AFP news

From false claims of Americans panic-buying Chinese goods to bot-driven attacks on US brands, a tide of misinformation is casting a shadow over a temporary trade truce between Washington and Beijing.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's party on Sunday swept the board in parliamentary and regional elections that were boycotted by the opposition in protest over his disputed re-election last year.

Liverpool lifted the Premier League trophy at a jubilant Anfield as the curtain came down on the 2024/25 season on Sunday.

Asian stocks were mixed Monday after Donald Trump thrust his trade war back into the spotlight by threatening the European Union with huge tariffs before extending a deadline for their implementation.

Palestinian rescuers said an Israeli strike at dawn on Monday killed 13 people at a Gaza City school, as Israel presses ahead with what it has described as a renewed push to destroy Hamas.

Kenda Zellner-Smith hauled up a corrugated metal door to reveal hundreds of wooden boards covered with graffiti, each telling a story of the protests that followed George Floyd's killing by a US police officer.

US President Donald Trump called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin "crazy" on Sunday after Moscow launched a deadly barrage of drones against Ukraine, even as the warring countries completed a large-scale prisoner exchange.

Rafael Nadal said a tearful farewell as Roland Garros paid tribute to its greatest champion on Sunday, while Aryna Sabalenka got her French Open campaign up and running with an emphatic victory.

Syria's new authorities have agreed to help the United States locate and return Americans who went missing in the war-ravaged country, a US envoy said on Sunday, in another sign of thawing bilateral ties.

In India's sprawling financial hub of Mumbai armies of "dabbawalas" have for decades crisscrossed the city by foot and bicycle, delivering home-cooked food to office workers who are keen to avoid the searing heat and traffic-snarled streets.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Saturday that an Israeli strike in the southern city of Khan Yunis killed nine children of a pair of married doctors, with the Israeli army saying it was reviewing the reports.

Bangladesh's interim government, which took over after a mass uprising last year, warned on Saturday that unity was needed to "prevent the return of authoritarianism".

"It Was Just an Accident" by dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi won the Palme d'Or for best film at the Cannes Festival on Saturday.

Syrian authorities on Saturday announced an interior ministry restructuring that includes fighting cross-border drug and people smuggling as they seek to improve ties with Western nations that have lifted sanctions.

As the Cannes film festival hands out its prizes, AFP looks back at some of the highlights of a politically charged fortnight of screenings and celebrity sightings.

Stripped naked, beaten until she could no longer walk, sexually assaulted and covered in excrement: award-winning Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire told AFP of the torture she suffered at the hands of security forces in Tanzania this week.

The United Nations chief said Friday that Palestinians were enduring "the cruelest phase" of the war in Gaza, where more than a dozen food trucks were looted following the partial easing of a lengthy Israeli blockade.

A French court on Friday convicted a gang of robbers who stole $10 million in jewellery from reality TV star Kim Kardashian in a Paris hotel in 2016, although they will not return to jail and the verdicts were more lenient than requested by the prosecution.

Iran's foreign minister described nuclear talks with the United States as "complicated", following the conclusion of a fifth round of discussions in Rome on Friday.

President Donald Trump rekindled the US trade war on Friday, threatening to impose a 50 percent tariff on the European Union ahead of planned trade talks -- and drawing a strong response from European politicians.

A French prosecutor on Friday requested the maximum 20-year sentence for a former surgeon who admitted to sexually abusing almost 300 patients, mostly children.

Ukraine and Russia began a major prisoner exchange Friday, which if completed would be the biggest swap since Moscow invaded more than three years ago.

The banning of fugitive ex-leader Sheikh Hasina's party offers a sliver of justice for Bangladeshis demanding she face trial for crimes against humanity but also raises concerns about the inclusivity of elections.

Donald Trump's administration on Thursday revoked Harvard's ability to enroll foreign nationals, putting the future of thousands of students at risk and threatening the prestigious university with a huge financial blow.

An Australian firm's production of a heavy rare earth, a first outside of China, is a "major milestone" in diversifying a critical supply chain dominated by Beijing, experts say.

Plumes of smoke rose Thursday over the northern Gaza Strip where Israel's military urged civilians to evacuate, as rescuers said Israeli strikes across the territory killed more than 50 people.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned Thursday that Russia threatened security in Europe as he visited Lithuania to mark the official formation of Germany's first permanent overseas military unit since World War II, aimed at bolstering NATO's eastern flank.

Lyudmila Vasilyeva, 84, survived the Siege of Leningrad in World War II as a child.

Director Joachim Trier found himself crying behind the camera as he shot "Sentimental Value", his moving new tale about a quietly fractured family that got an extraordinary 19-minute standing ovation Thursday at the end of its premiere at the Cannes film festival.