AFP news

Russians formed long queues outside Moscow's embassies in European capitals on Sunday to cast their votes on the final day of elections set to extend President Vladimir Putin's rule.

At least 61 Palestinians were killed in overnight Israeli bombardment, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Sunday, as Israel was preparing to send negotiators to new truce talks in Qatar.

Memories of the UK's once-mighty mining industry are fading but 40 years after an epoch-defining strike, Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band still embodies the close ties that once bound the community.

Russia said it was targeted by a wave of Ukrainian drones overnight Sunday, as Kremlin critics called for mass protests at polling stations on the final day of elections set to extend President Vladimir Putin's rule.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has over the past two decades built up a system of domestic repression and confrontation with the West that is almost certain to guarantee a fifth term in office on Sunday.

For people at the trend-setting tech festival here, the scandal that erupted after Google's Gemini chatbot cranked out images of Black and Asian Nazi soldiers was seen as a warning about the power artificial intelligence can give tech titans.

To the sound of Russian pop music blasting from speakers at the polling station, Eduard Ishnazarov cast a ballot for the only candidate he thought could deliver peace: Vladimir Putin.

Ukrainian bombardments killed two people and set an oil facility ablaze in Russia on Saturday, officials said, on the second day of elections guaranteed to cement President Vladimir Putin's hardline rule.

In the shadow of the war raging in Gaza, record numbers of Palestinian detainees are filling Israeli prisons, where they face "systemic abuse" and torture, rights advocates warn, calling for international action.

Russian missiles pounded Ukraine's Black Sea port city of Odesa on Friday, killing more than a dozen people including rescue workers in an attack President Volodymyr Zelensky described as "vile".

A satin leopard headscarf framing her face, 23-year-old Russian ballerina Nadezhda walked away from the electronic booth after voting for the first time, but without much enthusiasm.

From being "dazzled" by a beautiful girl to his role in Argentina's dictatorship, Pope Francis reviews his long life in his first autobiography -- and makes clear he is going nowhere.

Russians started voting on Friday in a three-day presidential election set to hand hardline leader Vladimir Putin another six-year term as fresh attacks bring the raging conflict in Ukraine further into Russian territory.

A siege by Al-Shabaab Islamist militants at a popular hotel near the presidential palace in the Somali capital Mogadishu ended on Friday after more than 13 hours with all the gunmen killed, a police officer told AFP. Armed fighters had stormed the SYL hotel in a hail of bullets late on Thursday, with Al-Shabaab claiming responsibility in a brief statement.

Filipino single mother Mary Ann Eduarte delayed chemotherapy for her breast cancer for several years and instead took food supplements falsely promoted on social media as cures for the deadly disease.

Saudi largesse is flooding Egypt's cultural scene, but the reception is mixed.

Nguyen Phuong Linh is among a crop of young electronics students crucial to Vietnam's ambitions to become a chips hub.

President Joe Biden said Thursday he is against the proposed sale of US Steel to Japan's Nippon Steel, as election year considerations appeared to outweigh the risk of angering key ally Japan.

Artificial intelligence aficionados are betting that the technology will help solve humanity's biggest problems, from wars to global warming, but in practice, these may be unrealistic ambitions for now.

The decision follows a trial in London's High Court after the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a nonprofit organisation set up to keep cryptocurrency technology free from patents, sued Wright.

A UK government proposal to ban foreign states from owning British newspapers looks set to scupper plans for an Abu Dhabi-led bid to take over the Telegraph Media Group (TMG).

Yuri Feniuk's relatives pleaded with him not to return to the front line in eastern Ukraine when he finally made it home, demoralised and weakened, after nearly one year in Russian captivity.

South Africa's biggest opposition party has triggered a furious row by appearing to call into question the country's hard won reputation for holding fair elections.

Once a bustling Palestinian town with sought-after restaurants and auto mechanics, Huwara in the occupied West Bank has been hit hard by the fallout from Hamas's October 7 attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday urged Russians to vote for him at a "difficult" time for the country, hours before polls open and as Kyiv launched a barrage of deadly attacks on Russian border regions.

At South by Southwest -- the gargantuan Texas festival for cinema, music and tech -- artists this year embraced virtual reality as a way to better connect with humanity, not escape it.

A first boat loaded with 200 tonnes of food aid was making slow progress towards the Gaza Strip on Thursday as efforts grew to bring more humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian territory besieged by Israel.

This year's Paris Olympics will use renewable energy, serve lots of vegetarian meals and heavily restrict plastic bottles, but can an event involving so much construction and international travel ever be environmentally sustainable?

A powerful Haitian gang leader pledged Wednesday to continue fighting that has plunged the country into chaos, as stakeholders work toward establishing a transitional governing body to replace the outgoing prime minister.