AFP news

Hamas officials accused Israel on Wednesday of delaying aid deliveries to Gaza and jeopardising a truce and hostage release deal, an allegation Israel dismissed as "fake news."

OpenAI on Tuesday launched a bespoke version of its ChatGPT artificial intelligence tool for use by the United States government.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that his country could hold peace talks with Ukraine, but ruled out speaking directly with President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he called "illegitimate".

As the clock ticks down on TikTok's 75-day reprieve from divesting from its Chinese owners or being banned in the United States, several contenders are in the running.

With around six million dollars and a stockpile of chips acquired before Washington banned their export to China, startup DeepSeek has produced what Chinese tech titans couldn't -- a world-class AI chatbot.

From incense offerings and vibrant lion dances in Beijing to prayer rituals at temples in Bangkok and Taipei, hundreds of millions of people across Asia celebrated the Lunar New Year on Wednesday, ushering in the Year of the Snake.

US export controls on high-tech chips may have inadvertently fuelled the success of start-up DeepSeek's AI chatbot, sparking fears in Washington there could be little it can do to stop China in the push for global dominance in AI. The firm, based in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, has stunned investors and industry insiders with its R1 programme, which can match its American competitors seemingly at a fraction of the cost.

Promising a "simplification shock", the EU will unveil a much-anticipated blueprint to revamp Europe's economic model on Wednesday, as the bloc struggles to keep up with China and the United States.

A pre-dawn stampede at the world's largest religious gathering killed at least 15 people in India Wednesday, with many more injured after a surging crowd spilled out of a police cordon and trampled bystanders.

The president of crisis-hit Democratic Republic of Congo was set to meet his Rwandan counterpart at an emergency summit on Wednesday, as fighters backed by Kigali appeared on the brink of seizing the key city of Goma.

Beyonce is the most decorated artist in Grammys history, and her album releases have both triggered cultural earthquakes and reshaped music industry norms.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday offered most federal workers the option to leave their jobs in exchange for eight months severance, in his most radical move yet to drastically overhaul the government.

Students in Serbia vowed to continue protesting even after the country's Prime Minister Milos Vucevic announced his resignation on Tuesday, following weeks of mass demonstrations over the fatal collapse of a train station roof in November.

Israel, backed by Washington, will cease contact with the UN's Palestinian humanitarian relief agency UNRWA and any other body acting on its behalf, its UN envoy said Tuesday, drawing condemnation from aid groups.

An idea floated by US President Donald Trump to move Gazans to Egypt or Jordan faced a renewed backlash Tuesday as hundreds of thousands of Gazans displaced by the Israel-Hamas war returned to their devastated neighbourhoods.

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order to start planning for an "Iron Dome" air defense system for the United States, like the one that Israel has used to intercept thousands of rockets.

Svitlana Rudokvas once took solace in the fact that fighting between the Ukrainian army and Russian forces was raging at a safe distance in the eastern Donetsk region neighbouring her own.

Firefighters were desperately trying to stop a cluster of fast-moving blazes in southeast Australia on Tuesday, as thousands of acres of national park burned and a farming community was forced to evacuate.

Britain's first teacherless AI classroom may be an "outlier", but it underlines the potential benefits and risks of a UK government drive to rollout artificial intelligence in education, experts say.

Gunshots rang out through parts of the besieged DR Congo city of Goma on Tuesday, as Congolese soldiers clashed with militia fighters backed by Rwandan troops ahead of a UN Security Council meeting.

Fears of upheaval in the AI gold rush rocked Wall Street on Monday following the emergence of a popular ChatGPT-like model from China, with US President Donald Trump saying it was a "wake-up call" for Silicon Valley.

Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek has made waves in Silicon Valley, stunning investors and industry insiders with its ability to match the skills of its Western competitors at a fraction of the cost.

Far from the bleep-driven video game soundtracks of yesteryear, French composer Olivier Deriviere is determined to help craft the audio sensation of a medium he believes is still finding a voice of its own.

Japanese tech firms sank Tuesday after a sell-off in US titans following news of China's DeepSeek chatbot, while the dollar rallied on a report saying Washington was considering universal tariffs on a range of goods.

For President Donald Trump's allies, his crackdown on the "illegal and immoral discrimination" of equal opportunities programs reflects a shifting US electorate that has lost patience with ineffective and performative political correctness.

One week into his second administration, Donald Trump has put technology at the forefront, featuring tech billionaires prominently at his inauguration and announcing major AI infrastructure deals from the White House.

Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company, and streaming behemoth Spotify on Sunday announced a multi-year direct deal that will affect both recording and publishing royalty rates.

Taiwan has identified 52 "suspicious" Chinese-owned ships flying flags of convenience that require close monitoring if detected near the island, the coast guard said Monday, as Taipei seeks to protect its subsea telecoms cables.

The Russian subsidiary of French supermarket chain Auchan quashed rumours of an impending sale on Monday, saying it continued to operate for the benefit of the local population.