AFP news

TikTok has pledged to "go dark" in the United States on Sunday, threatening access for 170 million app users without 11th-hour guarantees from the government, as President-elect Donald Trump says he is considering a reprieve -- after he takes office.

Thousands gathered in northern Liberia on Saturday for the funeral of warlord-turned-politician Prince Johnson, a notorious face of the country's brutal civil wars who died without facing trial.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has told investigating magistrates in France, where he is charged with multiple infractions linked to enabling organised crime, that he "realised the seriousness of all the allegations", according to a source close to the case.

Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attended court for the first time on Saturday to fight a request by investigators to extend his detention as they probe his failed martial law bid.

A ceasefire in the Gaza war will begin Sunday morning at 0630 GMT, mediator Qatar said on Saturday after Israel's cabinet voted to approve the truce and hostage-prisoner release deal.

Iga Swiatek demolished Emma Raducanu on Saturday to sweep into the last 16 of the Australian Open as 38-year-old Frenchman Gael Monfils stunned fourth seed Taylor Fritz.

Israel's cabinet voted to approve a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal on Saturday, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, ending days of uncertainty about whether the truce would go into effect this weekend.

The United States offered to extend its signature African investment project into the troubled east of the Democratic Republic of Congo as an incentive for a peace deal, but Rwanda has backed away, a senior US diplomat said.

Russia and Iran signed a new treaty on Friday underpinning their economic and military cooperation, in what both sides cast as a major milestone in their relations.

Russia on Friday sentenced three lawyers who had defended Alexei Navalny to several years in prison for bringing messages from the late opposition leader from prison to the outside world.

France's President Emmanuel Macron was in Lebanon on Friday, where he was due to meet his newly-elected counterpart and offer support to leaders seeking to open a new chapter in their country's turbulent history.

A "hot-headed" Novak Djokovic sent an Australian Open warning to join Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev in the last 16 on Friday, but Naomi Osaka's bid for a third Melbourne crown is over with injury.

An Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal expected to take effect on Sunday has sparked hope for life-saving aid to reach Palestinians, but aid agencies warn of obstacles from destroyed infrastructure, massive need and collapsed law and order.

Israel's security cabinet was set to meet Friday to approve a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal that should take effect this weekend.

Asian markets were mixed Friday as data showing China's economy grew slightly quicker than expected last year failed to inspire investors, with Beijing battling to revive consumption and boost the battered property sector.

Fidias Panayiotou, a Cypriot YouTuber-turned-lawmaker who snatched his 15 minutes of fame by hugging Elon Musk, is doubtless the tech titan's biggest fan in the European Parliament -- but far from the only one.

China recorded one of its slowest rates of economic growth in decades last year, data showed Friday, as leaders nervously eye a potential trade standoff with incoming US president Donald Trump.

TikTok has dramatically changed music discovery and marketing -- a reliance the looming US ban on the popular app has underscored as the music world braces for an unknown future.

For seven years, US director David Lynch drank the same chocolate milkshake each day at the same time from the same place in Los Angeles because he believed it helped his creativity.

David Lynch -- the groundbreaking director behind "Mulholland Drive" and television's "Twin Peaks," who gained a cult following for his unsettling portraits of American life -- has died.

They increasingly own everything from access to space to how we get news on Earth and now outgoing President Joe Biden warns America's new breed of Donald Trump-allied oligarchs could gobble up US democracy itself.

Global news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) and French artificial intelligence company Mistral AI have signed a deal for the start-up's chatbot to use news agency reports to respond to users' requests, executives from the two organisations said Thursday.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a "landmark" 100-year partnership agreement with Ukraine during an unannounced visit to the war-torn country on Thursday, seeking to shore up support for Kyiv before Donald Trump returns to the White House.

World number one and defending champion Jannik Sinner roared back to surge into the Australian Open third round on Thursday as Iga Swiatek set up a showdown with Emma Raducanu.

Terrified residents caught in blazing neighbourhoods, influencers ignoring the ban on drones and the frightening unpredictability of the wildfires are just some of what journalists covering the fires ravaging Los Angeles for AFP have had to manage.

Millions of pilgrims hoping to cleanse their sins by ritual baths at India's Kumbh Mela festival rely on key lavatory workers to clear up behind them -- those born on the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system.

Impeached leader Yoon Suk Yeol made history this week as the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested, ending a weeks-long standoff.

For years, Auschwitz survivor Naftali Furst kept his story to himself.

Israel's cabinet was expected to meet Thursday to approve a ceasefire and hostage-release deal with Hamas, Israeli media reported, a day after mediators announced an agreement they hope will lead to a permanent end to the Gaza war.