Once, a river ran through it. Now, white dust and thousands of dead fish cover the wide trench that winds amid rows of trees in France's Burgundy region in what was the Tille River in the village of Lux.

From dry and cracked reservoirs in Spain to falling water levels on major arteries like the Danube, the Rhine and the Po, an unprecedented drought is afflicting nearly half of the European continent. It is damaging farm economies, forcing water restrictions, causing wildfires and threatening aquatic species.

Known for splashing the cash on superstars, Paris Saint-Germain is changing its strategy as a 16-year-old midfielder became the youngest player in the club's history.

Warren Zaire-Emery impressed on tour in Japan last month, showing great composure and a smart reading of the game. PSG coach Christophe Galtier gave Zaire-Emery his French league debut against Clermont last week by sending him on for Italy international Marco Verratti in the 82nd minute. PSG won its league opener 5-0 and next plays Montpellier on Saturday.

For most teenage girls in Afghanistan, it's been a year since they set foot in a classroom. With no sign the ruling Taliban will allow them back to school, some are trying to find ways to keep education from stalling for a generation of young women.

At a house in Kabul, dozens gathered on a recent day for classes in an informal school set up by Sodaba Nazhand. She and her sister teach English, science and math to girls who should be in secondary school.

The family of Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, a 42-year-old man who held bank staff hostage for hours Thursday, blocked the Ouzai road in protest of a judge's decision to arrest Bassam.

Judge Ghassan Khoury ordered at night the arrest of Hussein, after he was promised during negotiations as he was still in the bank that he would not be arrested.

The Palestinian death toll from last weekend's fighting between Israel and Gaza militants rose to 48 Friday after an 11-year-old girl and a man died from wounds they suffered during the worst cross-border violence in over a year.

Meanwhile, two wounded Gaza children, ages 8 and 14, were fighting for their lives in a Jerusalem hospital. In all, more than 300 Palestinians were wounded over the weekend when Israel struck Islamic Jihad targets across Gaza and the militant group fired hundreds of rockets at Israel.

Thousands of Brazilians have flocked to a law school in defense of the nation's democratic institutions, an event that carried echoes of a gathering nearly 45 years ago when citizens joined together at the same site to denounce a brutal military dictatorship.

In 1977, the masses poured into the University of Sao Paulo's law school to listen to a reading of "A Letter to Brazilians," a manifesto calling for a prompt return of the rule of law. On Thursday, they heard declarations defending democracy and the country's elections systems, which President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly attacked ahead of his reelection bid.

Torrential rains across southwestern Yemen and the country's capital of Sanaa have triggered flashfloods and collapsed homes, killing at least 38 people over the past two days, officials said Thursday.

Scores of homes in Sanaa and the provinces of Dhamar and Ibb have completely collapsed or have been significantly damaged, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

An eight-hour hostage crisis ended Thursday evening at Federal Bank's Hamra branch as an armed depositor turned himself in to security forces after the bank agreed to pay him a part of his deposit.

Around ten hostages, most of them bank employees, had been held by the man throughout the day.

On a day of give and take, Western nations made more pledges to send arms to Ukraine while the European Union's full ban on Russian coal imports kicked in on Thursday amid claims sanctions against Moscow now even affected its defense exports.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged Thursday that Germany "is shipping arms — a great, great many, sweeping and very effective. And we will continue to do so in the coming time."

China on Thursday renewed its threat to attack Taiwan following almost a week of war games near the island. Taiwan has called Beijing's claims to the self-governing democracy "wishful thinking" and launched its own military exercises.

Taiwan's "collusion with external forces to seek independence and provocation will only accelerate their own demise and push Taiwan into the abyss of disaster," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing.