AFP news

Britain, Germany, France, Italy and several other European countries said Monday they would freeze all pending asylum requests from Syrians, a day after the ouster of president Bashar al-Assad.

A French filmmaker accused of sexually assaulting actor Adele Haenel when she was 12 denied the charges Monday as his trial opened in Paris, five years after her allegations fired France's #MeToo movement.

Thousands of people took to the streets in Georgia on Monday for the 12th consecutive day of protests against the government's decision to shelve European Union accession talks after disputed elections.

European leaders have hailed the end of Bashar al-Assad's brutal rule in Syria as a moment of hope -- but they also view his sudden toppling as fraught with dangers.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday slammed Russia and its President Vladimir Putin over two aerial attacks that killed at least 12 people.

No elves, no dwarves, and not a hobbit in sight: "The Lord of the Rings" returns to the big screen this month with a new Japanese anime-style movie about the warring men of J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional universe.

French President Emmanuel Macron has called for a "meeting of different political forces" to hammer out a programme for a new government, the Greens party leader said on Monday amid a political crisis triggered by Prime Minister Michel Barnier's ouster.

Mobile money agents have become a familiar sight across Nigeria, using handy point-of-sale machines to provide essential services to millions of people without access to banking, particularly in hard-to-reach rural areas.

This year is "effectively certain" to be the hottest on record and the first above a critical threshold to protect the planet from dangerously overheating, Europe's climate monitor said Monday.

As South Korean lawmakers tried to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol for declaring martial law, ruling party MPs stormed out of the chamber to thwart the effort -- except for Ahn Cheol-soo.

Australian police said Monday they are hunting for three suspects over an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue, designating it a terrorist act.

Syrian rescuers searched a jail synonymous with the worst atrocities of ousted president Bashar al-Assad's rule, as people in the capital flocked to a central square Monday to celebrate their country's freedom.

Taiwan's military was on high alert Monday after detecting Chinese warships near the island, Taipei said, as it prepared for likely drills by Beijing in response to President Lai Ching-te's US visits.

South Korean stocks tumbled Monday as the country was racked with political uncertainty after President Yoon Suk Yeol escaped impeachment following his brief imposition of martial law last week.

Squid Game is back. "Watching 'Squid Game' will not come across as something that is particularly detached from how we view the world." cdl/ceb/pdw

The Kenyan parliament was ablaze, protesters running through the streets, police firing into the crowds.

UK hereditary lawmaker Richard Fletcher-Vane, better known as Lord Inglewood, will soon no longer commute the few hundred miles from his country house in northwest England to the House of Lords in London -- and he is not happy about it.

Survivors of the US atomic bombings of Japan will receive the Nobel Peace Prize on Tuesday but, after years of anti-nuclear campaigning and showing the world their scars, they still retain the painful memories of the discrimination they have faced.

Thousands of Syrians in exile the length and breadth of Turkey celebrated the fall of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in joyous scenes on Sunday.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said Kyiv needed an "enduring" peace to protect it from Russia, after talks in Paris with US President-elect Donald Trump, who warned he would "probably" reduce aid to Ukraine.

Islamist-led rebels took Damascus on Sunday after a lightning offensive, sending President Bashar al-Assad fleeing and ending five decades of Baath party rule in Syria.

South Korea's main opposition party said Sunday it will try again to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol after his declaration of martial law.

China's retaliatory export controls could take a toll on the growing US clean energy sector and its defense industry, analysts say, as a trade tussle escalates between the world's two biggest economies.

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday insisted at a meeting with US President-elect Donald Trump that any settlement with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine had to be "just", as fears grow in Kyiv on the position of the incoming administration.

Thousands of protesters marched in the Georgian capital Tbilisi Saturday for the 10th day of rallies sparked by a disputed election and the government's decision to shelve EU accession talks.

Romanian police raided houses on Saturday probing alleged vote irregularities in favour of the far right, a day after the top court took the unprecedented decision to scrap the presidential election amid claims of Russian interference.

More than 13 years since Bashar al-Assad's security forces opened fire on protesters demanding democratic reforms, the Syrian president's grip on power may finally be weakening.

Ghanaians voted in elections on Saturday with frontrunners vice president Mahamudu Bawumia of the NPP ruling party and opposition NDC party ex-president John Mahama facing off in a tight race for the country's top post.

Syrian rebel commander Hassan Abdel Ghani sought to reassure religious minorities on Saturday after Islamist-led fighters snatched key cities and swathes of territory from government control.