AFP news

The Kremlin was forced Wednesday to say it was taking "all necessary measures" to ensure the safety of foreign leaders set to attend its flagship May 9 parade after a wave of Ukrainian drone attacks closed airports across the country, disrupting hundreds of flights.

Standing in the rubble of used to be his home, Palestinian farmer Haitham Dababseh cleared stones to make space for a tent after Israeli army bulldozers destroyed his village in the occupied West Bank.

The cardinal leading the last mass before a conclave to elect a new pope urged his peers Wednesday to choose someone able to protect the Catholic Church's unity and lead a "difficult and complex" point in history.

Asian equities rose Wednesday after China and the United States said they would hold trade talks at the weekend, fanning optimism that the superpowers can row back eye-watering tariffs that have heightened recession fears.

Sara, a Dubai-based journalist, joined the US-funded Alhurra TV news channel hoping for job security.

From influencer-only briefings to memes of Donald Trump as the pope and a "Star Wars" Jedi master, the White House is creating its own alternate media reality.

Weeks after Donald Trump's global tariff bombshell, Jeff Chen's factory in Taiwan is as busy as ever turning out carbon and alloy wheels for high-end bicycles bound for US and European markets.

Visitors mill around a bright red hilltop pagoda in southwestern China, gazing down at a sprawling cigarette factory whose deadly output has put an otherwise unremarkable city on the map.

Voicing frustration over the lack of success in ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for renewed focus on "our number-one geopolitical foe" -- China.

India fired missiles at Pakistani territory early Wednesday in a major escalation of tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals, with Islamabad vowing retaliation.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told US President Donald Trump that his country was "never for sale" Tuesday as they met at the White House amid tensions on tariffs and sovereignty.

President Donald Trump abruptly announced that the United States would end its attacks against Yemen's Huthis on Tuesday, saying the rebels had agreed to stop harassing ships in the Red Sea.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday that water from India that once flowed across borders will be stopped, days after suspending a key water treaty with arch-rival Pakistan.

A Ukrainian drone barrage forced Russia to close a dozen airports deep behind the frontline on Tuesday, just days before foreign leaders gather in Moscow for a major Victory Day parade.

Canadian tech firm Telus International, tasked by Meta to moderate content on its social media networks Facebook and Instagram, will slash over 2,000 jobs in Barcelona, a Spanish union said Monday.

Ford reported a 65 percent drop in first-quarter profits Monday, citing a near-term drag on auto sales from new vehicle launches, as it withdrew its forecast amid tariff uncertainty.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth on Monday ordered at least a 20 percent reduction in the number of active-duty four-star generals and admirals in the US military, a memo from the defense secretary said.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced Monday that the company behind ChatGPT will continue to be run as a nonprofit, abandoning a contested plan to convert into a for-profit organization.

New Zealand's prime minister on Tuesday proposed banning children under 16 from social media, stressing the need to protect them from the perils of big tech platforms.

Stock markets diverged Tuesday as investors awaited a US Federal Reserve interest-rate meeting for signs of the outlook for the tariffs-hit economy.

US delivery service DoorDash has agreed to take over UK peer Deliveroo in a deal worth GBP2.9 billion ($3.9 billion), according to a joint statement on Tuesday.

Cardinals will on Tuesday begin moving into the Vatican accommodation where they will stay during the conclave, on the eve of their historic, secretive meeting to elect a new pope.

An Australian woman accused of murdering three people with a toxic mushroom-laced lunch rejected offers of help before serving the dish, the sole guest to survive the deadly meal told a court on Tuesday.

Australia still wants to make "great films" with the United States, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Tuesday, as new tariffs threaten the home of Hollywood hits like The Matrix, Elvis and Crocodile Dundee.

Hamas on Tuesday dismissed as pointless ceasefire talks with Israel, accusing it of waging a "hunger war" on Gaza as famine looms and Israel prepares for a broader assault on the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

Germany's conservative leader Friedrich Merz suffered a serious blow on Tuesday when he failed to win a parliamentary majority in the first round of voting on him becoming the next chancellor.

Drones struck the airport and knocked out power across Port Sudan on Tuesday, officials said, the third straight day the Sudanese army-aligned government's seat of power has come under attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will address the "grandest" ever annual Victory Day parade in Moscow on Friday, evoking the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II to rally support for his troops fighting in Ukraine.

To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. But to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion.