AFP news

Bitcoin broke $100,000 for the first time Thursday as traders cheered Donald Trump's decision to pick a crypto fan to head the US securities regulator, reinforcing optimism the new president will push through measures to deregulate the sector.

President Lai Ching-te spoke Thursday to Republican US House Speaker Mike Johnson, the Taiwanese leader's office said as he visits the American territory Guam during a Pacific tour that has angered China.

The radio was playing and summer sun was streaming through the car windows when Natalya Sadykova and her husband Aydos pulled into their leafy courtyard in Kyiv where a gunman was waiting.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was still clinging to power Thursday, with his party announcing they will oppose an impeachment motion after his short-lived imposition of martial law stunned the world.

The more than five-year reconstruction of Notre Dame cathedral has featured some near-miraculous recoveries, as well as several controversies.

Bitcoin broke $100,000 for the first time Thursday as traders cheered Donald Trump's decision to pick a crypto fan to head the US securities regulator, reinforcing optimism the new president will push through measures to deregulate the sector.

Equities extended losses in Seoul on Thursday, while the won stabilised as South Korea entered a period of uncertainty with President Yoon Suk Yeol clinging to power after his brief imposition of martial law this week.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday will seek ways out of France's political crisis, after Michel Barnier became the first prime minister to be ousted by parliament in over six decades.

The head of the British Museum said Wednesday any deal with Greece to loan the prized Parthenon Marbles to Athens was "still some distance" away, as Greek authorities insist on their permanent return.

Lawyers of three men who repeatedly visited a French home to rape a woman while unconscious Wednesday pleaded for leniency, with one arguing that her "wolf" of a husband had manipulated his client.

French lawmakers on Wednesday voted to oust the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier after just three months in office, a historic move which plunged the country further into political chaos.

Iranian authorities on Wednesday freed Nobel peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi from prison for three weeks on medical grounds, a move supporters decried as "too little too late" and the UN said needed to be transformed into an unconditional freedom.

Georgian police raided the offices of opposition parties on Wednesday after the government vowed to crack down on those organising pro-EU protests, deepening a political crisis engulfing the Black Sea nation.

There are probably easier ways to set a world record, but Rudiger Koch has found his method 11 meters (36 feet) under the sea.

Namibia's ruling SWAPO party was declared winner Tuesday of last week's disputed elections, ushering in the southern African country's first woman president after a disputed vote that the main opposition has already said it does not recognise.

Amazon on Tuesday unveiled a suite of artificial intelligence models in its boldest move yet to compete with tech giant rivals in the fast-growing generative AI sector.

Months of fighting on the Ukrainian front have not taken away Kostya's sense of humour -- even when it comes to the topic of Donald Trump.

The OECD warned Wednesday that protectionist trade measures pose a major risk to disrupting the world economy, just weeks before Donald Trump is set to return to the White House.

The UN on Wednesday appealed for more than $47 billion to deliver vital aid next year in a world ravaged by surging conflicts and the climate crisis, but warned many in need would not be reached.

President Joe Biden will make the case on Wednesday in Angola that the United States must do better rather than more than China to regain influence in Africa.

Donald Trump's presidential election victory is fuelling fears that Britain must choose between its "special relationship" with the United States and forging closer ties with the European Union regarding trade.

France's government on Wednesday faced no-confidence votes that could spell the end of the administration of Prime Minister Michel Barnier, plunging the country into uncharted waters of political chaos.

Syrian government forces launched a counterattack against Islamist-led rebels around the key city of Hama on Wednesday after suffering a string of staggering losses, a war monitor said.

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.