By AFPIn Ecuador, farmers who bet on cocoa beans rather than bananas, the country's top agricultural export, are cashing in as a global shortage of the main ingredient in chocolate feeds a price bonanza.Cocoa is now a billion-dollar business in the A...

By AFP/Nina LARSON with Sebastien ASHThe United Nations on Tuesday condemned what it said was Israel's "weaponisation of food" in Gaza and called it a war crime, urging its military to "stop shooting at people trying to get food".The head of the UN a...

By AFPGaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed another 46 people waiting for aid in the Palestinian territory on Tuesday as rights groups and UN agencies slammed the US-backed food distribution system.Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bass...

By AFP/Issam AHMEDSasha and Jamie Cordle thought their small farm in rural Georgia would be a ladder out of working-class struggle, and a gift for their children and grandchildren.Instead, it may be poisoning them.Tests show their spring water is lac...

By AFPA Bangladesh court on Monday remanded in custody the former elections chief for his alleged role in rigging the vote in favour of now-ousted autocrat Sheikh Hasina.KM Nurul Huda, 77, was ordered to be detained for four days while questioning co...

By AFP/Nathalie OLOF-ORSThe global art market is not immune to current economic and geopolitical tensions, and is counting on a new generation of collectors to revitalise the momentum.Some big transactions were concluded last week during Art Basel, t...

By AFP/Emmanuel ANULELeaders from the west African bloc ECOWAS on Sunday admitted during talks in the Nigerian capital that the region was in trouble, facing mounting unrest and political instability."Our region is at the crossroads," said Sierra Leo...

By AFPHistoric forest fires in Brazil last year scorched through an area larger than the size of Italy, recording a burned area some 60 percent higher than average of the last four decades, said a report released Tuesday.Brazil experienced historic f...

By AFP/Aishwarya KUMARWhen wedding season comes in India, the phone of child rights activist Tatwashil Kamble never stops ringing with appeals to stop girls from being married off due to poverty.Kamble said he has helped stop thousands of illegal mar...

By AFPSyria announced on Sunday a 200 percent hike in public sector wages and pensions, as it seeks to address a grinding economic crisis after the recent easing of international sanctions.Over a decade of civil war has taken a heavy toll on Syria's...

By AFP/Olivier Morin with Johanna WastfeltIn the cold of the Norwegian Arctic, meteorologist Trond Robertsen manually recorded precipitation levels for over two decades, witnessing firsthand the effects of climate change.At 66, Robertsen retired afte...

By AFP/Sheikh Sabiha ALAMMosquito-borne dengue fever was rarely a major problem in Bangladesh's coastal districts, but some hospitals are so full of those with the potentially deadly virus that patients are treated on the floor.As climate change driv...