AFP news

Israeli air strikes killed dozens of people in Lebanon and Gaza Sunday, rescuers and authorities said, ahead of a US deadline for improved aid delivery to the Palestinian territory.

Osama Ahmed's life took a dramatic turn one night in October when the small boat that was to carry him and his father to the English coast sank shortly after setting out from France.

Some Asian countries stand to gain if US president-elect Donald Trump pushes ahead with his promised massive tariffs on China and triggers a new wave of factory relocations to the rest of the region.

Donald Trump won the state of Arizona in this week's US presidential election, US TV networks projected on Saturday, completing the Republican's sweep of all seven swing states.

Mauritius began voting on Sunday in a close-fought election race that has been clouded by a wire-tapping scandal in a nation usually touted as one of Africa's most stable and prosperous democracies.

Traces of black soot still mark the facade of the Regina Coeli jail, a reminder of the latest riots in Rome's infamous lock-up -- now emblematic of long-standing troubles plaguing Italy's prison system.

Qatar has withdrawn as a key mediator for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal after concluding that Hamas and Israel were unwilling to negotiate "in good faith", a diplomatic source told AFP Saturday.

Germany marks 35 years since the Berlin Wall fell with festivities from Saturday under the theme "Preserve Freedom!"

Mozambique's opposition on Friday promised fresh protests, as rights groups said at least 30 people had been killed in three weeks of demonstrations over contested election results.

Beyonce and her groundbreaking "Cowboy Carter" album earned a leading 11 nominations for the Grammy Awards, the music industry's showcase gala, where she will face off against Taylor Swift and a new class of pop hitmakers.

Brenda Diaz Valencia's life was upended nearly two years ago when the bullet-riddled truck driven by her father, Mexican environmental defender Antonio Diaz Valencia, and lawyer Ricardo Lagunes was found abandoned.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, mired in crisis after his three-party coalition collapsed this week, said Friday he is open to talks on whether to move forward snap elections.

Hamstrung by troubles at home, French President Emmanuel Macron has been firing on all cylinders since Donald Trump's re-election -- seemingly looking to leverage the Republican's return to make a diplomatic comeback of his own.

Governments could finally approve new UN standards for countries and companies wanting to trade carbon credits, a long-awaited decision some hope can bring credibility to a scandal-ridden sector.

The UN condemned on Friday the staggering number of civilians killed in Israel's war in Gaza, with women and children comprising nearly 70 percent of the thousands of fatalities it had managed to verify.

NATO chief Mark Rutte said Thursday that North Korea's involvement in Russia's war against Ukraine posed a direct threat to the United States, in a first effort to convince Donald Trump to keep backing Kyiv.

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday that he would not resign if asked to leave early by President-elect Donald Trump.

American F-15 fighter planes arrived in the Middle East on Thursday, the US military said, after Washington announced the deployment of additional assets to the region in a warning to Iran.

One Direction star Liam Payne consumed cocaine, alcohol and a prescription antidepressant before falling to his death from a Buenos Aires hotel balcony last month, Argentine prosecutors said Thursday.

A portrait of English mathematician Alan Turing became the first artwork by a humanoid robot to be sold at auction, fetching more than $1.0 million on Thursday.

A Qantas plane made an emergency landing Friday due to engine failure soon after taking off from Australia's Sydney Airport, sparking a grassfire on a nearby runway and causing several flights to be diverted.

Russian bombardments of Ukrainian cities overnight killed at least one person and wounded more than three dozen more authorities said on Friday, as Moscow escalated its bombing campaign of civilian hubs.

Reforming Europe's economy is all the more urgent following Donald Trump's US election win, warned the author of a blockbuster report, Mario Draghi, ahead of talks Friday with EU leaders in Budapest on tackling the challenge.

Israeli, Dutch and European leaders on Friday condemned "anti-Semitic" clashes that erupted in Amsterdam overnight after a Europa League football match, with Israel sending rescue planes for their citizens.

China on Friday unveiled some of its most ambitious plans in years to lift local government debt and boost its economy, following a meeting of lawmakers eyeing the possibility of intensified trade tensions with US president-elect Donald Trump.

Asia's markets rally stuttered Friday after early gains as traders struggled to keep up with another Wall Street record following the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut, while they were also weighing the outlook with another Trump administration.

Yannick Bestaven already knows what it feels like to win the Vendee Globe but the 51-year-old Frenchman cannot resist the call of the solo, non-stop round the world yacht race, which sets off from Les Sables-d'Olonne on the Atlantic coast on Sunday.

For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play football is easily summed up: "It was a dream."

Venerated as incarnations of Hindu deities, India's sacred cows are also being touted as agents of energy transition by a government determined to promote biogas production to cut its dependence on coal.