AFP news

Before Musk, the blue check mark was used as a verification system for major accounts including celebrities, institutions and journalists.

Rescuers freed nine people trapped in a winding cave in Taiwan's mountainous east on Friday, while locating two others who were feared dead, as they searched for those still missing after the island's biggest earthquake in 25 years.

US Treasury chief Janet Yellen warned during a visit to China on Friday that Beijing's subsidies for industry could pose a risk to global economic resilience.

Foreign minister Winston Peters said after a two-day visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels that a "partnership program" with the alliance would be agreed "in the coming months".

Kyiv launched once of its largest overnight attacks in weeks, firing more than 50 drones at Russian territory, according to Russia's defense ministry.

The resolution -- which passed with 28 of the council's 47 member states voting in favor, six opposed and 13 abstaining -- marked the first time the United Nations top rights body has taken a position on the bloodiest-ever war to beset the besieged Palestinian territory.

Ten people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in Wednesday's magnitude-7.4 quake, but strict building regulations and widespread public disaster awareness appear to have staved off a major catastrophe on the island.

Elections have become an almost annual occurrence for the OPEC member country, which has seven percent of the world's oil reserves and the monarchical Gulf's most powerful elected assembly.

The violence kicked off late Wednesday when fans of Hajduk Split rushed the field following their team's 0-1 loss to Dinamo Zagreb in the national cup semi-finals.

The Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 re-invigorated NATO as it was confronted by one of the most serious challenges since it emerged from the ashes of World War II to counter the Soviet Union.

The exercise will be held Sunday in the disputed South China Sea -- which Beijing claims almost entirely -- days before US President Joe Biden is due to hold the first trilateral summit with the leaders of the Philippines and Japan.

A Swedish entertainment group co-founded by ABBA's Bjorn Ulvaeus has acquired the music catalogue, name and likeness of KISS and plans to produce a movie about the legendary rock band, the company said Thursday.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrived in China's Guangzhou on Thursday for meetings to press Beijing over fears the country's industrial subsidies for green energy, cars and batteries could flood global markets with cheap goods.

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who resigned her speaker post Wednesday, appeared before a court in Pretoria after she turned herself in to police and was formally arrested.

President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold their first phone discussions since the Israeli strikes on Monday killed the employees of the US-based charity World Central Kitchen.

Apple engineers are working on making personal robots, a report said on Wednesday, just weeks after the iPhone-maker abandoned its efforts to develop an electric car.

Elon Musk's auto giant reported 386,810 global deliveries over the period, down 8.5 percent, reflecting in part a weak sales market in China, where it faces heavy competition from local electric vehicle (EV) makers.

Thousands gathered in front of the country's parliament, with hostage families and former prime minister Ehud Barak blaming Netanyahu for the October 7 "disaster" and demanding an election.

Spurs have made a habit of recovering from slow starts to win in recent months, but this time they failed to capitalize on scoring after just five minutes.

Juergen Scharringhausen, who is in his 70s, has been trying to sell the family business in Bremen on the banks of the river Weser for almost two years, but has yet to receive a serious offer.

The Palestinians, who have had observer status at the world body since 2012, have lobbied for years to gain full membership, which would amount to recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Video in state media showed the missile being carried into position on its launching vehicle, as Kim and an array of uniformed soldiers stood by watching, before the missile blasts off, trailing plumes of smoke and flames.

Yellen's trip from April 3-9 will begin in the southern Guangzhou city where she will speak with representatives of US firms as well meet with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and Guangdong province governor Wang Weizhong.

The creative brains behind the Yeezy designer brand, whose music and fashion ventures have made him fabulously wealthy, has repeatedly courted controversy in recent years with racist or antisemitic language and some odd historical revisionism.

World Central Kitchen -- one of two NGOs spearheading efforts to distribute aid brought by boat -- said a "targeted Israeli strike" on Monday killed Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and US-Canadian staff.

Strict building regulations and disaster awareness appear to have staved off a major catastrophe for the island, which is regularly hit by earthquakes as it lies near the junction of two tectonic plates.

Savannah Graziano, 15, was gunned down as one deputy called her away from her gun-toting father, who had killed her mother a day earlier and abducted his daughter.

Hun Sen stepped down in August after nearly four decades of iron-fisted rule, passing the baton to his eldest son Hun Manet following a landslide win in national polls held without any significant opposition parties.

A US-based charity blamed Israel on Tuesday for a strike that killed seven of its staff unloading food brought to the war-torn Gaza Strip by sea to help alleviate looming famine.