Plastic pollution treaty talks stuck in 'dialogue of the deaf'
Negotiations aimed at forging a global treaty on plastic pollution are being blocked by oil-producing countries and getting bogged down in a "dialogue of the deaf", sources in and around the talks told AFP.
Read more
Stock markets brush aside higher US tariffs
Most stock markets gained Thursday even as President Donald Trump's new tariffs on dozens of countries took effect, with investors eyeing exemptions from his threatened 100-percent levy on semiconductors.
Read more
Siemens warns US tariffs causing investment caution
Siemens warned on Thursday that US tariffs were prompting its customers in key sectors to slow investment decisions, even as the German industrial giant reported forecast-beating quarterly profits.
Read more
Influx of Afghan returnees fuels Kabul housing crisis
Weeks after he was forced to return from Iran, Mohammad Mohsen Zaryab was still searching for somewhere to live in Kabul, where rental prices have soared along with an influx of Afghans expelled from neighbouring countries.
Read more
Israeli security cabinet to hold talks over future Gaza war plans
Israel's security cabinet was expected to meet later Thursday to discuss military plans in Gaza, Israeli media said, as the families of hostages launched a desperate plea for help aboard a flotilla to the territory.
Read more
Macron urges tougher line in standoff with Algeria
President Emmanuel Macron urged a tougher line from Paris in an intensifying standoff with former north African colony Algeria, saying France's stance needed to "command respect".
Read more
UK says first migrants held under return deal with France
The UK said Thursday it had detained the first migrants under a new "one-in, one-out" deal with France in which it can return people crossing the Channel on small boats.
Read moreFrance seeks to 'stabilise' wildfire raging in the south
French firefighters said Thursday they were hoping to halt the country's biggest wildfire this summer that has left one person dead and destroyed several thousand hectares of land and dozens of homes in the south.
Read more
Ukraine's funeral workers bearing the burden of war
At a funeral home in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, Svitlana Ostapenko paced around as she prepared the dead for their final journey.
Read more
India exporters say 50% Trump levy a 'severe setback'
Indian exporters warned on Thursday that the cost of additional US tariffs risked making businesses "not viable" after President Donald Trump ordered steeper levies totalling 50 percent on imported Indian goods.
Read moreIn The News
