AFP news

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen expressed hopes on Monday for Taipei and Beijing to seek "long-term peaceful coexistence" and said future relations should be decided by Taiwan's "democratic procedures".

Israel warned its war against Hamas will continue throughout 2024 as unrelenting strikes killed two dozen people in Gaza and the Palestinian militant group fired a rocket barrage at the stroke of midnight.

Tsunami waves over a metre high hit central Japan on Monday after a series of powerful earthquakes that damaged homes, closed highways and prompted authorities to urge people to run to higher ground.

The UN human rights chief said Thursday he was "deeply alarmed" by the string of attacks on villages in central Nigeria which left nearly 200 dead, according to local authorities.

Chinese tech giant Huawei said Friday it "weathered the storm" of US sanctions as it announced a rise of almost nine percent in revenues in 2023, a year that saw it shock Washington with the release of a high-end smartphone.

Venezuela's state oil company said Thursday that an oil spill at a refinery on the country's western coastline was no longer "active" and that more than 80% of the affected area had been cleaned up.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday ordered more than 5,600 military personnel to participate in a "defensive" exercise near the border with Guyana, in response to Britain sending a warship to the area.

Arsenal missed out on the chance to return to the Premier League summit on Thursday, losing 2-0 to West Ham as Tottenham went down in a six-goal thriller at Brighton.

The US state of Maine on Thursday blocked former president Donald Trump from its Republican presidential primary ballot, the second state to disqualify him over his role in the January 2021 assault on the US Capitol.

Asian stocks were mixed on Friday, with no major movers on the last trading day of the year, closing out a period that has seen gains boosted by investors' expectations of a US Federal Reserve rate cut as early as March.

Israel pounded south and central Gaza on Friday as Egypt was to host a high-level Hamas delegation for talks to try and end the nearly 12-week war that has devastated the besieged Palestinian territory.

An award-winning architect in Bangladesh, one of the nations most at risk from flooding driven by climate change, has developed an ingenious two-floor housing solution to help people survive what scientists warn is a growing threat.

Pakistan has banned New Year's Eve celebrations to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the government said late Thursday, urging people to instead "observe simplicity".

Russia launched drone and missile strikes across Ukraine on Friday, killing at least 12 people and wounding over 70 in one of the biggest air attacks of the war.

Drinkers are getting into something of a fizz over Turkish sparkling wine.

Russian former city councilor and pro-peace politician Yekaterina Duntsova vowed to form a political party on Wednesday after authorities confirmed she would not be able to run in the elections in 2024.

Top Mexican and US officials said that they made progress Wednesday in emergency talks on curbing a surge in migration, which has become a major headache for President Joe Biden as he enters an election year.

The New York Times sued ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Microsoft in a US court on Wednesday, alleging that the companies' powerful AI models used millions of articles for training without permission.

Turkey's parliament is unlikely to hold a full vote on Sweden's bid to join NATO before mid-January, parliamentary sources told AFP Thursday.

For both fans and foes of the European project, Jacques Delors was Brussels' driving force during the EU's greatest period of integration, the creation of the single market and the euro.

Britain on Thursday lifted some costly obstacles placed on school trips post Brexit -- but only for students from France as campaigners called for all EU countries to benefit.

Thousands of Argentines took to the streets of Buenos Aires on Wednesday, clashing with police as they protested a decree of sweeping economic reform and deregulation published by President Javier Milei.

The US government on Wednesday announced what it said was the last remaining package of weapons available for Ukraine under existing authorization, with Congress now needing to decide whether to keep supporting Kyiv's battle against Russian invasion.

Tough times ahead for Argentina's new President Javier Milei, continued war in Gaza, and an Uruguay-Argentina 2024 Copa America final: Peru's shamans made their annual predictions Wednesday for the year ahead.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged his party to "accelerate" war preparations including its nuclear program, state media said Thursday.

More than two decades after bursting on the scene, the sun is setting on Rafael Nadal's storied career with the Spanish gladiator hoping his creaking body can hold up long enough to see out the season.

In northeast Colombia, police guard warehouses stacked high with confiscated timber with a noble new destiny: transformation into homes for bees beleaguered by pesticides and climate change.

India's government has recently targeted high-profile journalists with Pegasus spyware, Amnesty International and The Washington Post said in a joint investigation published Thursday.

The Israeli embassy in South Korea has removed a video showing an imaginary scenario in which Koreans are attacked by masked assailants in Seoul, a reference to Hamas, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday.