AFP news

A dual referendum in Ireland on redefining family and women's roles in the constitution has been "comprehensively" defeated, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Saturday.

A shadowy political party that ruled Karachi for more than three decades, overseeing the city's descent into a swamp of organised crime, has risen from the ashes in Pakistan's tainted elections.

Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Pakistan's slain first female premier Benazir Bhutto who has had a life storied equally by tragedy and farce, is set to become president for a second time on Saturday.

With Gaza's humanitarian crisis growing more dire and his left flank in uproar, President Joe Biden is increasingly showing impatience with Israel's leader and making clear the United States will act on its own -- but few expect a dramatic break.

A jury in New York on Friday found former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez guilty of trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States, enriching himself while protecting and abetting some of the region's most infamous drug cartels.

People around the world marked International Women's Day Friday with protests, demonstrations and celebrations.

"Health and Sovereignty" was the theme. "Medical sovereignty is one of the multifaceted parts of sovereignty and Russia wants to help African countries advance it," he said in French to the Burkina24 network at the conference, where some wore stickers of the Russian and Burkina Faso flags.

Nigeria's President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Friday sent troops to rescue more than 250 pupils kidnapped by gunmen from a school in the country's northwest in one of the largest mass abductions in three years.

"I don't sleep anymore," Latifa Abu Hamid said while looking at pictures of her children hanging on the walls of her living room, two women and 10 men.

The world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange Binance is halting operations in Nigeria's naira currency as the government puts cryptobusinesses under increasing scrutiny.

US President Joe Biden warned Israel on Thursday that it cannot use aid as a "bargaining chip" in its fight against Hamas and called for an immediate temporary ceasefire in Gaza, where fears of a looming famine have multiplied.

Student activist Lin Lin led protests against Myanmar's junta, defying the generals for months before being hunted down and caught.

From teaching centuries-old crafts to cataloguing their language, exiled Tibetans guard the cultural identity of a homeland most have neither seen nor dare visit, and where they say Beijing is eradicating their heritage.

President Joe Biden launched a fiery attack on his "dangerous" November presidential election rival Donald Trump in Thursday's State of the Union address, warning that US democracy is under "assault."

For Muslims worldwide, Ramadan is a time of prayer, reflection and joyful evening meals, but all Gazans wish for this year is an end to five months of war and suffering.

As a teenager, Victor Rodriguez felt excluded from his religion for being gay, but now he's welcome at inclusive masses in a Mexico City church, where same-sex couples have also begun receiving blessings with the pope's endorsement.

The Al-Otaibi sisters have paid a steep price for defending women's rights in Saudi Arabia, with one detained, another exiled, and the third trapped in the kingdom under a travel ban.

China described the war in Gaza as a "disgrace to civilisation" and called on Thursday for an immediate ceasefire as the conflict stretched into its sixth month despite efforts by mediators to reach a truce.

The Dalai Lama, wrapped in red and yellow robes, urged chanting monks and nuns in his latest public prayers to help heal the world with their "compassionate heart".

China's foreign minister gave a rare press conference to foreign media on Thursday, outlining Beijing's positions on major global issues as it holds annual political meetings known as the Two Sessions.

Kimono-clad Mayuko Kashiwazaki delivers her lines in guttural tones and transforms into an evil snake in the lead role of a Japanese Noh play where, unusually, most of the cast are women.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi lashed out against the United States and praised his country's partnership with Russia on Thursday, in a wide-ranging press conference where he called the war in Gaza a "disgrace for civilisation".

Travelling 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) by air between two capitals on the same continent does not seem like a challenge.

The armorer who loaded the gun that killed a cinematographer on the set of the Alec Baldwin movie "Rust" was convicted Wednesday of involuntary manslaughter.

The EU's landmark curbs on how tech titans do business online kick in from Thursday, but just how far Brussels succeeds in bringing the giants to heel will hinge on bitter battles that still lie ahead.

Israel's war cabinet, seen as a symbol of national unity in the war against Hamas, has been shaken by political rivalry between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and centrist Benny Gantz, analysts say.

Bumblebees and chimpanzees can learn skills from their peers so complicated that they could never have mastered them on their own, an ability previously thought to be unique to humans, two studies said on Wednesday.

The UN Security Council expressed its concern over the deteriorating situation in violence-gripped Haiti on Wednesday, as Washington ramped up pressure on absent Prime Minister Ariel Henry to secure a political settlement.

Senegalese voters should finally head to the polls at the end of March, following a string of announcements late Wednesday marking the latest twist in weeks of crisis triggered by the delay to the presidential election.