AFP news

The Dakar Rally roars into life on Friday in Saudi Arabia with Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah seeking a sixth title and third in a row in the mythic motorsport marathon.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will leave Thursday on his fourth crisis trip to the Middle East, an official said, as fears mount that the Israel-Hamas conflict will spiral into a regional war.

Pilots on a Japan Airlines plane that burst into flames just after all 379 passengers and crew escaped had no "visual contact" with the other aircraft in the collision, the airline said Thursday.

The World Bank is working to slash how long it takes to get financing projects off the ground as part of a push to speed up and scale up the 79-year-old development lender, its president told AFP on Wednesday.

A New York judge on Wednesday began to unseal the identities of people linked in court documents to Jeffrey Epstein, the US financier who killed himself in 2019 as he awaited trial for sex crimes.

A US teenager has beaten classic computer game Tetris, forcing it into a game-ending glitch in a feat previously achieved only by artificial intelligence.

US Federal Reserve officials expect interest rates will need to remain high "for some time" to tackle stubborn inflation, according to minutes of the most recent rate decision published on Wednesday.

Twelve nations led by the United States on Wednesday jointly warned Yemen's Huthi rebels of unspecified consequences unless they immediately halt sea attacks that are increasingly disrupting global commerce.

The president of Harvard University resigned Tuesday after coming under ferocious attack over plagiarism accusations and her response to anti-Semitism on campus amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Oh boy! Barely 24 hours after Disney's initial copyright on Mickey Mouse expired, two new indie horror films starring the beloved character have been announced.

Liverpool lead the way in a tantalisingly poised Premier League title race heading into 2024 with just six points separating the top five.

Japanese rescuers struggled with heavy rain, blocked roads and aftershocks on Wednesday following a powerful earthquake that killed at least 64 people and left tens of thousands without power or running water.

Asian and European stock markets mostly fell Wednesday as traders took cash off the table after a blockbuster end to 2023, with eyes now on the release this week of US Federal Reserve minutes and jobs data.

Japanese investigators on Wednesday probed a near-catastrophic collision at Tokyo's Haneda Airport of a coast guard plane and a passenger jet that killed five people, with almost 400 others narrowly escaping a raging inferno.

The Taiwanese people "will resist" China's attempts to influence the island's January 13 election, frontrunner presidential candidate Lai Ching-te told AFP on Wednesday as he hit the campaign trial 10 days before the pivotal poll.

Israel kept bombing Gaza on Wednesday after the army warned it is ready for "any scenario" following a drone strike in Lebanon which killed the deputy leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, stoking fears of a regional escalation.

China's BYD has overtaken US electric vehicle giant Tesla as the world's leading EV deliverer, according to recent sales figures.

Hospital doctors in England on Wednesday began their longest consecutive strike in the seven-decade history of Britain's National Health Service (NHS).

South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung narrowly escaped death when he was stabbed in the neck, a party lawmaker said Wednesday, as police were granted a warrant to search his assailant's property.

Saleh al-Aruri, the senior Hamas official killed in a suspected Israeli strike in Lebanon, played a key role in building up the Palestinian group's military capabilities and its links with regional allies.

The case of actor Gerard Depardieu, charged with rape and facing other accusations of sexual assault, has exposed a major split in French cinema, extending into politics and wider society.

Somalia vowed on Tuesday to defend its territory by "any legal means" and recalled its ambassador to Ethiopia after Addis Ababa struck a controversial deal with the breakaway region of Somaliland.

Fourteen Nicaraguan priests have now been arrested in a crackdown on the Catholic Church in the Central American country, prompting Pope Francis to call for dialogue during his Monday prayer.

Dean Elgar will bid to bring the curtain down on his Test career by skippering South Africa to victory in the second and final Test against an India side who are likely to make at least two changes.

Waiting in the cold, hundreds of residents of the earthquake-hit Japanese town of Shika stood in a queue to get rations of a suddenly scarce, but vital, commodity: drinking water.

The winner falls to his knees, arms raised triumphantly. After just eight minutes, his opponent's knee and elbow have touched the sand, handing "Issaka Issaka" an historic win in Niger's king of sports.

Russia on Tuesday rained missiles on Ukraine's two main cities, killing four people and injuring dozens while 250,000 consumers in the capital region were left without power in near-freezing temperatures.

Rafael Nadal won his first match back from a year-long injury layoff when he beat former US Open champion Dominic Thiem at the Brisbane International on Tuesday, calling it an "emotional and important day".

Chinese internet giant Baidu has said it was cancelling the planned multi-billion-dollar purchase of livestreaming platform YY Live, partly blaming its inability to get government approval.