AFP news

The black and white silent movie flickered into life as the pianist started up with a dramatic flourish.

It was an unlucky day in the Burmese calendar, farmer Yar Swe Kyin warned her husband in July, begging him not to go out to check on their crops.

Japan is readying a $65-billion push in microchips and artificial intelligence aimed at reclaiming its status as a global tech leader and meeting the urgent challenges of its ageing, shrinking population.

Pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai said Wednesday that his now-shuttered newspaper represented Hong Kong's "core values" as he took the witness stand for the first time in his collusion trial.

Checking imported books, removing texts from libraries and distributing lists of banned titles -- Taliban authorities are working to remove "un-Islamic" and anti-government literature from circulation.

India head into a hotly anticipated five-Test showdown against Australia starting in Perth on Friday wounded by their first home series loss in 12 years and with a point to prove.

After upstaging powerhouses the United States and Jamaica to win a rare Olympic sprint gold for Africa, Letsile Tebogo aims to unleash the "deadly" untapped potential of athletes from the continent.

Superstar Rafael Nadal's glittering career in professional tennis came to an end on Tuesday as Netherlands eliminated Spain in the Davis Cup quarter-finals.

Gisele Pelicot, the French woman drugged by her ex-husband so she could be raped and sexually abused by him and dozens of strangers, said on Tuesday that it was time for a "macho" society to change its attitude on rape.

Every Friday, Lada leaves her small apartment to take tourists around Prague's underworld.

The US will urge a judge to make Google-parent company Alphabet sell its widely used Chrome browser in a major antitrust crackdown on the internet giant, according to a media report Monday.

Japan and Britain have agreed to hold regular high-level talks on economic security, Tokyo said Tuesday after the two countries' leaders met on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

G20 leaders met in Rio de Janeiro on Monday for talks on climate change, ongoing wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon, and more, at a forum that highlighted differences between world powers but also delivered some successes.

Donald Trump's allies voiced vehement criticism Monday of President Joe Biden's decision to let Ukraine use US-supplied long-range missiles for attacks inside Russia, accusing him of a dangerous escalation.

SpaceX is poised for its next Starship megarocket test flight on Tuesday, with US President-elect Donald Trump expected to witness the second ever attempt to catch its descending booster stage in the launch tower's "chopstick" arms.

European powers -- backed by the United States -- are pushing ahead with a plan to censure Iran for its poor cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog at a board meeting starting Wednesday, diplomats told AFP. Tensions between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have repeatedly flared since a 2015 deal curbing Tehran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanction relief fell apart.

Thousands of NATO soldiers are taking part in large-scale artillery exercises in Finland's Arctic this month, seen by some as a signal to neighbouring Russia over its war on Ukraine.

Walmart reported a jump in third-quarter profits Tuesday behind solid US sales and gains in its e-commerce business as the retail behemoth lifted its full-year financial forecast.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for Beijing and Berlin to develop ties with a "strategic" and "long-term" perspective Tuesday as he met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Rio de Janeiro, state media said.

Russia said Tuesday that Ukraine had fired US-supplied long-range missiles into its territory for the first time since Washington authorised such strikes as President Vladimir Putin issued a nuclear threat on the 1,000th day of the war.

Hong Kong's largest national security trial came to an end on Tuesday with 45 pro-democracy figures jailed for holding an informal election over four years ago.

Markets rose Tuesday after a broadly positive day on Wall Street, with focus turning to the upcoming release of tech giant Nvidia's earnings, while traders also kept tabs on Donald Trump's picks for his new administration.

US special envoy Amos Hochstein arrived in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday for talks with officials on a truce plan, which Lebanon has largely endorsed, to halt the Israel-Hezbollah war.

A Hong Kong court on Tuesday jailed all 45 defendants convicted of subversion in the city's largest national security trial, with "mastermind" Benny Tai receiving the longest term of 10 years.

As the massive trial of the "Hong Kong 47" democracy campaigners ended on Tuesday, an acquitted member of the group watched from the sidelines and felt the weight of his freedom upon him.

On a mountain slope in south Lebanon, agricultural worker Assaad al-Taqi is busy picking olives, undeterred by the roar of Israeli warplanes overhead.

The cold corridors of South Africa's once-mighty Komati coal-fired power plant have been quiet since its shutdown in 2022 in what was trumpeted as a pioneering project in the world's transition to green energy.

The world's richest man, Elon Musk, has been an ever-present sidekick for President-elect Donald Trump since the US election at the start of the month.

Hong Kong's largest national security trial will draw to a close on Tuesday, with dozens of the city's most prominent democracy campaigners set to be sentenced for subversion, a charge that can carry up to life imprisonment.