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The United Nations on Wednesday agreed to start negotiating a world-first global treaty on plastic pollution in what has been hailed as a watershed moment for the planet.

The "snap!" of a shutting phone is the nostalgic sound resonating from the giant stands of Samsung, Oppo and Huawei at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.

Superstar French designer Olivier Rousteing admitted he felt uncomfortable presenting his latest collection for Balmain at Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday in view of the war in Ukraine.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the launch on Wednesday of a multi-agency task force to pursue "corrupt Russian oligarchs" and violators of sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Smartphone manufacturers have promised to do better when it comes to recycling and reconditioning their product, responding to pressure from environmental campaigners.

Ukrainian men with worried looks, weary women and restless children, many staring into the distance, wait patiently in the long queue as Czech volunteers call out instructions left and right.

The impact of the conflict in Ukraine on the US economy is "highly uncertain," and the central bank will need to adjust quickly to ensure the post-pandemic recovery continues, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday.

The decision to cancel the Russian Grand Prix due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine "does not make sense", former Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone told AFP on Wednesday.

Russia's blocking of a liberal radio station and an independent TV channel has shaken remaining independent media in the country that see the invasion of Ukraine as opening up a "second front" against them.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the launch on Wednesday of a task force to pursue "corrupt Russian oligarchs" and violators of sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Russian authorities are scrambling to stem panic as massive sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine delivered the worst economic shocks since the fall of the Soviet Union.

On a table covered in a green sheet, two Saudi officers pour out thousands of white amphetamine pills they have just seized from a neighbourhood in the kingdom's Red Sea city of Jeddah.

Nigeria's government on Wednesday planned to start airlifting more than 1,000 citizens stranded in countries neighbouring Ukraine after they fled the Russian invasion.

Russian forces shelled several Ukrainian cities on Wednesday as troops battled in the streets of Kharkiv and Ukraine's president accused Moscow of wanting to "erase our country".

Manu Tuilagi was missing Wednesday from an England training squad selected for this week's three-day training camp in Bristol ahead of their next Six Nations match against Ireland.

The golden beaches of Cyprus may seem a long way from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but many on the eastern Mediterranean holiday island fear damaging financial fallout from unprecedented sanctions on Moscow.

Oil prices soared Wednesday above $113 per barrel and natural gas hit a record peak, as investors fretted over key producer Russia's intensifying assault on Ukraine.

When Russia's veteran Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hosted his British counterpart Liz Truss for talks in Moscow in February in a doomed attempt to avert war, he had a trick up his sleeve.

Honduras has repealed a controversial secrecy law in a bid to battle corruption following a late-night parliamentary session Tuesday.

The wounded Ukrainian soldier dropped his crutches to the Kyiv metro station floor and picked up his five-year-old son, first wiping tears from his shaking wife's face.

The Covid pandemic has taken a dire toll on mental health, the WHO said Wednesday, indicating that cases of anxiety and depression had swelled by over 25 percent globally.

The United Nations on Wednesday agreed to start negotiating a world-first global treaty on plastic pollution in what has been hailed a watershed moment for the planet.

Once defended by the former chancellor Angela Merkel as a purely economic project that will bring cheaper gas to Europe, the controversial 10-billion-euro Nord Stream 2 pipeline has finally been canned by Germany over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Ford announced Wednesday it is creating separate businesses for its conventional and electric-auto operations, as it accelerates its build-out of emission-free vehicles.

English Premier League club Everton said Wednesday they were suspending with "immediate effect" sponsorship agreements with three companies in which Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov has a stake following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The number of refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine has surged to nearly 875,000, UN figures showed on Wednesday, as fighting intensified on day seven of Russia's invasion.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and other top oil producers on Wednesday agreed to hold firm on only gradually opening the taps despite Russia's assault on Ukraine sending prices spiralling.

From world boxing champions to football stars, top Ukrainian sports people are resisting the Russian invasion of their country, with some even returning home to take up arms.

Two years after the official start of the pandemic, some countries are now trying to "live with Covid", however scientists warn that potential new variants and unequal vaccination rates threaten any long-awaited return to normality.

Oil prices soared Wednesday above $113 per barrel and natural gas spiked to a record peak, as investors fretted over key producer Russia's intensifying assault on Ukraine.

Japan will accept Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia's ongoing invasion, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday, in a break with the country's usual reticence to accept humanitarian arrivals.

Russia's largest lender Sberbank said Wednesday it was leaving the European market after Western sanctions were levelled against the state bank in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.