AFP news

Nearly $100,000 for Elton John's monogrammed silver boots and around $2 million for a triptych by street artist Banksy from his collection: the music icon's personal items brought in almost $8 million at auction Wednesday in New York.

Israel launched air strikes Thursday on southern Gaza's Rafah after threatening to send troops into the city, where around 1.4 million Palestinians have sought shelter from around the territory.

A Chinese tech security firm was able to breach foreign governments, infiltrate social media accounts and hack personal computers, a massive data leak analysed by experts this week revealed.

Elon Musk says the first human patient with a brain implant from his Neuralink startup is able to move a computer mouse with thought.

An international operation led by UK and US law enforcement has severely disrupted "the world's most harmful cybercrime group", the Russian-linked ransomware specialist LockBit, officials announced Tuesday.

The fab four are back, with each member of the iconic Beatles to be immortalized in their own big screen biopic, all directed by Sam Mendes, Sony Pictures said on Tuesday.

The fashion set moves to Italy Wednesday for Milan Fashion Week, marked by a new designer at Moschino but held amid an uncertain outlook for luxury.

HSBC said Wednesday it achieved "record profit" in 2023 as pre-tax gains soared by nearly 80 percent, with the banking giant also announcing further share buybacks.

Pregnant women had C-sections cancelled and cancer treatments were postponed Wednesday as the number of South Korean trainee doctors to walk off the job over proposed reforms swelled, officials and local reports said.

Former US President George W. Bush believed he had a "sense of his soul".

Son Heung-min apologised on Wednesday for his role in a bust-up with South Korea team-mate Lee Kang-in at the Asian Cup and urged fans to forgive the Paris Saint-Germain player.

Having rushed to join the Ukrainian army when Russia invaded, Ivan Zadontsev is now exhausted as the grinding campaign enters its third year.

Pakistan's two dynastic parties have reached a power-sharing agreement that will return Shehbaz Sharif to the premiership, leaving out politicians loyal to jailed former leader Imran Khan despite them winning the most seats in this month's vote.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was Tuesday absent due to illness from a London court hearing his final appeal against extradition to the United States to face trial for publishing secret military and diplomatic files.

Even the David gets dusty. - 'Delicate work' - With a furrow in his brow, a vein bulging on his neck, his weight squarely on his right foot and his sling held in his left hand, David remains focused on Goliath, oblivious to the primping going on around him.

US banking giant Capital One announced Monday it will acquire financial services company Discover in a $35.3 billion all-stock deal combining two of America's major credit card firms.

China's shares finished higher on Tuesday as its central bank announced a record cut to a benchmark lending rate in a bid to boost its struggling economy.

Lionel Messi denied his absence from a match in Hong Kong two weeks ago that angered China was a political snub, but was caused by an injury.

Israel hit Gaza with air strikes on Tuesday as world powers grappled with how to broker a ceasefire ahead of a UN Security Council vote that was expected to be blocked by a US veto.

Ukraine said Tuesday it was fighting off dozens of attacks, after President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces were exploiting delays in Western military aid and called the situation "extremely difficult".

Julian Assange, the 52-year-old Australian fighting extradition from Britain to the United States, is for some a fearless campaigner for press freedom.

Americans haven't elected an independent president since George Washington, but a public turned off by two historically unpopular frontrunners appears more open than ever to the rich crop of wildcards who could tilt the election in 2024.

This week's Berlin international film festival is wrestling on- and off-screen with the weight of the Nazi past and the menace of a resurgent far right.

"Oppenheimer", Christopher Nolan's epic movie about the creation of the atomic bomb, swept the board at Sunday's BAFTA film awards in London, delivering a serious statement ahead of next month's Oscars.

Four-time NBA champion LeBron James said Sunday he has not formulated a farewell timetable but he looks forward to the Paris Olympics and wants to finish his playing days as a Los Angeles Laker.

China's new year holiday spending last week surged past pre-pandemic levels, official figures showed, a rare bright spot for an economy struggling with sluggish consumption and deflation.

Dozens of bloodied bodies have been found along a remote stretch of road in Papua New Guinea's highlands, police said Monday, a gruesome escalation of long-running violence between warring clans.

Israel has threatened to invade Gaza's Rafah by the start of Ramadan if Hamas does not return the remaining hostages by then, despite international pressure to protect Palestinian civilians sheltering in the southern city.

The mother of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is being refused access to his body for a third day, his team said on Monday as his widow prepared to meet European foreign ministers.