AFP news

The US Federal Reserve could provide additional clues on Wednesday about how much it will cut interest rates this year, but it is almost certain to leave its key lending rate unchanged for the time being.

Argentina's middle class is vanishing: with austerity cuts introduced by self-proclaimed "anarcho-capitalist" President Javier Milei, ever more people cannot afford schooling or medicine, even those holding down two jobs.

US top diplomat Antony Blinken was set to return to the Middle East Wednesday in a new bid to secure a truce in the Israel-Hamas war as the threat of famine looms in besieged Gaza.

In a tiny television studio in the French capital, two unveiled Afghan women face the camera on a mission to provide a lifeline to their fellow countrywomen back home.

Sequestered at home in a remote Afghan town, 18-year-old Shekiba often roams the house hunting for the patchy internet signal that is her last link to an education.

China lashed out against critics of Hong Kong's new national security law on Wednesday, accusing the British government of having the "mindset of a coloniser" and condemning the EU's "hypocritical" position.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to return Wednesday to the Middle East in a new bid to secure a truce in the Israel-Hamas war.

Seven million Senegalese are due to head to the polls on Sunday to vote in a wide open presidential election following weeks of chaos and uncertainty.

Global temperatures "smashed" heat records last year, as heatwaves stalked oceans and glaciers suffered record ice loss, the United Nations said Tuesday -- warning 2024 was likely to be even hotter.

Hong Kong legislators unanimously passed a new national security law on Tuesday, introducing penalties such as life imprisonment for crimes related to treason and insurrection, and up to 20 years in jail for the theft of state secrets.

Efforts to hammer out a temporary truce in Gaza intensified Tuesday after months of war that have left parts of the devastated territory facing imminent famine.

Look at this stone bridge," said writer Vedat Akcayoz pointing to the crumbling stumps of a 10th-century span over the Arpacay river that marks the closed border between Turkey and Armenia.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Artem knew that he would not "sit idly by".

Nottingham Forest have been thrust into the Premier League relegation zone after being hit with a four-point deduction for breaches of financial rules, that are becoming a dominant topic in the world's richest league.

Half of Gazans are experiencing "catastrophic" hunger, with famine projected to hit the north of the territory by May unless there is urgent intervention, a United Nations-backed food security assessment warned Monday.

Argentina's President Javier Milei has slashed public spending but 100 days into his presidency social tensions are simmering and he is still battling to pass his flagship economic reforms.

Allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin including China and India congratulated him Monday on winning a fifth term in power but Western leaders dismissed the election as illegitimate, held under repressive conditions with no credible opposition.

Ukrainian forces facing a lack of munitions and manpower are digging in to resist Russian attack, mirroring the invaders' strategy and showing Kyiv expects a drawn-out war.

Russia's election commission on Monday hailed what it said were "record" results for President Vladimir Putin, guaranteeing the former spy a fifth term in office after a vote that featured no credible opposition.

As a US campaign to sever TikTok from its Chinese parent heads to the Senate, analysts say Beijing's response to a forced sale of the app -- and its 'secret sauce' algorithm -- will be clear: Hands off.

Afghan rider Sarwar Pahlawan blinked away pain from the fresh stitches between his eyes as his buzkashi team chased victory in a tournament for an ancient sport still steeped in risk but now offering modern-day rewards.

The Israeli army launched Monday an operation around Gaza's largest hospital, Al-Shifa, with witnesses reporting air strikes on the devastated neighbourhood where it is located.

It's a task of grave importance, but there's nothing to stop New Zealanders having a laugh as they work on DIY caskets in the country's "coffin clubs".

Ali is 12 and has survived things no child should see, spending half his life in what amounts to a prison camp for jihadist families in an arid corner of northeastern Syria.

Their stories are divided into before and after.

From vampires and wendigos to killer asteroids, TikTok users are pumping out outlandish end-of-the-world conspiracy theories, researchers say, in yet another misinformation trend on a platform whose fate in the United States hangs in the balance.

A major film that imagines a second civil war in the near-future United States has highlighted fears about the divided state of the nation ahead of November's presidential election.

An unstoppable Kylian Mbappe hit a hat-trick as Paris Saint-Germain romped to a 6-2 win away to Montpellier on Sunday that allowed them to open up a huge 12-point lead at the top of Ligue 1.

The Russians who came to cast a protest ballot in Moscow on Sunday had little hope for political change, but took comfort from knowing they were not alone in opposing Vladimir Putin's hardline rule.