AFP news

A federal court handed Apple a victory on Wednesday by suspending a ban on the US sale of its latest watch models in a feud over patents with health company Masimo.

French shipping giant CMA-CGM has resumed some transit through the Red Sea, days after Danish group Maersk announced it would return as a US-led naval coalition is now policing the maritime route against Yemeni rebel attacks.

Wolfgang Schaeuble, one of the most important figures in German politics and an icon of budgetary rigour in the eurozone, has died aged 81, the German parliament said Wednesday.

Apple said on Tuesday it will appeal a US ban on its latest smartwatch models after the Biden administration opted to not veto a ruling on patent infringements.

US rapper Kanye West apologized to the Jewish community Tuesday, after a series of anti-Semitic comments that sparked outrage and led to the star being dropped from lucrative commercial deals and banned from social media.

Colombian superstar Shakira's Caribbean home city of Barranquilla unveiled a 6.5-meter (21.3-foot) hip-swaying statue in her honor on Tuesday.

Liverpool climbed to the top of the Premier League as Darwin Nunez ended his goal drought to inspire a 2-0 win against Burnley, while Rasmus Hojlund broke his own barren run to cap Manchester United's thrilling fightback to beat Aston Villa 3-2 on Tuesday.

Jim Ratcliffe has directly contacted Manchester United fans to plead for patience after agreeing to take a stake in the struggling English football giants.

In 2023, Sha'Carri Richardson finally came good on the global stage, while Victor Wembanyama quickly left his mark on the NBA and Rachin Ravindra lit up the Cricket World Cup.

Asian markets were higher on Wednesday, tracking Christmas holiday gains on Wall Street, with investors betting on the US Federal Reserve cutting interest rates as early as March.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met Tuesday to discuss shifting "to a different phase" of the Israel-Hamas war with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, a White House official said.

Concerns over a spiraling humanitarian crisis inside the besieged territory have amplified calls for an end to the hostilities, while incidents linked to Iran-backed groups acting in solidarity with Hamas have fanned fears of a wider regional conflict.

South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun, best known for his role in the Oscar-winning film "Parasite", was found dead Wednesday, police said.

After President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022, Western countries hit Russia with a slew of sanctions including a European Union embargo on its seaborne oil deliveries.

The Kremlin on Tuesday acknowledged a Ukrainian attack had damaged a warship in the occupied Crimean port of Feodosia in what Ukraine and its Western allies called a major setback for the Russian navy.

North Korea has opened a year-end ruling party meeting attended by leader Kim Jong Un, state media said Wednesday, with key policy decisions for 2024 expected to be unveiled.

Pele "would have been sad" at the state of the current Brazilian national team, his son Edinho has told AFP in an interview days before the first anniversary of his death on Friday.

Demonstrators set up roadblocks in the Serbian capital Belgrade Monday, to protest what they say was electoral fraud in Serbia's recent parliamentary and local elections.

The world of Chinese chess is in uproar over rumors of cheating and a bad behavior scandal that saw the national champion stripped of his title Monday after a victory celebration ended with him defecating in a hotel bathtub.

A plane that had been grounded in France for days over concerns its roughly 300 mostly Indian passengers were part of a human trafficking scheme landed in Mumbai early Tuesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted peace can only be achieved in Gaza if Hamas is destroyed, the territory demilitarised and Palestinian society "deradicalised", after warning the war is set to intensify.

Japanese car maker Daihatsu has suspended all its domestic production as the Toyota-owned company faces a massive safety testing scandal.

An Israeli strike in Syria has killed a senior general with Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the military force said, with Tehran vowing retribution.

Japan's SLIM space probe entered the Moon's orbit on Monday in a major step towards the country's first successful lunar landing, expected next month.

World Health Organization staff visited Monday a Gaza hospital receiving casualties from deadly strikes on a refugee camp, hearing distressing stories of entire families killed and seeing dying children.

Armed groups have killed at least 160 people in central Nigeria in a series of attacks on villages, local government officials said on Monday.

British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe has agreed a deal to buy a 25 percent stake in Manchester United for about $1.3 billion, vowing to return the Premier League club to the "top of world football".

The joint US-Canadian military monitoring agency has continued its decades-long Christmas tradition of tracking Santa's whereabouts, helping children around the globe find out when his reindeer-powered, present-filled sleigh is coming to town.

Ukrainian Orthodox Christians attended services on Sunday as the country for the first time celebrated Christmas on December 25, after the government changed the date from January 7, when most Orthodox believers celebrate, as a snub to Russia.