AFP news

Iran will not resume negotiations with the United States on its nuclear programme while President Donald Trump applies his "maximum pressure" policy, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told AFP on Friday.

As Germany's Friedrich Merz gets closer to becoming chancellor, many asylum seekers live in fear of what his promised crackdown on irregular immigration will mean for them.

It was another roller-coaster week in US President Donald Trump's trade war as tariffs against China came into force while Mexico and Canada were given a temporary reprieve.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday delayed some tariffs targeting Canada and Mexico, leading Ottawa to halt an upcoming wave of countermeasures -- offering a reprieve to companies and consumers after blowback on financial markets.

Elon Musk's SpaceX on Thursday once again lost the upper stage of its massive Starship rocket in a fiery explosion, even as the booster was successfully caught in its latest orbital test -- a near replay of the previous attempt.

President Donald Trump responded Thursday to growing criticism over unprecedented cuts to the US government overseen by his billionaire advisor Elon Musk, saying they should be carefully targeted.

President Donald Trump on Thursday renewed doubts over his commitment to the NATO alliance, saying countries that are not spending adequately on their militaries do not deserve defense.

Global stock markets tumbled and the dollar retreated Friday as uncertainty over US President Donald Trump's trade policies roiled markets and traders awaited key US jobs data.

Indonesia approved local certificates for more than a dozen Apple products on Friday, the industry ministry said, moving the tech giant a step closer to having a ban lifted on iPhone sales in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

On a lush green hilltop on Israel's northern border with Lebanon, Carmela Keren Yakuti proudly shows off her home in Dovev, which she fled more than 16 months ago over fears of a Hezbollah attack.

Pope Francis's condition remained stable but complex on Friday as he battles pneumonia in hospital, the Vatican said, a day after releasing an audio message in which the 88-year-old sounded weak and breathless.

Britain and Japan stressed the importance of free trade in talks in Tokyo on Friday amid an escalating battle of tit-for-tat tariffs between the United States and other countries under President Donald Trump.

Donald Trump on Friday hosts top cryptocurrency players at the White House, a political boost for an industry that has struggled to gain legitimacy -- and where the Republican president faces conflict of interest concerns.

A Syrian war monitor said Friday said that security forces "executed" 52 members of the Alawite minority, a day after deadly clashes with gunmen loyal to toppled president Bashar al-Assad.

The unearthing of a 500-kilogram World War II bomb near tracks outside Paris on Friday halted traffic and stranded thousands of passengers in one of the biggest rail disruptions in the French capital in years.

Troubled Australian casino operator Star Entertainment said Friday it is trying to sell its stake in a major resort to raise desperately needed cash.

Violent winds toppled power lines Friday as a tropical cyclone inched towards Australia's eastern coast, swelling rivers, sparking evacuation orders and leaving 80,000 homes without electricity.

China's retaliatory tariffs against US farm produce from corn to chicken are designed to hurt Donald Trump's voter base, but remain restrained enough to allow room for the adversaries to hash out a trade deal, analysts say.

Fierce fighting between Syrian security forces and gunmen loyal to deposed ruler Bashar al-Assad killed 48 people on Thursday, a war monitor said.

Global sea ice cover fell to a historic low in February when the world continued to experience exceptional heat and temperatures reached 11 degrees Celsius above average near the North Pole, Europe's climate monitor said on Thursday.

Christie's first auction of art made by artificial intelligence (AI) ended Wednesday with mixed results, providing scant clues as to the future of the new and controversial medium.

El Salvador's San Sebastian river has no fish. In the community of Santa Rosa de Lima, a two-hour drive from the capital San Salvador, wastewater still flows directly into the San Sebastian river from a nearby hill where a gold mine operated for 100 years until 2006.

Asian stocks climbed on Thursday as investors welcomed US President Donald Trump's auto tariff delay and were expecting China to announce a large stimulus package.

China vowed to fight a trade war with the United States "to the end" on Thursday, as tariffs from Washington buffeted the global economy and threatened to hit Beijing's lagging growth.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged "no pause" in pressure on Russia to halt its "terror" after a Russian missile strike on a hotel in his hometown killed four civilians.

The Japanese owner of 7-Eleven announced on Thursday a raft of new measures to fend off a takeover by a Canadian rival, including a huge share buyback and an IPO of its US unit.

The shock entrance of DeepSeek in the race to develop advanced artificial intelligence has put the world on notice as to China's innovation prowess, a high-ranking Beijing official said Thursday.

For three years, the Kremlin saw the United States as its biggest enemy, accusing US President Joe Biden of prolonging the Ukraine conflict by supplying weapons to Kyiv.

Hamas said Thursday that Donald Trump's threats would encourage Israel to disregard the fragile ceasefire, after the US president said that unless hostages are freed, the people of Gaza would be "DEAD".