MOSCOW (AFP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed Friday concluding a pact with the United States against interfering in one another's elections, just weeks before the US heads to the polls. Western countries have for years accused Russia of using hackers and internet trolls to sway the outcome of elections, and US intelligence officials have said that it is once again manipulating social media in favour of Donald Trump as it did in 2016. In a Kremlin statement, Putin called

PARIS -- Airbus is aiming to put the world's first hydrogen-powered commercial plane into service by 2035, the European aircraft maker's boss said in remarks published Monday. Hydrogen is a clean fuel, emitting only steam, but whether it is green depends on the carbon footprint of the fuels used to produce it. France and other European countries are investing billions of euros in the development of green hydrogen, with the highly polluting transport industry a prime area for its intended use

PARIS (AFP) -- The number of coronavirus cases registered worldwide topped 30 million on Thursday, according to an AFP tally based on official sources. The grim landmark came as the World Health Organization warned of "alarming rates of transmission" of Covid-19 across Europe. The tallies, using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the World Health Organization (WHO), probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections. Many countries

     TOKYO (AFP) --Japanese officials and Tokyo 2020 organizers began talks Friday on the mammoth task of how to hold the postponed Olympics safely while the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage.    The Games were postponed earlier this year in a historic decision as the scale of the coronavirus crisis became clear.    But with less than a year until the new opening date on July 23, 2021, many questions remain -- from how border controls will affect the mov

  BRUSSELS (AFP) --NATO on Friday called for an international probe into the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and demanded Moscow reveal its Novichok nerve agent programme to the global chemical weapons watchdog.    After an emergency meeting of NATO's ruling council, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said all countries were united in condemning the "horrific" attack on Navalny.    Germany, where Navalny is being treated, briefed the other

PARIS (AFP) - Neymar was one of three Paris Saint-Germain stars to have contracted the coronavirus, a well-placed source told AFP on Wednesday, after the Champions League runners-up announced several positive tests. "Three Paris Saint-Germain players have confirmed positive Sars CoV2 tests and are subject to the appropriate health protocol," PSG said in a statement. "All of the players and coaching staff will continue to undergo tests in the coming days." When contacted b

BEIJING (AFP) -- Tens of thousands of people in an ethnic Mongolian region of northern China have joined rare protests and school boycotts against a new curriculum they fear will wipe out their minority culture, residents said Tuesday. The sudden policy change in Inner Mongolia means all ethnic minority schools in the remote region will now be required to teach core subjects in Mandarin rather than Mongolian, echoing similar moves in Tibet and Xinjiang to assimilate local minorities into the d

FRANKFURT AM MAIN (AFP) -- Germany is in a V-shaped economic recovery and should avoid a new phase of lockdowns, the economy minister said Tuesday, despite a resurgence of coronavirus cases. German GDP is expected to fall 5.8 percent in 2020, a narrower recession than the 6.3 percent drop projected earlier, Peter Altmaier said, signalling that the country is emerging from the worst of the crisis. Altmaier said Germany "can and will" avoid lockdowns like Germans lived through in Mar

BARCELONA (AFP) -- Lionel Messi missed a coronavirus test at Barcelona's training ground on Sunday morning, club sources have confirmed to AFP, raising the possibility he will now boycott preseason to force a transfer. Without passing a coronavirus test, Messi will be unable to join teammates for new coach Ronald Koeman's first training session on Monday, with the start of the La Liga season less than two weeks away. Messi was due to report for testing at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday but according t

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US President Donald Trump will travel next week to the Midwestern city where African American Jacob Blake was shot multiple times in the back by a white policeman, sparking a nationwide wave of protest. Trump will meet police in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday and "survey damage from recent riots" triggered by Blake's shooting last weekend, White House spokesman Judd Deere said Saturday. Blake took at least half a dozen shots in front of his small children as he tr

ROME (AFP) -- China's foreign minister on Tuesday kicked off a tour of a Europe still reeling from coronavirus, as he seeks to shore up economic and diplomatic relations in light of tensions with the US. Donald Trump's administration has stepped up anti-China rhetoric in the run-up to the US presidential election on November 3, despite ongoing trade talks. On his first European stop in Rome, Wang Yi shied away from naming Washington explicitly, but lamented "provocation and damage from e

JAKARTA (AFP) -- South Korea's LG Electronics has temporarily shut a factory near Indonesia's capital after some 200 employees contracted coronavirus, the company and a local official said Tuesday. The Cibitung plant, which makes televisions and digital sign parts, will shut for nine days after about a third of its 600 employees tested positive. LG would "come up with disinfection measures for the entire property for the safety and health of its employees", it said in a statement.

       DUBLIN (AFP) -- Ryanair will cut its September and October timetable by "20 percent" on weaker-than-expected demand following renewed virus-linked travel restrictions in some European countries, the Irish airline said Monday. "These capacity cuts and frequency reductions for the months of September and October are unavoidable given the recent weakness in forward bookings due to COVID restrictions in a number of EU countries," the no-frill

     PARIS (AFP) -- Amazon France has withdrawn advertisements for child-like sex dolls from its website after an online outcry, the French government said Monday. The French AIVI anti-paedophilia movement alerted authorities on Twitter over the weekend, prompting widespread outrage on social media. Screengrabs of some of the dolls, shared in an online campaign accusing Amazon of facilitating paedophilia, show some of the dolls on offer: likenesses  of pre-pu

  GENEVA -- The World Health Organization insisted Monday there was still hope of conquering the coronavirus pandemic despite the pain and suffering behind the looming 750,000 death toll and 20 million cases. With both landmarks expected to be reached within days, the WHO said it was never too late to take action to suppress the COVID-19 crisis that has gripped the planet. "This week we'll reach 20 million registered cases of COVID-19 and 750,000 deaths," WHO chief Tedros Adhan

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Two Chinese nationals have been indicted for seeking to steal COVID-19 vaccine research and hacking hundreds of companies in the United States and abroad, including defense contractors, the US Justice Department said Tuesday. Li Xiaoyu, 34, and Dong Jiazhi, 33, also targeted human rights activists in the United States, China and Hong Kong, Assistant Attorney General John Demers said. The indictment comes amid rising tensions between the global superpowers fueled by the coro

NEW DELHI (AFP) -- India on Friday became the third country in the world to record one million coronavirus cases, following Brazil and the United States where infections also continued to surge. The virus has killed more than 588,000 people and infected nearly 14 million around the world since first being detected in China late last year. But, despite extraordinary restrictions on people travelling that have crippled the global economy, the pandemic is worsening in many parts of the world. I

BEIJING (AFP) -- Beijing 2022 organisers were "pressing ahead" with preparations for the Winter Olympics Friday after a senior IOC official warned the coronavirus could force the Games to be postponed. Dick Pound, a former International Olympic Committee vice-president, told AFP that all options would have to be considered if the Beijing Games cannot be held in 2022. Beijing is due to host the Winter Olympics just six months after the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, which have been put ba

MOSCOW (AFP) -- President Vladimir Putin has ordered snap military drills involving 150,000 personnel and hundreds of aircraft and naval vessels to ensure "security in Russia's southwest," the defence ministry said Friday. "In accordance with the decision of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces snap exercises are being conducted by troops of the Southern and Western military districts," Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying in a statement. The

BEIJING (AFP) -- US officials have "lost their minds and gone mad" in their dealings with Beijing, China's foreign ministry said Friday, in the latest verbal salvo between the two superpowers. Tensions between Washington and Beijing have run high this year and some of the most outspoken critics of China in American congress were this week hit with sanctions, days after the US imposed visa bans and asset freezes on several Chinese officials. US Attorney General Bill Barr added fuel t