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.
AFP news Nov 21, 2024
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.
AFP news Nov 21, 2024
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.
AFP news Nov 20, 2024
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.
AFP news Nov 20, 2024
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.
AFP news Nov 20, 2024
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.
AFP news Nov 20, 2024
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.
AFP news Nov 20, 2024
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.
AFP news Nov 20, 2024
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.
AFP news Nov 20, 2024
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.
AFP news Nov 20, 2024
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.
AFP news Nov 20, 2024
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.
AFP news Nov 20, 2024
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.
AFP news Nov 20, 2024
The first time G20 leaders took their photo together at a summit in Rio they forgot Joe Biden.
AFP news Nov 20, 2024
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has caused $71 billion in environmental damage and led to a surge in greenhouse gas emissions, the Ukrainian government told the COP29 summit in Baku.
AFP news Nov 20, 2024
Two telecommunications cables cut in the Baltic Sea in 48 hours prompted European officials to say Tuesday that they suspect "sabotage" and "hybrid warfare" linked to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
AFP news Nov 20, 2024
Anti-poverty campaigners have hailed a decision by G20 leaders meeting in Rio to make sure the world's billionaires "are effectively taxed."
AFP news Nov 20, 2024
The IMF said Tuesday that it has reached agreement with Ukraine on a loan program review that paves the way for an additional $1.1 billion in much-needed funds.
AFP news Nov 20, 2024
British farmers massed in London on Tuesday for protests against controversial government plans to change inheritance tax rules for land ownership, which they claim threatens to break up the sector and hit food production.
AFP news Nov 19, 2024
Ukraine said Tuesday that its forces would never surrender to Russia, 1,000 days after Moscow launched its brutal invasion, while the Kremlin also pledged victory and escalated its nuclear sabre-rattling.
AFP news Nov 19, 2024
Spain's royals will make a highly anticipated return to the epicentre of catastrophic floods on Tuesday after a chaotic trip where survivors hurled mud and insults at them, local media said.
AFP news Nov 19, 2024
Negotiators sought Tuesday to break a deadlock at UN climate talks after G20 leaders backed the need for "trillions" of dollars for poorer countries but left key sticking points unresolved.
AFP news Nov 19, 2024
US special envoy Amos Hochstein arrived in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday for talks with officials on a truce plan, which Lebanon has largely endorsed, to halt the Israel-Hezbollah war.
AFP news Nov 19, 2024
SpaceX is poised for its next Starship megarocket test flight on Tuesday, with US President-elect Donald Trump expected to witness the second ever attempt to catch its descending booster stage in the launch tower's "chopstick" arms.
AFP news Nov 19, 2024
Donald Trump's allies voiced vehement criticism Monday of President Joe Biden's decision to let Ukraine use US-supplied long-range missiles for attacks inside Russia, accusing him of a dangerous escalation.
AFP news Nov 19, 2024
A Hong Kong court on Tuesday jailed all 45 defendants convicted of subversion in the city's largest national security trial, with "mastermind" Benny Tai receiving the longest term of 10 years.
AFP news Nov 19, 2024
G20 leaders met in Rio de Janeiro on Monday for talks on climate change, ongoing wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon, and more, at a forum that highlighted differences between world powers but also delivered some successes.
AFP news Nov 19, 2024
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Russia's natural resources minister in Pyongyang, state media said Tuesday, as visiting delegations from Moscow highlighted deepening ties amid the Ukraine war.
AFP news Nov 19, 2024
The world's richest man, Elon Musk, has been an ever-present sidekick for President-elect Donald Trump since the US election at the start of the month.
AFP news Nov 19, 2024
US President Joe Biden announced a "historic" $4 billion pledge for a World Bank fund that helps the world's poorest countries, the White House said Monday, before Donald Trump takes office with a new cost-cutting agenda.
AFP news Nov 19, 2024
