AFP news

Nearly 300 people were rushed to hospital and at least three killed when a truck packed with gas cylinders exploded just before midnight on Thursday, turning the sky orange and setting fire to nearby homes and parked cars.

Washington and Beijing are at loggerheads over a raft of issues, from chips to tariffs, but both have been alarmed by the growing assertiveness of China's military in the Pacific.

Post-tax profit slumped 54 percent after reaching an all-time high of $42.3 billion in 2022, when energy producer Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent oil and gas prices soaring, boosting earnings across the industry.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday vehemently rejected claims that drug traffickers helped to fund his first presidential campaign in 2006, describing the allegations as "completely false."

American forces destroyed a missile belonging to Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Wednesday that posed an "imminent threat" to US aircraft, the military said.

Mediators pushed on with efforts for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire as fighting raged on in the besieged Gaza Strip on Thursday, deepening a dire humanitarian crisis.

Premier League leaders Liverpool stepped up their title bid with a 4-1 rout of Chelsea, while Erling Haaland made his Manchester City comeback as the champions beat Burnley 3-1 on Wednesday.

Founded 20 years ago as a simple hangout spot for young people, Facebook has since become a battle-hardened behemoth that -- despite perceptions of being for boomers and parents -- continues growing and growing.

Musicians and critics alike have long accused Grammy voters of ignoring the work of female artists -- but this year, it's highly probable that women will take home the night's top prizes.

EU leaders on Thursday piled pressure on Viktor Orban to drop his veto on 50 billion euros in aid for Ukraine, as the unpredictable Hungarian leader once more took center stage at a crunch summit in Brussels.

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday approved a fresh $4.7 billion for Argentina, praising the new administration of President Javier Milei as he enacts "bold" cost-cutting to bring the country's ailing economy back on track.

Sudan's nine-month-old war has so far largely spared the country's east.

After a much-anticipated meeting, Fed policymakers acknowledged that inflation was going in the right direction and that they expected to begin lowering borrowing costs this year from their two-decade highs.

Four Hong Kong men were convicted of rioting Thursday over the storming and ransacking of the city's legislature in 2019, part of a pro-democracy movement that posed an unprecedented challenge to the Beijing-backed government.

Hamas was reviewing a proposal for a six-week truce in its war with Israel, a source told AFP, after mediators gathered in Paris, with international efforts towards a new pause in the devastating war gathering pace.

The emblem of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) he inherited from his mother Benazir Bhutto -- assassinated in 2007 -- symbolizes "the self-respecting", "the trustworthy" and "victory", he told followers crammed in a rain-slick park.

Deutsche said it plans to cut around 3,500 jobs over the next two years, "mainly in non-client-facing areas". The bank employed around 85,000 people globally in 2022.

Cuba's government on Wednesday delayed a planned 500 percent surge in the fuel price after a "cybersecurity incident," an economy ministry official said.

The traditional opening parade for the Games is set to take place in boats on the river Seine on July 26, the first time a summer Olympics has opened outside the main athletics stadium.

Facing growing pressure in a US election year, Biden said he held Iran responsible for supplying the weapons to the people who carried out the deadly attack on a military base.

MFP upended Thailand's political order by coming first in the general election last May, but its promises to reform the military, business monopolies and lese-majeste laws were opposed by the kingdom's powerful conservative elite.

Chita Rivera, who electrified Broadway stages over six decades in shows including "West Side Story" and "Chicago" as one of the foremost entertainers of her generation, died Tuesday at age 91, her publicist said.

The tech titans have made big bets on generative AI, with their cloud computing divisions seeing a boost in demand as clients seek the hefty -- and more expensive - computing power that drives the technology.

The judge in Delaware Chancery Court ruled that the plaintiff, a Tesla shareholder named Richard Tornetta, was "entitled to rescission," approving the annulment of Musk's 2018 humongous compensation agreement worth as much as $55.8 billion.

Following a post-pandemic surge in inflation, the Fed rapidly hiked interest rates in a bid to bring the price-increase measurement back down towards its goal of two percent -- with surprising success.

The law broadens the enforcement profile of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which has long been used to punish companies that pay bribes and their shadowy agents.

Now, property tycoon Truong My Lan is facing a trial in the country's biggest ever fraud case, accused of embezzling $12.5 billion by investigators after being arrested in a national corruption crackdown analysts say has hit the economy and unsettled foreign investors.

The focus of the fighting in recent weeks has been Khan Yunis, the southern Gaza Strip's main city, where an AFP correspondent reported constant air strikes and shelling overnight.

Khan and his wife were found guilty of graft in a case involving gifts he received while premier, after he was Tuesday handed 10 years in a case related to leaking state secrets.