AFP news

Lebanon said Israeli strikes Thursday on the country's east and south killed 52 people, as raids also hit south Beirut and Hezbollah claimed its deepest attack on Israel in over a year.

Dozens of people were killed or unaccounted for after Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, a hospital director and the civil defence agency said Thursday.

Sri Lanka's new leader on Thursday backed a controversial IMF bailout, marking a U-turn from his election pledge to renegotiate the deal secured by his predecessor.

India's Adani Group on Thursday called US charges that their billionaire tycoon founder Gautam Adani had paid more than $250 million in bribes "baseless", as the opposition leader demanded his arrest.

A fresh draft of a climate pact unveiled Thursday at COP29 failed to break an impasse between nations, with negotiators racing against the clock to broker a trillion-dollar finance agreement.

Basel voters will decide Sunday on whether to spend tens of millions of dollars to host the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, with opponents decrying a "waste" of public funds for a "blasphemous" music performance.

The US government late Wednesday asked a judge to order the dismantling of Google by selling its widely used Chrome browser in a major antitrust crackdown on the internet giant.

Antoine Dupont's resurgent France host a vastly-improving Argentina on Friday in their final game of the November internationals with Les Bleus head coach Fabien Galthie already thinking of next year's Six Nations.

If you've ever binge-watched an entire season of a K-drama like "Squid Game" or "Crash Landing On You", one Korean-American expert has good news: it's likely improved your mental health.

Social media companies could be fined more than US$30 million if they fail to keep children off their platforms, under new laws tabled before Australia's parliament Thursday.

She was, for a while, the oldest known member of the human family. "The impact of the discovery was very big in the discipline and even the whole world," he told AFP.

Lady Gaga, Green Day and Post Malone will headline 2025's Coachella music and arts festival, organizers said Wednesday, while Travis Scott will play a special guest slot.

US chipmaking behemoth Nvidia said Wednesday it made a $19 billion profit on record high revenue last quarter as demand continued for its hardware to power artificial intelligence.

The Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives voiced support Wednesday for banning a newly elected transgender woman from using women's restrooms in the legislature.

Rafael Nadal said he has left both a sporting and personal legacy after retiring from professional tennis on Tuesday at the Davis Cup.

Russia on Wednesday accused the US of prolonging the "war in Ukraine" by stepping up weapons deliveries to Kyiv ahead of Donald Trump's return to the White House.

A painting by Rene Magritte shattered an auction record for the surrealist artist on Tuesday, selling for more than $121 million at Christie's in New York.

Gunshots, screams, eerie laughter: South Korea's border island Ganghwa is being bombarded nightly with blood-curdling sounds, part of a new campaign by the nuclear-armed North that is driving residents to despair.

The UN Security Council is expected to vote Wednesday on another draft resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza in its latest attempt to exert pressure to end the war.

Japan is readying a $65-billion push in microchips and artificial intelligence aimed at reclaiming its status as a global tech leader and meeting the urgent challenges of its ageing, shrinking population.

Landmines and unexploded munitions claimed more victims in Myanmar than in any other country last year, a monitor said on Wednesday, warning the true toll could be double or triple its estimate of 1,000 people killed or wounded.

India head into a hotly anticipated five-Test showdown against Australia starting in Perth on Friday wounded by their first home series loss in 12 years and with a point to prove.

China's President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Brazil Wednesday, fresh off a warm reception at summits of the G20 and APEC groups, both held under the cloud of Donald Trump's White House return.

Senior US and Israeli officials will meet in early December to address American concerns over harm to civilians caused by military operations in Gaza, the State Department said Tuesday.

Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he was appointing Mehmet Oz, a former surgeon and TV celebrity known as "Dr. Oz," to lead the United States' massive public health insurance program.

Jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai insisted his newspaper had championed democracy and "freedom" as he took the witness stand Wednesday for the first time in his trial for collusion with foreign forces.

US President-elect Donald Trump nominated Howard Lutnick, the co-chair of his transition team, as his commerce secretary on Tuesday -- a choice set to bring a tougher stance on China from the incoming administration.

The European Union is key to a deal being done at UN climate talks in Baku by Friday -- viewed as a bridge both with China and poorer nations -- after climate sceptic Donald Trump's triumph in the US elections.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was under growing pressure Tuesday to step aside as the top candidate of his Social Democrats (SPD) for snap polls in February, as the party heads for a historic drubbing.