AFP news

Kamala Harris will be confirmed as the Democratic US presidential nominee in an electronic vote starting Thursday that replaces the fanfare of in-person balloting that usually kicks off the party's national convention.

The European Union's landmark law on artificial intelligence came into force on Thursday, which Brussels vows will drive innovation while protecting citizens' rights.

Iraq signed an agreement with British energy giant British Petroleum on Thursday to develop four oil and gas fields in the northern province of Kirkuk.

Danish shipping giant Maersk said Thursday it expects its underlying profit in 2024 to be $2 billion higher than its previous forecast as freight rates have increased amid the crisis in the Red Sea.

US journalist Evan Gershkovich and former US marine Paul Whelan are expected to be released by Russia as part of one of the biggest East-West prisoner swaps since the Cold War, according to US media Thursday.

Most equity markets rose Thursday after the Federal Reserve flagged a possible interest rate cut next month, but Tokyo's Nikkei tumbled on a stronger yen following a hike by the Bank of Japan.

Iran was set to hold funeral processions on Thursday for Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh after he was killed in a strike in Tehran blamed on Israel.

When millions of Bangladeshis came back online this week after a nationwide internet shutdown, many were shocked to watch a ferocious police clampdown they had earlier only heard while bunkered in their homes.

An ambition from Paris Olympics organisers to cut the carbon footprint of catering at this year's eco-friendly Games has run into a problem: the huge appetites of meat-loving athletes.

Hezbollah on Wednesday mourned its top commander Fuad Shukr, whose body was recovered from the rubble of an Israeli strike in south Beirut, as fears mounted of a wider conflict.

Boeing on Wednesday named the aerospace veteran Robert "Kelly" Ortberg its next CEO, as the aviation giant reported a hefty loss on continued operational problems.

Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris had decided to "turn Black" for political gain, as he attacked his Democratic White House rival during a combative and inflammatory interaction with African American journalists in Chicago.

Home favourite Leon Marchand wrote his name into the Olympic history books with a phenomenal double gold on a pulsating night in the Paris pool Wednesday, as Japanese gymnast Shinnosuke Oka took a thrilling all-around title.

Weary of gunfire and bombs, Ana Munoz recently closed her shop in a hamlet near the city of Cali, which will host a UN biodiversity summit in October that has been threatened by Colombian guerrillas.

The entire world, including Ukraine, wants Russia to join global leaders at a planned second peace summit to end the war in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has told French media including AFP. With Russian forces gaining momentum on the front and aid from allies ebbing or in doubt, Zelensky has launched an ambitious diplomatic offensive to end the war grinding through its third year.

International pressure mounted Wednesday on Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro to release voting records to back his contested election victory claim that has sent thousands onto the streets in protest, at the cost of a dozen lives so far.

The US Federal Reserve is highly unlikely to waver from its position of holding interest rates at a two-decade high on Wednesday, but could drop hints about a September start to rate cuts.

Bot-like accounts on social media platform X that spread misinformation and hate ahead of Britain's election are now amplifying conspiracy theories around US politics, a watchdog investigation revealed Tuesday, as the race to the White House kicks into high gear.

Australian children with potentially deadly peanut allergies will be offered life-saving treatment in a nationwide programme touted as a world first.

Hezbollah said Wednesday that senior military commander Fuad Shukr was inside a south Beirut building hit by Israel the previous day but that his fate remained unknown.

Banking giant HSBC said Wednesday that pre-tax profits in the first half of 2024 came in at $21.6 billion, slightly lower than last year's record performance.

Hamas said Wednesday its political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he was attending the swearing-in of the new president, and vowed the act "will not go unanswered".

The yen rose against the dollar Wednesday after Bank of Japan hiked interest rates for the second time in 17 years, while equity markets in Asia rose on growing hopes for a cut in US borrowing costs.

It was supposed to be the jewel in the crown of the 10-year presidency of Joko Widodo, but Indonesia's capital-to-be, carved out of dense jungle in Borneo, is a vast building site just weeks before being due to open.

Venezuelans gathered Tuesday in a peaceful show of opposition support as their leader urged the military not to "repress the people" a day after four died in protests against President Nicolas Maduro's disputed presidential victory.

The controversy over the iconoclastic opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics is refusing to abate days into the Games, with conservative political figures worldwide condemning a show that has been staunchly defended by President Emmanuel Macron and its creators.

Israel and Hezbollah exchanged deadly fire on Tuesday, following a rocket attack from Lebanon on the Golan Heights that killed 12 children over the weekend and sent regional tensions soaring.

Throngs of firefighters were mobilized in California Monday to battle the state's largest blaze of the year, which has prompted thousands of evacuations and already burned an area larger than the city of Los Angeles.

From false claims of a "staged" assassination attempt on Donald Trump to a viral joke about his running mate having sex with a couch, American liberals have taken a page from the far-right's playbook in pushing wild conspiracy theories ahead of US elections.