AFP news

Liverpool will take on Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 of this season's Champions League while Friday's draw also threw up a showdown between reigning champions Real Madrid and their city rivals Atletico.

Pope Francis, in hospital with pneumonia, is not out of danger and will have to stay at least another week, his doctors said Friday amid questions over the 88-year-old's future as head of the Catholic Church.

After steel and aluminium, US President Donald Trump has set his sights on slapping 25 percent tariffs on semiconductors, cars and pharmaceuticals.

On a snowy prairie in Minnesota stands a monastery like no other. Their order has shrunk, from being the world's largest male Benedictine monastery with 340 monks, to below 100.

Germany's far-left Die Linke party has enjoyed a late poll surge ahead of Sunday's elections, boosted by a spirited anti-fascist speech by its new rising star that quickly went viral.

Spotify on Thursday began accepting audiobooks narrated by digital voices created by artificial intelligence software firm ElevenLabs, pitching it as a cost-effective option for authors.

Elon Musk said Thursday that a feature on his social media platform X which allows users to fact-check potentially misleading posts was being "gamed" over Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky and vowed to "fix" it.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday ordered an "intensive operation against centers of terrorism" in the occupied West Bank, his office said, after three buses exploded in central Israel without causing any reported injuries.

European and Asian markets rose on Friday, with Hong Kong leading the way thanks to a surge in tech stocks led by e-commerce titan Alibaba.

Nissan shares surged 11 percent Friday after a report said a Japanese group including a former prime minister plans to ask US electric vehicle giant Tesla to invest in the automaker.

The World Trade Organization's entire mission is overseeing global trade, but US President Donald Trump's tariff offensive has left it adrift.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back against accusations that the Trump administration has given in to Russia even before talks on ending the Ukraine war begin, saying Washington first wants to see whether Moscow was "serious".

Chinese tech companies shrugged off foreign scrutiny of upstart chatbot maker DeepSeek, telling AFP on Friday they were confident the country's tech startups would make more gains in the global artificial intelligence race.

Swedish authorities said Friday they were investigating suspected damage to an underwater cable in the Baltic Sea, following a string of incidents experts believe are acts of sabotage orchestrated by Russia.

China issued a warning Friday of potential "live fire" naval drills in international waters off Australia's eastern coast but gave little prior notice, disrupting commercial air flights, the Australian government said.

Taskin Erduan thought he'd got a bargain: three litres of vodka for around $15.

They appear tranquil soaring above Himalayan forests, but a string of cable car projects in Nepal have sparked violent protests, with locals saying environmental protection should trump tourism development.

Mexico's president warned the United States on Thursday her country would never tolerate an "invasion" of its national sovereignty and vowed fresh legal action against US gunmakers after Washington designated cartels as terrorist organizations.

Burundi has "accelerated" the withdrawal of some troops from DR Congo, a senior military source told AFP Thursday, as the UN warned the small Great Lakes nation was seeing its biggest influx of refugees from its conflict-riven neighbour in 25 years.

Iran executed at least 975 people last year in a "horrifying escalation" of its use of capital punishment, two human rights groups said on Thursday.

Donald Trump said Wednesday his administration was "looking at alternatives" to Boeing following delays in delivering two new models of the US presidential Air Force One plane.

European aircraft maker Airbus said Thursday net profits rose in 2024 as it boosted plane deliveries and set a goal of accelerating them further.

Apple on Wednesday introduced a new iPhone 16e model with a lower price tag as the company seeks to revive sales of its iconic device.

Hundreds watched on Thursday as four black coffins, which Hamas said held the remains of Israel's Bibas family and an elderly hostage, were carried off stage by Palestinian militants in southern Gaza.

The European Central bank on Thursday reported a record loss in 2024 after it had aggressively hiked eurozone interest rates in response to soaring inflation.

South Korea's ousted premier said on Thursday that he had opposed suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law, testifying for the first time at his former boss's impeachment trial about the events of a night that threw the country into turmoil.

A failing Australian metals plant will be transformed into a hub for making "green iron and steel", Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday as the government stepped in with a billion-dollar rescue package.

Outgunned Ukrainian forces have slowly lost territory to Russian troops over recent weeks.

US President Donald Trump suggested on Wednesday that a trade deal was "possible" with China -- a key target in the US leader's tariffs policy.