AFP news

A factory turned into a battlefield, riot police armed with tasers and an activist who spent 100 days atop a chimney -- the unrest that inspired Netflix's most successful show ever has all the hallmarks of a TV drama.

President-elect Donald Trump's repeated support for TikTok has sparked speculation about potential solutions to prevent the app's impending ban in the United States, though the path forward remains unclear.

Nearly 50,000 people in Canada died of an apparent opioid overdose from January 2016 to June 2024, with fentanyl playing an increasingly prominent role in fatalities, the national health agency said Monday.

A massacre of more than 200 people in Haiti this month followed a gang-ordered manhunt that saw victims, many of them elderly, pulled from their homes and shot or killed with machetes, the UN said Monday.

The world's deadliest tsunami hit nations around the Indian Ocean two decades ago before social media platforms flourished, but they have since transformed how we understand and respond to disasters -- from finding the missing to swift crowdfunding.

Bangladesh has launched a probe into the alleged $5 billion embezzlement connected to a Russian-backed nuclear power plant by ousted leader Sheikh Hasina and her family, the anti-corruption commission said Monday.

The United States said Monday it is opening an investigation into China's policies for its semiconductor industry, over concerns that Beijing is turning to "extensive anticompetitive and non-market means" to undermine other economies.

The clock ticked Monday for French President Emmanuel Macron to appoint the fourth government in a year marked by a deepening political crisis.

The Philippines said Monday it planned to acquire the US Typhon missile system as part of a push to secure its maritime interests, sparking warnings from China of a regional "arms race".

Japanese auto giant Honda and its struggling rival Nissan agreed Monday to launch talks on a merger seen as a bid to catch up with Chinese rivals and Tesla on electric vehicles.

New York City police arrested a man suspected of setting fire to a woman on the subway in Brooklyn who died from the incident, authorities said, calling it "one of the most depraved crimes" a person could commit.

Beijing on Monday promised to continue "cooperation" with regional authorities over a Chinese ship linked to the recent severing of two undersea cables in the Baltic Sea.

Social media users in Vietnam on platforms including Facebook and TikTok will need to verify their identities as part of strict new internet regulations that critics say further undermine freedom of expression in the communist country.

A US health boss's murder sparked a torrent of online misinformation and calls for violence against other executives, suggesting a failure of social media moderation that analysts fear could translate into real-world harms.

Just 12 trucks distributed food and water in northern Gaza in two-and-a-half months, aid group Oxfam said on Sunday, raising the alarm over the worsening humanitarian situation in the besieged territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to retaliate against Yemen's Huthi rebels after they fired a missile at Tel Aviv, warning that Israel would target what he described as the last remaining arm of "Iran's axis of evil".

Liverpool swept four points clear at the top of the Premier League as Mohamed Salah's masterclass inspired a memorable 6-3 rout of Tottenham, while Manchester United crashed to a humiliating 3-0 home defeat against Bournemouth on Sunday.

Two US Navy pilots were shot down over the Red Sea early Sunday in "an apparent case of friendly fire," the US military said.

The man accused of gunning down a US insurance executive in Manhattan -- a killing that tapped into widespread anger with the American health care system -- appeared in a New York court Thursday to face federal charges including murder.

Thousands of Amazon workers on Thursday launched what they called the "largest strike against Amazon in US history" seeking to maximize pressure on the retail behemoth at the height of the holiday shopping season.

Elon Musk's role in wrecking a bipartisan Congress deal to avert a US government shutdown has underlined his extraordinary influence over the Republican Party and the incoming administration of Donald Trump.

Beatles drummer Ringo Starr was a surprise guest at the final gig of former band-mate Paul McCartney's London tour, with the pair reuniting to play some of the Fab Four's greatest hits.

President Emmanuel Macron faced accusations of racism Friday over an alleged comment on problems in French hospitals which the Elysee strongly denies he made.

Switzerland's financial regulator was ineffective in tackling the scandals at Credit Suisse, where executive mismanagement scuppered the bank and nearly triggered a global financial crisis, a Swiss inquiry concluded Friday.

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini was defiant Friday as he arrived for the verdict in his long-running trial for blocking a migrant rescue ship at sea, for which he risks six years in jail.

Taiwanese lawmakers tackled and doused each other with water on Friday as President Lai Ching-te's party tried to block the passage of bills they say could harm the self-ruled island's "democratic system".

Malaysia announced on Friday it has agreed to launch a new search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared 10 years ago in one of aviation's greatest enduring mysteries.

US diplomats have arrived in Syria to speak directly to the new Islamist-led rulers, hoping to encourage a moderate, inclusive path and to find clues on missing Americans, the State Department said Friday.

Workers at Starbucks will walk off the job Friday in three US cities in a strike their union threatened could spread around the country in the busy run-up to Christmas.