AFP news

Hollywood celebrities are paying the price for taking sides in the Gaza war -- plastering their social media accounts with slogans such as "Free Palestine" or "I stand with Israel".

The 35-year-old, whose real name and country of origin have been withheld for her safety, is facing a torturous vicious cycle.

Hunter Biden was indicted late Thursday on multiple counts of tax evasion, the second time this year President Joe Biden's troubled son has been charged by a special counsel investigating his personal and business dealings.

The UN Security Council meets on Gaza Friday under acute pressure from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and will vote on urging an immediate ceasefire after weeks of ruinous war.

Zimbabwe will hold nine by-elections on Saturday with opposition candidates largely absent as President Emmerson Mnangagwa cements his control over the mineral-rich nation.

The leaders of Saudi Arabia and Russia used a rare face-to-face meeting to urge oil producers to stick to pledged supply cuts, a joint statement said Thursday.

Ukraine urged residents to save electricity Thursday after a power plant near the front line was hit by shelling, the first such warning this winter as temperatures plunge below freezing.

Climate change caused by human activity made torrential rains that have lashed East Africa since October and killed more than 300 people up to twice as intense, a scientific study said Thursday.

Sat in a soggy field and strapped into a virtual reality headset, Ukrainian soldier Igor was piloting a military drone test flight using a small control panel in his hands.

Fatah, the largest Palestinian party, has seen its popularity plunge during the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, from where the Islamists violently ousted rivals Fatah in 2007.

With a prolific musical output, a remarkably bankable tour and a name that's headline catnip, it's no surprise that Time Magazine has declared 2023 the Year of Taylor Swift.

McDonald's announced an aggressive expansion roadmap Wednesday to reach 50,000 restaurants worldwide by 2027, as the chain unveiled plans to roll out CosMc's, a new network of small-format shops focused on cold beverages.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan travels to Athens on Thursday in a keenly watched visit billed as an attempted "new chapter" between the NATO allies and historic rivals after years of tension.

EU President Ursula von der Leyen told Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday that the bloc and its biggest trading partner must address their differences, in the first in-person EU-China summit in over four years.

Agnes Chow was trapped in Hong Kong, had her passport seized and was branded a "foreign agent" after years as one of the city's most prominent democracy activists.

Insured losses from natural catastrophes will pass the $100-billion threshold for the fourth year running in 2023, reinsurance giant Swiss Re said Thursday.

The Ukrainian government is "very concerned" by the call from sports federations and National Olympic Committees to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at next year's Paris Olympics, its acting sports minister has told AFP. Matviy Bidnyi said Kyiv was concerned that the move gave the impression that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) "does not want to demonstrate the necessary leadership in the matter of Olympic fairness and justice."

A much-anticipated US approval of wider bitcoin trading has helped the world's biggest cryptocurrency reach 20-month heights, risking however pain for new investors unaccustomed to its volatility.

A huge blast at an explosives depot in Seychelles on Thursday injured 66 people and brought down buildings, prompting the country's "shocked" president to declare a state of emergency.

The US state of New Mexico filed a lawsuit Wednesday accusing Facebook and Instagram of being a "breeding ground" for predators who target children.

Proposed high-speed rail lines in the western United States moved a step closer to reality Tuesday with the announcement of $6 billion in government grants.

Global equities rose Wednesday with Frankfurt striking a record peak, as investors tracked resurgent hopes of interest rate cuts from the European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will join a video summit later Wednesday with the leaders of the G7, chair Japan said, hours after unexpectedly skipping a virtual meeting with US senators.

Israeli forces battled Hamas militants in Gaza's main southern city on Wednesday in some of the most intense combat of the nearly two-month war sparked by the October 7 attacks.

The last hiker missing after a volcano eruption in Indonesia was found dead Wednesday, rescuers said, raising the death toll to 23 three days after the disaster.

Airlines should carry a record number of passengers next year as the sector puts the Covid-19 pandemic behind it, the industry's top trade association said Wednesday, although profitability remains a concern.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are living in "utter, deepening horror", the UN human rights chief said Wednesday, as he pleaded for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Britain on Wednesday announced a fresh round of sanctions against Russia's "war machine" in Ukraine, as David Cameron headed to Washington for his first visit as foreign secretary.

Guyana said Tuesday it will approach the UN Security Council for help if Venezuela makes any moves on a disputed oil-rich region following a referendum Caracas says bolstered its claim to it.