AFP news

Asian stock markets rose and there were fresh record highs for leading European indices Wednesday as attention turned to upcoming US inflation data.

American Marc Fogel is back on US soil Wednesday after being released from a Russian prison, in what US President Donald Trump said he hoped was the start of warming ties between Washington and Moscow.

Russia on Wednesday rejected swapping occupied territory with Kyiv as part of any future peace deal hours after launching a barrage of drones and missiles on Kyiv that killed one person.

Mediators Qatar and Egypt were pushing to resolve a crisis in the Gaza ceasefire Wednesday, a Palestinian source told AFP, after Israel and the United States told Hamas to release hostages this weekend or face a return to war.

In a packed cafe in Cairo, all eyes were glued to a flickering flat-screen TV, waiting for Omar Marmoush, now donning Manchester City's sky-blue jersey, to step onto the pitch.

Expat "mumfluencers" are taking to TikTok to sing the praises of life in Saudi Arabia and to extol the virtues of its new NEOM megacity, filming their idyllic lives spent picnicking by turquoise waters and shopping in gleaming malls.

The unfathomable scale of the world's largest religious festival in India overshadows many nations in size -- and for the economy, its impact is just as dramatic.

When President Donald Trump froze nearly all US foreign aid, Cambodia was forced to suspend workers removing dangerous mines from the country -- until China stepped in with the necessary funding.

Moscow on Tuesday freed an American prisoner after the first-known visit by a member of President Donald Trump's administration to Russia, in a deal the White House called a positive sign for ending the Ukraine war.

US President Donald Trump set a Saturday deadline for all hostages to be released from Gaza, saying that otherwise "all hell" would break out and he would call for the Israel-Hamas ceasefire to be canceled.

Google on Monday changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to "Gulf of America" for those using its Maps platform inside the United States, complying with an executive order by President Donald Trump.

European and Asian markets struggled for direction and gold hit a fresh high Tuesday as traders kept a nervous eye on Donald Trump's next tariff moves.

South Korea's suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol blamed the "malicious" opposition for his decision to declare martial law, telling a court on Tuesday that their refusal to applaud him or shake his hand exposed their plans to "destroy" his government.

New Zealand is considering withdrawing its support for an international ban on deep-sea mining, the country's resources minister told AFP on Tuesday.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday to retaliate firmly against US President Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

North Korea has given Russia 200 long-range artillery pieces, a South Korean defence ministry official told AFP on Tuesday, as Moscow and Pyongyang deepen their military ties.

Britain's BP on Tuesday said its annual net profit slumped 97 percent last year, as the struggling oil and gas giant pledged to "fundamentally reset" its strategy.

US President Donald Trump's use of tariffs as a blunt weapon to extract concessions on everything from commerce to immigration and drug trafficking could redraw global trading norms, analysts say.

World leaders were set to hold formal talks in Paris on Tuesday on artificial intelligence (AI), seeking elusive common ground on a technology subject to a global race for promised economic benefits.

US President Donald Trump floated the idea that Ukraine "may be Russian someday", as his Vice President JD Vance gears up to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later this week.

Campaigning began Tuesday in the Philippines for mid-term elections that could set the table for the next presidential race and determine the political future of impeached Vice President Sara Duterte.

In Rio de Janeiro, children are playing again "like in the old days," and their focus in class has improved after a school cellphone ban pioneered in the city that has now gone national.

YouTube has evolved from a dinner party lark 20 years ago into a modern lifestyle staple poised to overtake US cable television in paid viewership.

Hamas announced Monday it would postpone any further hostage-prisoner exchanges under a fragile Gaza ceasefire accusing Israel of violations, while Israel said its military was readying for "any possible scenario".

Kendrick Lamar commanded one of the world's most high-profile stages Sunday as the Super Bowl's halftime headliner, yet another feather in the cap of the rap laureate who has ascended to new heights of pop stardom.

French President Emmanuel Macron trumpeted the benefits of artificial intelligence Sunday, ahead of a two-day Paris summit on the technology and its potential benefits and pitfalls.

Deep in a Bavarian forest, a black reconnaissance drone buzzes overhead, piloted by US soldiers hoping to put lessons learnt from the war in Ukraine into practice.

The Berlin Film Festival, which begins this week, is set for a challenge faced by the entire Western arts industry: how to stop politics from taking over the conversation.

Artificial intelligence (AI) risks reinforcing gender disparities rather than immediate widespread job destruction, the International Labour Organization chief said Monday as a summit of national leaders and tech bosses opened in Paris.