AFP news

A Saudi court's decision to sentence fitness influencer Manahel al-Otaibi to 11 years in prison highlights what activists describe as a fierce crackdown on even vaguely critical online speech.

The Lo Wu arrival hall on Hong Kong's border used to throng with visitors during mainland China's "Golden Week", but as the five-day tourism bonanza kicked off on Wednesday, the queues there were modest.

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken urged Hamas to accept a truce in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to send troops into its far southern city of Rafah.

When Nepal suddenly announced a ban on TikTok last year, lawyer Sunil Rajan Singh was determined to fight what he said was a government effort to hide its wrongdoings.

Le Tuan Binh keeps his Moroccan soldier father's tombstone at his village home north of Hanoi, a treasured reminder of a man whose community in Vietnam has been largely forgotten.

Pro-EU demonstrators in Georgia built barricades outside parliament on Wednesday after police used tear gas and rubber bullets against thousands of protesters rallying for a third week against a controversial "foreign influence" bill, an AFP reporter saw.

The New York judge presiding over Donald Trump's hush money trial fined the former president on Tuesday for defying a gag order and warned that further violations could see him thrown in jail.

Students who occupied a Columbia University building vowed Tuesday to fight back against efforts to evict them, as administrators struggled to contain pro-Palestinian protests that have launched dozens of campus demonstrations around the United States.

G7 ministers agreed a timeframe Tuesday for phasing out coal-fired power plants, setting as a goal the mid-2030s, in a move hailed as significant by some environmentalists but slammed as "too late" by others.

Cautious hopes were building Tuesday for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal as Hamas said it was studying the latest proposal and US top diplomat Antony Blinken was due to head back to Israel.

Markets mostly rose Tuesday following advances on Wall Street, while the yen held gains after the previous day's sharp swings and focus turned to the Federal Reserve's upcoming policy decision.

Choreographer Sahil Kumar found fame showcasing folk dances on TikTok, but his profile has been dormant since the video he posted four years ago supporting India's decision to ban the platform.

They are hailed for their omega-3 fatty acids and micronutrients, but Norway's salmon are not in the best of health themselves at the fish farms where they are bred.

Hamas was studying Tuesday Israel's offer of a 40-day truce in the war in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of scores of hostages held since the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attacks.

Spain's Pedro Sanchez said Monday he would stay on as prime minister after threatening to stand down over what he denounced as a campaign of political harassment by the right.

Student demonstrators at Columbia University, the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests that have erupted at US colleges, said Monday they would not budge until the school met their demands, defying an ultimatum to disperse or face suspension.

At least 46 people including children died when a makeshift dam burst its banks in Kenya's Rift Valley in the early hours of Monday, a local official said, as torrential rains and floods battered the country.

G7 energy ministers have agreed a time frame for phasing out coal-fired power plants, a British minister said Monday, as the UN warned "excuses" for failing to take bold actions on climate change were "not acceptable".

A German former soldier on Monday admitted he had spied for Russia at the start of his trial, saying he wanted to avoid the escalation of the war in Ukraine.

Togolese voted in legislative elections on Monday after a divisive constitutional reform that opponents say allows President Faure Gnassingbe to extend his family's decades-long grip on power.

Tesla received a key security clearance from China during owner Elon Musk's whistlestop visit to the world's biggest electric car market, which wrapped up on Monday.

Humza Yousaf announced his resignation as Scotland's first minister on Monday, before he was due to face two confidence votes this week sparked by his ditching of junior coalition partners in a row over climate policy.

French police on Monday detained screen legend Gerard Depardieu for questioning after two women accused him of sexual assault, a source close to the case said.

Arjan Smit gazes out over his tulip fields, a riot of red and pink flowers he has cultivated all his adult life and part of a family business his grandfather started in 1940.

A Hamas delegation is due to arrive Monday in Egypt, where it will respond to Israel's latest proposal for a long-sought hostage-release deal and truce in the Gaza Strip after almost seven months of war.

Tech billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk met in Beijing on Sunday with China's number two official, Premier Li Qiang, who promised the country would "always" be open to foreign firms.

Pope Francis presided over mass in Saint Mark's Square in Venice on Sunday, warning of environmental damage and over-tourism in a closely watched visit, the first for the ageing pontiff outside Rome since last year.

South and Southeast Asia braced for more extreme heat on Sunday as authorities across the region issued health warnings and residents fled to parks and air-conditioned malls for relief.

Diplomatic efforts increased on Sunday to reach a long sought-after truce and hostage-release deal in Gaza, as Israel carried out further air strikes and shelling on the war-battered territory.