AFP news

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky met briefly in the hush of St Peter's basilica on the sidelines of Pope Francis's funeral on Saturday in their first encounter since a noisy White House clash, as the US president pushes the Ukrainian leader to make a peace deal with Russia.

In fluid synchronisation, dozens of robotic arms picked up metal parts and welded them onto vehicle beds, as car skeletons gradually took shape and progressed along an automated factory floor near the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo.

Pope Francis, champion of the poor and the Church's first Latin American leader, will be honoured Saturday with a funeral attended by world leaders and tens of thousands of Catholic faithful.

The United States and Iran were to hold a fresh round of technical and high-level nuclear negotiations in Oman on Saturday, after both sides reported progress in previous meetings.

The UN's World Food Programme said Friday it had depleted its food stocks in war-ravaged Gaza where Israel has blocked all aid for more than seven weeks.

US envoy Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin on Friday discussed the "possibility" of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine during a meeting in Moscow, the Kremlin said Friday.

American Airlines withdrew its full-year profit forecast Thursday, citing economic uncertainty that has clouded its outlook for hiring and capacity additions.

Google parent Alphabet on Thursday reported profit of $34.5 billion in the recently ended quarter, powered by its cloud computing and artificial intelligence operations.

President Donald Trump has defied international norms on the nascent field of deep-sea mining, signing an executive order Thursday expanding the practice for rare earth minerals in domestic and international waters.

Donald Trump's online store is selling merchandise emblazoned with "Trump 2028," the year of the next US presidential election, in which the Republican is constitutionally banned from running.

New Intel chief executive Lip-Bu Tan on Thursday announced upcoming layoffs at the struggling US chip maker as White House tariffs and export restrictions muddy the market.

Asian and European stocks climbed on Friday, buoyed by a rally on Wall Street, strong earnings from Google parent Alphabet, and hopes of diffusing tensions in US President Donald Trump's trade war.

China's top leaders pledged on Friday to step up support for the economy and oppose "unilateral bullying" in global trade in a veiled rebuke of hefty tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

Russia's central bank kept borrowing costs at a two-decade high of 21 percent on Friday to combat rampant inflation, despite banks and businesses warning the economy was headed for a slowdown.

An explosive device ripped through a parked car near Moscow on Friday killing a senior Russian general, investigators said, in an attack that resembled previous killings claimed by Ukraine.

TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices.

Europe is "absolutely vital" to the fight against global warming and its leadership must not waver as climate ambition backslides elsewhere, the CEO of November's COP30 summit in Brazil told AFP. In an interview in Paris, Ana Toni urged the European Union to unite around a strong emissions reduction target as the 27-nation bloc squabbles over its level of climate ambition.

The United Nations urged India and Pakistan to show "maximum restraint" as the nuclear-armed rivals imposed tit-for-tat diplomatic measures over a deadly shooting in Kashmir.

A decade has passed since a massive earthquake ripped through Nepal, but in Ram Bahadur Nakarmi's home the damage is still visible -- and so is the fear another might strike.

A charred Myanmar hillside is wreathed by flames, spewing ochre smoke that smothers out sunlight in an apocalyptic scene.

The Vatican will make final preparations Friday for Pope Francis's funeral as the last of the huge crowds of mourners file through St Peter's Basilica to view his open coffin.

A sea of flowers blanketed the cold concrete of the brutalist memorial to the Armenian genocide on the Tsitsernakaberd hill, overlooking the capital Yerevan.

Gaza rescue teams and medics said Israeli air strikes killed at least 53 people on Thursday, as the military issued fresh evacuation orders ahead of a planned attack.

Once blithely dominant in China, European automakers are now launching full-fledged charm offensives at consumers in the world's largest car market, seeking to claw back sales lost to domestic rivals.

The European rights court condemned France on Thursday for failing to protect the rights of three teenagers who reported rape, including one who accused 14 firemen of abuse.

India and Pakistan exchanged an escalating series of tit-for-tat diplomatic measures on Thursday after New Delhi blamed its arch-rival for backing a deadly shooting attack in contested Kashmir.

YouTube on Wednesday celebrated more than 20 billion videos being uploaded to the platform since the first clip debuted two decades ago.

A coalition of 12 American states filed a lawsuit Wednesday to challenge the Trump administration's tariffs, saying the president cannot institute the levies without the approval of Congress.

Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8 metre (399 feet, eight inch) long strawberry cake which they have claimed is the world's longest ever made.