeepSeek chatbot heats up competition in the artificial intelligence field.The company...

By AFP/Bertille LAGORCESnowboarders Musawer Khanzai and Nasima Zirak used to drag themselves up the thick snowy slopes of Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountains on foot before basking in the "freedom" of gliding back down.But the return of the puritanica...

By AFP/Tony Gamal-GabrielThe ousting of Bashar al-Assad ended decades of iron-fisted rule, but despite power now resting in Ahmed al-Sharaa's hands, Syria faces a fragile transition amid territorial and governance challenges.Military commanders appoi...

By AFP/Sebastian SmithElon Musk, the world's richest person and President Donald Trump's controversial close advisor, said Monday the giant USAID humanitarian agency will be "shutting down" as part of his radical -- and critics say unconstitutional -...