AFP news

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.

Landslides in India triggered by pounding monsoon rains struck tea plantations and killed at least 93 people Tuesday, with at least 250 others rescued from mud and debris, officials said.

The United States will provide $500 million in military funding to the Philippines, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday, as Washington boosts ties with Manila in the face of China's growing assertiveness.

Researchers have criticised billionaire Elon Musk for promising that his brain implant technology could eventually provide patients with vision superior to normal human sight.

A third child died on Tuesday and five others remained critically injured after a knife attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance event in a quiet seaside community in northern England, police said.

Unsafe pollution levels in the River Seine forced the postponement of the men's triathlon at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, as gymnastics icon Simone Biles eyed her first gold of the Games.

Equity markets were mixed Tuesday as investors jockey ahead of a slew of central bank decisions, key economic data and earnings from tech titans this week.

Some gods grant riches and others good luck, but one deity in India offers a much less nebulous fortune to his devotees: tickets to a new life in the United States.

Cash-strapped Ethiopia eased foreign exchange curbs on Monday as part of a broad economic reform package as the International Monetary Fund approved a loan to the Horn of Africa nation seeking a multibillion-dollar bailout.

After a deadly strike on civilians in the annexed Golan Heights, Israel has threatened retaliation against Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, accusing it of perpetrating the attack with an Iranian-made Falaq-1 rocket -- part of its wide-ranging arsenal.

France was on Monday probing the possible involvement of ultra-left movements in attacks that paralysed the rail network at the start of the Olympic Games, as new sabotage acts affected fibre optic cables in several areas.

Venezuela's opposition declared it was the rightful victor of a presidential election as global concern poured in Monday over alleged irregularities in the re-election of strongman Nicolas Maduro.

Oscar-winner Robert Downey Jr. announced his return to the Marvel superhero films during a blockbuster Disney presentation at Comic-Con Saturday, as the company attempts to reinvigorate its all-time record-grossing movie franchise.

The US Federal Reserve may signal this week that interest rate cuts are on the way -- although it is widely expected to remain on pause until its next rate decision in September.

UN member states meet Monday seeking to finalize an international treaty on the fight against cybercrime, a text strongly opposed by an unlikely alliance of human rights groups and big technology companies.

Russia said on Monday its forces had captured the village of Vovche in eastern Ukraine, the latest in a string of frontline advances Moscow has claimed in recent weeks.

Airlines suspended flights to Lebanon on Monday as diplomatic efforts were underway to contain soaring tensions between Hezbollah and Israel after deadly rocket fire in the annexed Golan Heights.

Tennis legends Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will write probably the final page in their epic sporting rivalry Monday at the Paris Olympics, where British diver Tom Daley grabbed his fifth medal in five Games.

Sofyan Sabi's sea-dwelling community has fished beneath the waves off the Indonesian coast for centuries, but climate change and overfishing have forced him and many of his contemporaries on land to make a living.

A naturalized US citizen, Nicaraguan-born Linda Fornos believes uncontrolled immigration is harming her family's ability to care for itself, and says she will be casting her ballot for Donald Trump in November -- having voted Democrat in 2020.

Simone Biles dazzled a star-studded crowd as she returned to the Olympic stage on Sunday while Rafael Nadal set up a showdown with career-long rival Novak Djokovic.

The mastermind of the ambitious Paris Olympics opening ceremony on Sunday rejected criticism his boundary-breaking show had gone too far, saying it had created a "cloud" of love and tolerance.