AFP news

A hit Chinese television series set in gritty but glamorous 1990s Shanghai has sparked a wave of nostalgia for the megacity's boom years, and reignited interest in its declining dialect.

Legendary entertainer Elton John on Monday joined a select club of winners of the awards grand slam -- the so-called EGOT -- when he added an Emmy to his suite of career prizes.

North Korea is formally abolishing key government agencies charged with promoting cooperation and reunification with the South, state media said Tuesday, as leader Kim Jong Un called for constitutional changes allowing Pyongyang to "occupy" Seoul in war.

Artificial intelligence raises serious concerns for jobs but it will also create new positions, the head of Adecco, the world's biggest temporary staffing agency, said.

Officials in Hamas-run Gaza said on Monday dozens were killed overnight in "intense" Israeli bombardment, as the war which has sent shockwaves across the region passed the grim 100-day milestone.

Postponed by four months because of Hollywood strikes, the Emmy Awards will finally celebrate television's best and brightest on Monday, with the last season of HBO's "Succession" tipped to scoop the night's top prizes.

Taiwan's president-elect Lai Ching-te hailed the island's "solid partnership" with Washington as he welcomed a US delegation Monday -- which China said it "firmly opposed".

Two-time finalist Daniil Medvedev and US Open champion Coco Gauff swept into the second round of the Australian Open on Monday, but Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova was sent packing.

China's economy likely grew at its weakest annual rate for more than three decades in 2023, data is expected to show Wednesday, as it was battered by a crippling property crisis, sluggish consumption and global uncertainties.

The world's wealthiest five men have more than doubled their fortune since 2020, the charity Oxfam said on Monday, as it called on nations to resist the ultra-rich's influence over tax policy.

AI will affect 60 percent of jobs in advanced economies, the International Monetary Fund's managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said in an interview in Washington, shortly before departing for the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

North Korea said Monday it had successfully test-fired a new ballistic missile tipped with a hypersonic manoeuvrable warhead, the latest breakthrough in its pursuit of advanced weaponry to threaten South Korean and US targets.

Hundreds of thousands of people on France's Indian Ocean island of Reunion hunkered down in their homes under a strict lockdown on Monday as a devastating storm that has already left one dead started to rip through the territory.

The swearing-in ceremony of Guatemala's president-elect Bernardo Arevalo was delayed Sunday as Congress, controlled by his opponents, was locked in debate over the admission of new lawmakers.

The contrast between office life and the change of scenery provided by nature is the leitmotiv of the new men's collection unveiled in Milan on Sunday by emblematic stylist Miuccia Prada.

On a cold and rainy Sunday in Tel Aviv, hundreds of Israelis joined events to mark 100 days since Hamas militants attacked Israel, sparking a retaliation that has since taken tens of thousands of Palestinian lives.

Russian poet Lev Rubinstein, a key figure of the Soviet underground literary scene who later protested against President Vladimir Putin, has died days after being hit by a car, his daughter said Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will travel to Switzerland on Monday, his office said, as Ukraine tries to ensure stable support from allies as the war against Russia nears its second anniversary.

On foot and pedal bike, thousands of Israel supporters gathered in London, Paris and Berlin on Sunday to call for the release of hostages held by Hamas for 100 days.

Twenty-two people have lost their lives following a landslide at a mine in northern Tanzania, officials said on Sunday.

The Maldivian president told India Sunday to withdraw its nearly 100 troops by March 15, a day after returning from China where he signed a raft of deals.

Iran's navy seized a ship off Oman to retaliate for the "theft" of its oil from the same tanker last year by the United States, state media said Thursday.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Thursday it is launching a safety probe into Boeing following last week's near-catastrophic incident on an Alaska Airlines-operated 737 MAX. "This incident should have never happened and it cannot happen again," the FAA said in a statement, after a panel known as a "door plug" blew out of the plane over the western US state of Oregon.

Argentina's annual inflation surged beyond 200 percent in 2023, the statistics agency said Thursday, as the country grapples with an economic crisis new President Javier Milei has vowed to address by slashing state spending.

Guatemala's president-elect Bernardo Arevalo has faced a judicial onslaught seen as an attempt by the country's powerful economic and political elite to perpetuate rampant corruption.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet a senior Chinese official in Washington on Friday on the eve of Taiwan's elections, as the United States seeks to discourage Beijing from taking action against Taipei.

President Joe Biden said Thursday that US and British air strikes against Yemen's Huthis were "defensive" and warned of further measures if the Iran-backed rebels keep attacking ships in the Red Sea.

Oil prices surged Friday after US and UK forces launched strikes against Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen following attacks on ships in the Red Sea, fuelling worries about a wider conflict in the crude-rich region.

China's exports fell last year for the first time in seven years, data showed Friday, as tensions with the United States and a stuttering global economic recovery compound Beijing's struggles to kickstart growth at home.