AFP news

Sculptor Aung Naing Lin has spent decades carving Buddha statues to help guide Myanmar's faithful -- but getting the marble he needs from rebel-held quarries in the midst of civil war is now a perilous task.

Lawmakers began grilling would-be members of the next European Commission Monday, with a personal tale of bereavement bringing unexpected poignancy to the start of hearings to confirm Ursula von der Leyen's top team.

Thousands of rescuers pumped water from submerged buildings, churned through muddy streets and cleared debris on Monday as Spain braced for more deaths from its worst floods in decades.

Germany's Foreign Minister visited Ukraine on Monday in a symbolic display of support but offered no concrete assurances as the war-battered country sounded the alarm over thousands of North Korean troops building up in Russia and diminishing foreign aid.

Quincy Jones, the polymath hitmaker who ruled the American music industry with a magic touch for well over half a century, has died.

The social media platform X has for months been aflush with praise for United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan in posts shared by hundreds of profiles -- and all found to be fake.

US Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump are hurtling toward their November 5 election showdown, one of the closest contests in modern American history.

When political outsider Donald Trump defied polls and expectations to defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election, he described the victory as "beautiful."

Bitter rivals Kamala Harris and Donald Trump embark on a final frenzied campaign blitz Monday with both hitting must-win Pennsylvania on the last day of a tight and volatile US presidential election campaign.

The family of Jamshid Sharmahd, a German citizen who the Iranian judiciary said was executed in Iran last week, need proof that he was indeed put to death and are open to all possibilities over his fate, his daughter said.

In the bustling heart of Old Delhi, Indian bookseller Mohammed Mahfooz Alam sits forlorn in his quiet store, among the last few selling literature in a language beloved by poets for centuries.

Sydney was elevated on Monday to the World Marathon Majors, joining the likes of London, New York and Boston at the pinnacle of global distance racing.

Irish budget airline Ryanair reported falling net profit for the second quarter on Monday and revised down its passenger growth target following delays in deliveries of Boeing aircraft.

Eight people went on trial in France on Monday charged with contributing to the climate of hatred that led to an 18-year-old Islamist radical of Chechen origin beheading teacher Samuel Paty outside Paris in 2020.

The European Union on Monday welcomed the re-election of Moldova's pro-European President Maia Sandu, in a tense vote that has laid bare divisions in the former Soviet republic bordering war-torn Ukraine.

Israel formally notified the United Nations of its decision to sever ties with the agency supporting Palestinian refugees, it said Monday, after lawmakers voted to ban the organisation vital to the occupied territories.

Quincy Jones, who has died at the age of 91, was a jazzman, composer and tastemaker whose studio chops and arranging prowess connected the dots between the 20th century's constellation of stars.

Most markets rose Monday as investors steel themselves for a too-close-to-call US presidential election, while Chinese leaders meet to hammer out a stimulus package that experts say could be determined by the vote.

Ukrainian soldier Anton Sushko, severely wounded, thought he was finally safe when he spotted a rescue team after crawling for hours through the battlefield in eastern Ukraine.

Yang Chi'ao takes her place next to gym equipment and waits to be called by an instructor at a weight-loss camp in China, where over half of adults are overweight.

World leaders kick off UN climate talks next week, days after a knife edge US election that could send shockwaves through global efforts to limit dangerous warming.

Kamala Harris courted voters angered by the Gaza war while Donald Trump doubled down on violent rhetoric with a comment about journalists being shot as the tense US election campaign headed into its final hours.

Donald Trump doubled down Sunday on his baseless predictions of voter fraud in battleground states as he and rival Kamala Harris launched their frantic final 48 hours of campaigning to court the last holdouts in a bitterly contested US election.

Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli strike killed three people near the southern city of Sidon on Sunday as more bombs fell in the country's east after Israel warned it would again hit Hezbollah targets there.

Spain's king and queen are due on Sunday to visit the Valencia region, Spanish media reported, where devastating floods have killed more than 200 people with more rain on the horizon.

Moldovans went to the polls on Sunday in a tense presidential election runoff that could play a key role in the country's European future amid fears of Russian interference.

Jen and Cheska are among hundreds of women who have accused the late Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed of sexual assault and they have told AFP of their "huge anger" that his alleged campaign of abuse and humiliation went unpunished.

The world's biggest nature conservation conference closed in Colombia on Saturday with no agreement on a roadmap to ramp up funding for species protection.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump enter the final weekend of the most tense US presidential campaign of modern times with a flurry of swing-state rallies that will test their stamina -- and ability to persuade the country's last undecided voters.