AFP news

Pope Francis wrapped up an arduous 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Friday, defying health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore.

Sudan's priceless archaeological heritage is being stripped from museums, with looters loading statuettes and fragments of ancient palaces onto lorries, smuggling them out of the war-torn country, and selling them online.

"Shogun" is tipped to become the first ever non-English-language winner of the Emmy for best drama -- the most prestigious prize at the small-screen equivalent of the Oscars -- at a glitzy ceremony on Sunday.

For Pennsylvania farmer George Wherry, 85, fracking for natural gas under his otherwise bucolic fields means greater economic "freedom" -- one of the many reasons he'll be voting for Donald Trump in November.

Donald Trump said Thursday he would not take part in another debate with Kamala Harris, as the White House rivals headed back to battleground states that are set to decide a nail-bitingly close US presidential election.

A pioneering private crew made history Thursday by becoming the first civilians to perform spacewalks, as NASA hailed "a giant leap forward" for the commercial space industry.

European consumer groups on Thursday accused the world's biggest video game companies of "purposefully tricking" consumers, including children, to push them to spend more on in-game purchases.

An Irish regulator helping to police European Union data privacy launched an investigation Thursday into Google's artificial intelligence development.

Millions of people across Southeast Asia struggled Thursday with flooded homes, power cuts and wrecked infrastructure after Typhoon Yagi swept through the region, as the death toll passed 200.

With inflation slowing and the economic outlook darkening, the European Central Bank is expected to cut interest rates again Thursday but is unlikely to give much away about its next moves.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday meets Poland's leaders to forge common cause on Ukraine as upcoming US elections and Russian attacks raise new jitters.

Major Japanese and American business groups have urged US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen not to succumb to political pressure when reviewing Nippon Steel's proposed acquisition of United States Steel.

Peru's former president Alberto Fujimori, who ruled his country with an iron fist and then spent 16 years in prison for crimes against humanity, died on Wednesday at age 86 in the capital Lima.

Prices for bread have jumped so much over the last few years that Russian pensioner Oleg Ivanovich sometimes has to go without.

Taylor Swift on Wednesday repeated her call for fans to register to vote in the US presidential election as she accepted MTV's top Video Music Award.

It has been around six weeks since Vladimir Kara-Murza swapped his prison long-johns and rubber flip flops for sharp suits, but the major opponent of the Kremlin says he is still adjusting to reality.

Israel bombed a school housing displaced Palestinians in central Gaza on Wednesday, which rescuers said killed 18 people, including UN staffers, while the Israeli army said it hit a Hamas control centre.

Boeing faces a potentially crippling strike in the Seattle region, depending on how 33,000 workers vote Thursday on a new contract that has angered many employees despite solid wage gains.

Peru's Alberto Fujimori, who died Wednesday at the age of 86, was a one-time university dean who rose to wage a bloody campaign against insurgents as president in the 1990s -- but ended up jailed for atrocities.

Tens of thousands of flag-waving supporters of Catalan independence rallied in Barcelona on the Spanish region's commemorative day, with separatists deeply divided and out of office in Catalonia for the first time in over a decade.

Cities and villages across France are scrambling to rid themselves of plaques while schools are moving to change their names following a raft of posthumous sexual abuse accusations against a charity icon who was showered with accolades in his lifetime.

A new study posits a very surprising answer to one of history's great mysteries -- what killed off the Neanderthals?

The president of medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) accused Italy's hard-right government Wednesday of seeking to criminalise humanitarian aid to drowning migrants, as a court suspended authorities' blockage of its ship.

The US and British top diplomats vowed Wednesday to work together for Ukraine's victory as they discussed further easing rules on firing Western weapons into Russia, whose alleged acquisition of Iranian missiles has raised new fears.

Australian Olympic breakdancer "Raygun" has been ridiculed, written off, and now crowned number one in the world, the sport's governing body confirmed Wednesday.

Australia football head coach Graham Arnold said his side were "extremely disappointed" after their goal-drought continued into a second World Cup qualifier, this time leading to a 0-0 draw with Indonesia in Jakarta.

US tech giant Amazon is to invest GBP8 billion ($10.5 billion) in Britain over the next five years, creating thousands of jobs via its web services arm, the company and UK government announced Wednesday.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump set out Wednesday to ride the momentum from their high-stakes debate into the final sprint to November as they seek to persuade undecided voters and shake up a presidential election locked in a dead heat.

US consumer inflation eased more than expected last month, according to government data published Wednesday, bolstering expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week.