AFP news

Mbele Nonhlanhla laced up her silver cleats as her coach shouted encouragement to the creaky knees, stiff backs and laboured breathing in a dressing room in South Africa's far north.

President Donald Trump goaded China on Friday after the United States' chief economic rival retaliated against his tariffs, and he dismissed falling stock markets over the growing global trade war, touting it as a chance to "get rich."

First they came for shop owners and bus drivers, ordering them to pay protection money on pain of death.

It took just one 50-minute speech by US President Donald Trump to undermine global economic stability and raise the prospect of a recession, with China's countermeasures only amplifying the risk of a debilitating tit-for-tat trade war.

Automakers have already started to adapt to the 25-percent tariff imposed on car imports by US President Donald Trump, from pausing production to raising prices or halting certain models.

China has hit back against US President Donald Trump's "liberation day" tariffs, slapping 34 percent levies on all imports of American goods.

Around 100 authors on Thursday protested outside the London headquarters of Meta, accusing the US tech giant of "stealing" content to train its Artificial Intelligence models.

In unveiling tariffs this week challenging the decades-old international trade order, President Donald Trump lambasted globalization as a raw deal for the United States that has devastated US manufacturing towns.

TikTok on Friday was hours from a deadline to find a non-Chinese owner or face a ban in the United States.

US President Donald Trump unveiled the first "gold card", a residency permit sold for $5 million each, aboard Air Force One on Thursday.

When South Korea's Constitutional Court ruled to uphold the impeachment of president Yoon Suk Yeol, thousands of protesters gathered outside to watch a live broadcast erupted into wild cheers, with some bursting into tears.

The EU announced a "new era" in ties with Central Asia on Friday at a major summit in Uzbekistan, as Brussels presses its influence in the region in the face of Russian and Chinese competition.

Israel announced the launch of a new ground offensive in Gaza City on Friday, with rescuers saying military operations had killed at least 30 people across the Palestinian territory since dawn.

Equities widened losses in Asia and Europe on Friday, extending a global rout inflicted by Donald Trump's tariff blitz that has inflamed a trade war and ramped up recession and inflation fears.

Vast new Chinese barges spotted off the country's south coast could be used to land heavy equipment and thousands of personnel in a possible invasion of Taiwan, defence experts say.

Making incisions and carefully taking samples, the scientists at a laboratory in Russia's far east looked like pathologists carrying out a post-mortem.

South Korea's Constitutional Court on Friday unanimously upheld President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment over his disastrous martial law declaration, stripping him of office and triggering fresh elections after months of political turmoil.

Scientist Inna Birchenko began to cry as she described the smouldering protected forest in Thailand where she was collecting samples from local trees shrouded in wildfire smoke.

Protesters displayed a banner calling Myanmar's junta chief a "murderer" as he joined a regional summit in Bangkok on Friday, a week after a huge earthquake killed thousands, leaving desperate survivors pleading for food and shelter.

A new school in Ireland is training up a fresh generation of thatchers in a bid to save the country's disappearing thatched roofs, an iconic feature of the Irish landscape.

Artificial intelligence is set to bring sweeping change to modern life, but at an industrial fair in Germany many companies wonder how they fit into the tech revolution.

From European wines to industrial tools, global tariffs launched by US President Donald Trump this week promise to sweep through the world's biggest economy, impacting everyone from restaurant owners to industrial manufacturers.

The winner of the Grand National, the world's most famous steeplechase, has a habit of providing a fairytale storyline and Saturday's renewal has the potential to supply another one.

Wall Street led a global markets bloodbath Thursday as countries around the world reeled from President Donald Trump's trade war, while the White House insisted the US economy would emerge victorious.

Syria accused Israel on Thursday of mounting a deadly destabilisation campaign after a wave of strikes on military targets, including an airport, and a ground incursion killed 13 people.

At a garment factory in Ho Chi Minh City that exports T-shirts and underwear to the United States, staff were alarmed by "shocking" trade tariffs imposed on Vietnam that could severely impact their business.

Syrian state media said Israel struck near a defence research centre in Damascus and hit central Syria on Wednesday, as Israel said it struck "military" capabilities and a monitor reported four dead.

The European Union is "ready for a trade war" with the United States and plans to "attack online services" in response to Donald Trump's new tariffs, the French government spokeswoman said Thursday.

Nintendo fans excited over the upcoming Switch console said Thursday they were disappointed by the high price tag, as US tariffs bite.