AFP news

Hamas and Israel will conduct their fourth swap of the Gaza ceasefire on Saturday, with militants releasing three Israelis including the father of the two youngest hostages, in exchange for 183 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

Divers scoured for the remaining bodies from the Washington plane crash Friday as President Donald Trump posted his own politicized verdict on the deadliest US air disaster in almost a quarter century, with the investigation barely underway.

Police in Norway said on Friday they had seized a Norwegian-owned ship with a Russian crew over its suspected involvement in damage done to a Baltic Sea cable.

Germany's conservative election frontrunner Friedrich Merz defiantly vowed Friday to pass a bill to restrict immigration with the support of the far-right AfD, repeating a tactic that has sparked an outcry and street protests.

Faced with the first big test of his new administration, Donald Trump wanted to show he was in control.

Intel reported a fourth-quarter loss on Tuesday, but better than expected revenue as the US chip giant continues to struggle to stake its place in the artificial intelligence revolution.

European and Asian stock markets mostly rose Friday, the end of a week beset by volatility after China's DeepSeek unveiled an artificial intelligence model to rival those of US tech giants.

Hamas and Israel will carry out their fourth hostage-prisoner swap of the Gaza ceasefire on Saturday, with the militant group to free three Israeli captives in exchange for 90 inmates in Israeli jails.

Hayan Hadid was 18 when soldiers arrested him in his pyjamas and took him for execution in Syria's Hama in 1982, during one of the darkest chapters of the Assad clan's rule.

The Rwandan-backed armed group M23 moved south as it closed in on a key military airport in DR Congo on Friday, a day after pledging to take the capital Kinshasa and as international criticism mounted.

Music's biggest stars including Beyonce and Taylor Swift will vie for top awards at Sunday's Grammys gala, a glitzy ceremony proceeding despite devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.

With less than 24 hours before President Donald Trump's deadline to impose sweeping tariffs on the three biggest US trading partners -- Canada, Mexico and China -- the global economy is bracing for impact.

Four years after Myanmar's military seized power in a coup, the country is in the grip of a bloody civil war that has driven many of the country's young across the border to Thailand.

Global figure skating's tight-knit community was in mourning on Thursday after a passenger jet crash in Washington killed two former world champion coaches and young stars from the next generation of top US talent.

The United States and Russia have pledged their readiness to resume nuclear disarmament talks after years of confrontation, but analysts are sceptical that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin can or even want to reach a breakthrough new agreement.

Fighting desperately to cling on to coal mines that were once the lifeblood of its industrial east, Ukraine's soldiers conceded they were struggling against intensifying Russian attacks.

The Rolling Stones on Thursday led tributes to Sixties music icon Marianne Faithfull, adding she would be forever remembered after her death at the age of 78.

Traditionally, when US secretaries of state make their international debuts, they travel to major US allies and offer bromides about working together.

Marianne Faithfull, who died on Thursday aged 78, was one of the great survivors of the Swinging Sixties, bouncing back from drink and drug oblivion to become a celebrated and distinctive singer-songwriter.

Strewn with rubble from mortar and artillery fire, the eastern DR Congo city of Goma awoke on Thursday to a new abnormal -- hiding from bandits and counting the dead.

US President Donald Trump -- speaking as the bodies of 67 people were being pulled from Washington's Potomac River -- launched an extraordinary political attack Thursday, blaming diversity hires for the midair collision between an airliner and a military helicopter.

Germany's ex-chancellor Angela Merkel weighed in Thursday on a controversy flaring ahead of February elections, slamming her party successor for relying on far-right support on the flashpoint issue of immigration.

The families of Thai farm workers held for over a year in Gaza cheered and wept with relief Thursday as they were freed in a hostage-prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas.

Nostalgia-tinged evening wear, fantasy-fuelled escapism and messages about world peace featured during a packed Paris Couture Week that also saw new changes on fashion's artistic director merry-go-round.

An Iraqi refugee in Sweden who repeatedly burned the Koran in 2023, sparking outrage in Muslim countries, has been shot dead, investigators said Thursday, with Sweden's prime minister suggesting a "foreign power" might have been involved.

Social media giant Meta on Wednesday reported surging profits and revenue for 2024, announcing ambitious plans to expand its artificial intelligence infrastructure in the year ahead.

Israel will cut ties with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Thursday following accusations it provided cover for Hamas militants, a move likely to hamper delivery of its vital services after 15 months of war in Gaza.

British energy giant Shell on Thursday announced a 17-percent drop in annual net profit owing to weaker oil and gas prices as well as asset write-offs.

A record 92.3 million passengers travelled through Dubai's international airport last year, its operator said on Thursday, underlining the Gulf city's economic boom.