War-torn Sudan's capital experienced a communications blackout for several hours on Friday, residents said, as the army and paramilitary forces waged intense battles across Khartoum and humanitarian groups warned of worsening crises.

"Violent clashes" shook the capital, witnesses told AFP over the phone, after residents woke up to an outage of vital internet and mobile phone connections.

The source of the malfunction was not clear, though mobile and internet networks were restored by the afternoon.

Ons Jabeur hopes Saturday's Wimbledon final will be a game-changer: at the third time of asking she is bidding to become the first African or Arab woman to win a Grand Slam singles title.

The 28-year-old Tunisian takes on Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, hoping to go one better than last year when Elena Rybakina beat her in the final at the All England Club.

Jabeur continues to push the limits, despite a sometimes difficult period following a series of injuries.

Ons Jabeur hopes it will be third time lucky when she attempts to become the first African or Arab woman to win a Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon on Saturday.

The 28-year-old Tunisian takes on Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, hoping to go one better than last year when she was defeated by Elena Rybakina in the final at the All England Club and lost to world number one Iga Swiatek at the US Open later in the year.

Syria will let humanitarian aid flow through its main border crossing into rebel-held areas, reopening a conduit that had closed after a Security Council stalemate, the country's UN ambassador said Thursday.

Damascus has made a "sovereign decision" to let aid move overland from Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa crossing in northwest Syria for six months starting Thursday, ambassador Bassam Sabbagh told reporters.

He said he sent a letter to this effect to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council.

The International Criminal Court has opened a new probe into alleged war crimes in Sudan, its chief prosecutor said Thursday, expressing major concern over escalating violence.

Karim Khan made the announcement in a report to the UN Security Council, after three months of war between feuding generals have plunged the northeast African country back into chaos.

The ICC has been investigating crimes in Sudan's Darfur region since 2005 after a referral by the UN Security Council, and the Hague-based court has charged former leader Omar al-Bashir with offenses including genocide.

Sultan Al Jaber, Emirates oil executive and president of the most important climate summit since the Paris Agreement in 2015, has a quick answer when asked when the world will stop burning fossil fuels: when there's enough clean energy to replace them.

"We cannot shut down the energy system of today before we build the new energy system of tomorrow that is equipped with zero-carbon emission sources," said Jaber, head of the United Arab Emirates national oil company ADNOC and head of the upcoming COP28 climate summit.

"We don't want to create an energy crisis."

Trade ties between France and Gulf Arab states, namely Qatar and the UAE, are expanding year-on-year, France's trade minister told AFP on Thursday, praising the deepening partnership as "good news".

During a visit to the United Arab Emirates, Olivier Becht said trade ties between the UAE and France totalled more than 7 billion euros per annum, up from 6 billion euros before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Thursday urged nations targeted by Western sanctions to band together as he hosted the leader of fellow international outlier Iran.

President Ebrahim Raisi arrived for the last leg of the first Africa tour by an Iranian leader in 11 years, on a tour aimed at easing the Islamic republic's international isolation.

Raisi is the highest profile leader to visit Zimbabwe in the thick of an election campaign for a closely-watched August 23 presidential and parliamentary vote.

Two leading opponents of Tunisian President Kais Saied have been freed after spending more than five months in jail, but expressed concern about fellow activists still behind bars.

Writer Chaima Issa, a member of the main opposition coalition the National Salvation Front, was arrested in February along with former minister Lazhar Akremi, a lawyer.

Both were among some 20 opposition, media and business figures arrested in February on charges of "conspiracy against state security".

A summit of African leaders from war-torn Sudan's neighbours Thursday urged an end to the fighting, as UN experts reported a mass grave had been discovered in the country's Darfur region.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) meanwhile said it has opened a new probe into alleged war crimes in Sudan, adding that the escalating violence was a "matter of great concern".

While Cairo hosted the crisis meeting on the nearly three-month-old conflict, gun battles, explosions and the roar of fighter jets again shook the Sudanese capital Khartoum, residents told AFP.