AFP news

OpenAI on Monday released a higher performing and even more human-like version of the artificial intelligence technology that underpins its popular generative tool ChatGPT, making it free to all users.

Rescuers recovered more bodies on Tuesday after weekend flash floods and cold lava flow on Indonesia's Sumatra island killed at least 57 people and left another 22 missing, provincial officials said.

Israeli troops fought Hamas militants in multiple battles across the Gaza Strip, forcing new waves of Palestinian mass displacement, as Israel marked a sombre Independence Day on Tuesday.

Russia's offensive around Ukraine's Kharkiv likely aims more at presenting Kyiv with a strategic quandary over where to deploy its already stretched forces than taking the major city, experts say.

Since a Russian court in January sent his older brother, environmental activist Fail Alsynov, to prison for four years, Idel says he has lived in "fear of the unknown".

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived Tuesday in Kyiv on an unannounced visit to assure Ukraine of continued American support and the flow of much-needed weapons as Russia presses on with its new offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

New Caledonia's high commissioner said Tuesday that shots had been fired at security forces during a night of riots in the French Pacific territory that saw vehicles torched and shops looted.

Inside his Abu Dhabi gastro pub, Chad McGehee inspects shiny steel tanks fermenting a special brew: the first beer made in the conservative Arab Gulf, where alcohol has long been taboo.

Hollywood stars jetted into Cannes on Tuesday as the world's most famous film festival gets under way in dramatic circumstances, including a fugitive director's daring escape from Iran, and a looming cloud of fresh #MeToo allegations.

Since the first version of Minecraft was released to the public 15 years ago, the block-based world-building game has become a global phenomenon.

When Philippine environmental activist and radio host Gerry Ortega was shot dead on the tropical island of Palawan, his family and friends believed there was enough damning evidence to convict the alleged mastermind.

Celebrities who have remained silent on the crisis in Gaza are feeling the wrath of angry fans wielding the "digital guillotine" to block them on social media and streaming platforms.

An area of Jerusalem's national military cemetery, where soldiers killed in Gaza are buried, was on Monday filled with mourners and emotion as Israel marked a painful Memorial Day.

Donald Trump's one-time fixer and the star prosecution witness in the ex-president's criminal trial testified Monday that he lied and bullied to help his former boss hide "catastrophic" revelations of a tryst with a porn actress.

Russia pummelled towns and villages in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region on Monday, days after launching a surprise ground offensive over the border that has forced thousands to evacuate.

The fight against biopiracy -- plundering genetic resources and the traditional knowledge surrounding them -- could soon be based on an international treaty which is being finalised at negotiations that began on Monday.

Glacier National Park's ice fortress is crumbling. To this end, Glacier National Park's winding trails are dotted with signs that pose poignant questions.

Hundreds of young Georgians crowded outside parliament on Monday ahead of a third straight night of protests against a "foreign influence" bill that has split the Caucasus country and triggered international condemnation.

President Vladimir Putin's nomination of top economic official Andrei Belousov as defence minister is a sign of the importance the Russian leader places on the war economy in gaining the upper hand in what he expects will be a long conflict against Ukraine, analysts say.

India's six-week election resumed Monday including in Kashmir, where voters were expected to show their discontent with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cancellation of their disputed territory's semi-autonomy and the security crackdown that followed.

Israel battled Hamas in Gaza on Monday, including in far-southern Rafah, despite US warnings against a full-scale invasion of the crowded city and of the threat of post-war "anarchy" across the Palestinian territory.

Sergei Shoigu, who is being replaced as Russia's defence minister, spearheaded Moscow's offensive in Ukraine and has been the country's longest-serving minister, as well as being one of Vladimir Putin's few close friends.

An all-out Israeli offensive on the Gaza city of Rafah would provoke "anarchy" without eliminating Hamas, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday, as Washington stepped up a pressure campaign against such an assault.

The US auto workers union's drive to organize auto plants in the southern United States faces a second test this week at Mercedes-Benz in Alabama following a triumph last month.

The number of people killed by flash floods and cold lava flow from a volcano in western Indonesia over the weekend has risen to 41 with 17 more missing, a local disaster agency official told AFP Monday.

The world's biggest banks financed fossil fuels to the tune of $705 billion in 2023, with US and Japanese lenders leading the way, an annual report by climate campaigners said Monday.

Equities fluctuated Monday with traders taking a breather after the past weeks' healthy run as they absorbed weak Chinese data and news that Beijing planned to start selling almost $140 billion of bonds to boost the stuttering economy.

Chinese banks are tightening scrutiny over trade with Russia for fear of incurring strict new US sanctions over the Ukraine war, testing the "no limits" friendship between the two countries.

"Minecraft", "Valheim", and "Raft", just to name a few: Small or even one-man teams from Sweden have produced more video game hits than one would expect from a small country.