AFP news

In a Japanese shop selling pocket-money trinkets, there is a rack of toys, stickers and keyrings based on a global crew of AI-generated characters that almost every child knows about -- and very few adults.

Talks on forging a landmark treaty to combat the scourge of plastic pollution were stumbling Saturday, with progress slow and countries wildly at odds on how far the proposed agreement should go.

Ukraine won't surrender land to Russia to buy peace, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Saturday, after Washington and Moscow agreed to hold a summit in a bid to end the war.

Twin cathedral bells rang in unison Saturday in Japan's Nagasaki for the first time since the atomic bombing of the city 80 years ago, commemorating the moment the atrocity took place.

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will hold talks in Alaska next Friday in a bid to end the war in Ukraine, which was triggered by Russia's February 2022 invasion.

Israel's military will "take control" of Gaza City under a new plan approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet, touching off a wave of criticism Friday from both inside and outside the country.

Israel's military will "take control" of Gaza City under a plan proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and approved by his security cabinet, his office said in a statement Friday.

Indonesia is cracking down on a viral pirate flag that is spreading as a symbol of political protest ahead of independence day.

As summer temperatures rise, many Parisians are warming to the idea of installing air conditioning in their apartments, ending a longstanding resistance to what is considered a basic comfort in many capitals elsewhere.

International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry is in the spotlight on how she handles her "baptism of fire" over Russia, former IOC executives have told AFP. With just six months to go to the opening ceremony for the Milan-Cortina Winter Games the odds are that Russian athletes -- normally a Winter Games superpower -- will have to compete under a neutral banner, owing to the country breaching the Olympic Charter.

A biologist might go a lifetime without discovering a new species. "Species are being created in these harsh environments."

Israel's security cabinet was expected to meet on Thursday to discuss military plans in Gaza, local media reported, as the families of hostages launched a desperate plea for help aboard a flotilla headed for the Palestinian territory.

Pensioner Marji Mansfield never imagined she would end up suspected of terrorism for protesting against the banning of a pro-Palestinian group.

At a funeral home in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, Svitlana Ostapenko paced around as she prepared the dead for their final journey.

The third-hottest July worldwide ended a string of record-breaking temperatures, but many regions were devastated by extreme weather amplified by global warming, the European climate monitoring service said Thursday.

The United States began charging higher tariffs on dozens of trading partners Thursday, in a major escalation of President Donald Trump's drive to reshape global commerce in America's favor.

Asian equities rose Thursday, with big-name chip firms making big gains after Donald Trump said those investing in the United States would be exempted from a threatened 100-percent tariff on semiconductors.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered steeper tariffs on Indian goods over New Delhi's continued purchase of Russian oil, opening a new front in his trade wars hours before another wave of duties takes effect.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday hailed talks between his envoy and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Ukraine as "highly productive" but US officials said sanctions would still be imposed on Moscow's trading partners.

French firefighters on Wednesday battled to halt the spread of a wildfire in the south of the country that has left one person dead as emergency workers in Spain fought a fire that has forced the evacuation of more than 1,500 people from a resort.

Israel's military will have to execute any government decisions on Gaza, the defence minister said Wednesday after reported disagreements over the prospect of a full occupation of the Palestinian territory.

Poland's new nationalist president Karol Nawrocki called for a "sovereign Poland" and promised to "fight those who are pushing the nation towards decline" as he was sworn in on Wednesday.

Sun-seekers crowded onto the beach in Mariupol in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine -- a devastated city which Moscow wants to turn into an improbable seaside resort.

When the giant landfill collapsed in Uganda's capital Kampala a year ago, Zamhall Nansamba thought she was hearing an aeroplane taking off.

It is wedding season in the Comoros, when the diaspora return to the tiny Indian Ocean islands for days-long celebrations that mark an essential rite of passage, the "Grand Mariage".

Sufi singer Jamal has spent decades devoted to his craft but now fears for his future as hardline Islamists gain ground in post-revolution Bangladesh.

Deep in the rugged forests of North Macedonia, small-hydropower developers are facing off with activists who warn that a thirst for lucrative green energy contracts is threatening the country's rivers.

Japan marked 80 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Wednesday with a ceremony reminding the world of the horrors unleashed, as sabre-rattling between the United States and Russia keeps the nuclear "Doomsday Clock" close to midnight.

A "one-in, one-out" deal in which Britain can return some migrants who cross the English Channel in small boats back to France came into force on Tuesday, as the UK government battles people smuggling gangs.