The United Arab Emirates has picked the head of its national oil company as president of this year's COP28 climate talks, prompting criticism from environmental activists.. - Holding COP28 in a major oil-producing country has provoked concern from activists urging a shift away from oil, which produces the greenhouse gases that heat the planet.
Ukraine said Thursday its forces were fighting to retain control of Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region but cautioned it was coming up against "difficult" resistance from Russian troops. . - 'Brutal fighting' - Russia wants to gain control of the entire eastern Donetsk region which it claimed to have annexed last year, despite not having complete military control over it.
President Emmanuel Macron has said he will not "ask forgiveness" from Algeria for French colonisation but hopes to continue working towards reconciliation with his counterpart Abdelmajid Tebboune.. But in the interview, he also expressed hope that Tebboune "will be able to come to France in 2023", to return Macron's own trip to Algiers last year and continue their "unprecedented work of friendship".
At a health centre in the frontline Ukraine city of Bakhmut, doctor Elena Molchanova ushers patients into a narrow office warmed by a wood-burning stove, where she hands out medication and fills in death certificates.. Even if Molchanova can't always offer medical care, she, her husband and two other doctors also provide relief to Bakhmut residents by welcoming them into the basement warren next to the health centre where they live.
Benin's main opposition on Thursday rejected the results of this week's parliamentary election, claiming vote buying and fraud allowed allies of President Patrice Talon to win a majority of legislature seats.. Pro-Talon Republican Bloc and Progressive Union for Renewal parties together won 81 seats in the 109-member parliament with opposition Democrats gaining 28 seats, according to preliminary results on Wednesday.
A French hunter who shot dead a Franco-British man he mistook for a wild boar got a two-year suspended sentence on Thursday, days after the government outlined tighter rules for the sport.. As well as banning the shooter from hunting for life, the court in southwestern town Cahors gave the hunt leader an 18-month suspended sentence and a five-year ban.
The head of the United Arab Emirates' national oil company was named Thursday as president of this year's COP28 climate talks, prompting fierce criticism from environmental activists.. Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, who heads up the UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), will be the first CEO to take the role at the UN summit, said a statement carried by the official WAM news agency.
Just one week after the funeral of Benedict XVI, his closest aide released a much-trailed memoir Thursday, revealing details of tensions between the late pope emeritus and his more liberal successor Pope Francis.. Up until his death on December 31 at the age of 95, Benedict had remained a figurehead for the conservative wing of the Catholic Church, which views Pope Francis as too liberal.
New research that links cooking with natural gas to around 12 percent of childhood asthma cases has sparked debate about the health risks of kitchen stoves, as well as calls in the United States for stepped-up regulation.. A report released Monday used the same calculation to link 12 percent of childhood asthma to gas cooking in the European Union.
Demonstrators in Peru blocked roads and held mass funerals on Wednesday for those killed in violent anti-government protests that have gripped the country for weeks, as the United States called for "restraint" on both sides.. The United States on Wednesday urged restraint and the minimal use of force, and backed an investigation into the dozens of deaths.
