Opposition to a deal that would allow U.S. companies access to critical minerals in Congo is growing after Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi returned from the U.S. minerals summit last week — with praises from U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. lawmakers.

Tshisekedi has offered U.S. companies access to eastern Congo's rich minerals — mostly untapped and estimated to be worth $24 trillion – as a bargaining chip for U.S. support to help fight off rebels and build critical infrastructure in the region where Rwanda-backed rebels seized major cities last year.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance's team posted and then deleted a message on social media about the Republican's visit to a memorial paying tribute to early 20th century Armenians killed by the Ottoman Empire.

The issue was the post using the term "Armenian genocide," a designation the U.S. government historically has not used for what happened, with a notable exception by the Biden administration. The White House blamed a staff mistake.

Eileen Gu isn't trying to sound zen about all this. It just sort of comes out that way.

There is something inherently dangerous about flinging yourself down the side of a mountain or soaring over snow and ice, yet don't describe what Gu and hundreds of other Winter Olympians who are exposing themselves to the unpredictable whims of the elements across northern Italy as a battle.

Dubai International Airport maintained its crown as the world's busiest airport last year as officials said Wednesday that a record 95.2 million passengers transited through its terminals, part of the emirate's continued economic boom.

The airport took off in the post-pandemic years, spurred by worldwide interest in travel and by ever-increasing tourism, business and real estate opportunities in the biggest city in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai on Monday reported a 5% increase in tourists last year, to 19.6 million, a third consecutive year of record-breaking figures.

Inflation in crisis-prone Argentina accelerated more than expected and for a fifth straight month in January, the country's statistics agency said Tuesday, a closely watched report whose outdated methodology in recent days stoked political turmoil and created a headache for libertarian President Javier Milei.

Consumer prices rose 2.9% last month compared with December, said the statistics agency known by its Spanish acronym INDEC, largely owing to increases in the prices of food, restaurants, hotels and utility bills.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan carried out a surprise mini Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, replacing the justice and interior ministers.

The Official Gazette announced that Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Akin Gurlek will serve as justice minister, replacing Yilmaz Tunc, while Mustafa Ciftci, governor of the eastern province of Erzurum, has been appointed interior Minister, succeeding Ali Yerlikaya.

Australia is demanding criminal charges over a 2024 Israeli airstrike on an aid convoy in Gaza that killed seven people, including an Australian aid worker, the country's prime minister said Wednesday in a case that has drawn sweeping condemnation and strained relations between the two countries.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he conveyed the request to visiting Israeli President Isaac Herzog during a meeting earlier in the day.

Human-caused climate change had an important impact on the recent ferocious wildfires that engulfed parts of Chile and Argentina's Patagonia region, making the extremely high-risk conditions that led to widespread burning up to three times more likely than in a world without global warming, a team of researchers warned on Wednesday.

The hot, dry and gusty weather that fed last month's deadly wildfires in central and southern Chile was made around 200% more likely by human-made greenhouse gas emissions while the high-fire-risk conditions that fueled the blazes still racing through southern Argentina were made 150% more likely, according to World Weather Attribution, a scientific initiative that investigates extreme weather events soon after they happen.

At least 20 people were killed after a powerful cyclone struck Madagascar and 15 were missing, the Indian Ocean island's disaster authority said Wednesday.

Cyclone Gezani made landfall on Tuesday, slamming into the second-largest city Toamasina, with winds reaching 250 kilometers per hour.

Crouching amid a pile of rubble that used to be his Gaza home, Mahmoud Hammad scoops dirt into a large sieve and shakes it, looking carefully before dumping it out.

In recent days, he was lucky. Tiny bones appeared.