AFP news

South Korean stocks sank Wednesday while the won rebounded from earlier losses after President Yoon Suk Yeol dramatically declared martial law overnight before reversing the decision hours later.

Parliamentary staffers used sofas and fire extinguishers to block soldiers armed with assault rifles and night-vision goggles from entering South Korea's National Assembly to maintain martial law, CCTV footage released Wednesday showed.

A multi-billion-dollar fraud scandal involving one of Vietnam's most prominent tycoons exposed systemic weaknesses in the country's banking sector, say analysts who warn other such cases could yet emerge.

In Vietnam's heavily polluted capital Hanoi, teenage taxi driver Phung Khac Trung rides his electric motorbike through streets jammed with two-wheelers belching toxic fumes.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's brief imposition of martial law marks a new warning for the worldwide fragility of democracy, even in a country hailed as a model of political transformation.

Georgian police on Tuesday evening used water cannon and tear gas on the sixth night of pro-EU protests in Tbilisi after the prime minister threatened demonstrators with reprisals amid a deepening crisis in the Black Sea nation.

South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law, accusing the opposition of being "anti-state forces" and saying he was acting to protect the country from "threats" posed by the North.

Islamist-led rebels advanced on Syria's fourth-largest city Hama Tuesday, buoyed by their lightning capture of swathes of the north in an offensive that ended four years of relative calm.

Stock markets and oil prices jumped Tuesday, supported by hopes China will unveil fresh measures to boost the world's number two economy.

US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened retaliation against governments that challenge the US dollar, vowing "100 percent tariffs" on countries that undercut the US currency.

The US government said Tuesday it was "disappointed" after nations negotiating a global treaty to curb plastic waste failed to reach a deal, blaming a "small group" of countries and producers for blocking progress.

Japan is planning to use AI to police anime and manga pirating websites that the pop-culture powerhouse accuses of costing it billions of dollars in lost revenue every year.

Germany's blue-chip DAX stock index jumped above 20,000 points for the first time Tuesday following gains on US and Asian markets, defying multiple headwinds battering Europe's biggest economy.

Ukraine insisted Tuesday that NATO membership was the only "real guarantee" for its security as foreign ministers from the alliance looked set to rebuff Kyiv's push for an invite ahead of Donald Trump's return to the US presidency.

Meta on Tuesday said fears that artificial intelligence would unleash a torrent of misinformation to deceive voters around the world did not come true as elections played out around the world this year.

China has fully lifted suspensions on Australian red meat, Canberra said Tuesday, dismantling one of the final barriers in a four-year trade war that hammered US$13 billion of exports.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te arrived in the Marshall Islands on Tuesday, after visiting the United States on the first stop of a Pacific tour that has angered Chinese leaders.

With a tape measure around his neck and thimble on his finger, Raniero Mancinelli slides a needle into a black cassock with red piping destined for a Catholic cardinal.

Pakistani politician Azma Bukhari is haunted by a counterfeit image of herself -- a sexualised deepfake video published to discredit her role as one of the nation's few female leaders.

Surrounded by racks of colourful dresses and blazers in China's manufacturing hub of Guangzhou, plus-size clothing brand owner and influencer Amanda Yao is on a mission to promote body positivity.

Israel said it hit dozens of Hezbollah targets in strikes on Lebanon Monday after vowing retaliation for an attack claimed by Hezbollah, the militant group's first since a fragile ceasefire began last week.

Georgian police fired tear gas to disperse thousands of pro-EU demonstrators on Monday, who had rallied in the centre of Tbilisi amid a deepening political crisis in the Black Sea nation.

One of the five stars that used to adorn the facade of the Margarita hotel on the Venezuelan paradise island of the same name has fallen off.

Ukraine needs more weapons and stronger diplomatic backing to reach a "just peace" with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky argued Monday as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Kyiv.

France's Michel Barnier faced an abrupt end to his premiership Monday after key opposition parties said they would back a no-confidence motion against his government after only three months in power.

The White House is working on a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza but is "not there yet," the US National Security Advisor told NBC on Sunday, with fighting in the conflict raging on as regional leaders meet to discuss the crisis.

US President Joe Biden on Sunday issued an official pardon for his son Hunter, who was facing sentencing for two criminal cases, despite assurances that he would not intervene in his legal troubles.

Paris stocks and the euro fell Monday as a budget standoff in France fuelled concern about the eurozone's second-biggest economy.

New Zealand scientists on Monday began dissecting a whale considered the rarest in the world, a species so elusive that only seven specimens have ever been documented.