AFP news

The first 32-team Women's World Cup kicks off in Australia and New Zealand on Thursday, with the United States favourites to win an unprecedented third consecutive title in a landmark month for women's football.

G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs opened talks on Monday discussing debt restructuring deals, multilateral bank reform and finance to tackle climate change, aiming to bolster a sagging global economy.

Scorching heat across the Northern Hemisphere threatened to break records and whip up wildfires on Monday as the dire consequences of global warming take shape.

South Africa's graft-tainted ex-leader Jacob Zuma is receiving medical treatment in Russia, his spokesman said Friday, a day after the country's highest court upheld a ruling that he should return to prison. "Zuma travelled to Russia last week for health reasons," the 81-year-old's spokesman Mzwanele Manyi said in a statement. Manyi added that the trip "was private, it was not a secret," after the information was published by local media.

Interest rate hikes are forcing mobile operators to scale back investment in 5G networks, with equipment manufacturer Ericsson reporting Friday a rare net quarterly loss and Nokia lowering its outlook.

China's top diplomat said Thursday Beijing would strengthen ties with Russia in areas of strategic communication and coordination, as the allies' contacts grow closer after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine last year.

Kenya's interior ministry on Thursday said more than 300 people including a lawmaker had been arrested following violent anti-government protests that left nine dead.

US President Joe Biden said Thursday that Russia's Vladimir Putin has already lost the war in Ukraine, expressing hope that Kyiv's counter-offensive would force Moscow to the negotiating table.

A summit of African leaders from war-torn Sudan's neighbours Thursday urged an end to the fighting, as UN experts reported a mass grave had been discovered in the country's Darfur region.

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Thursday urged nations targeted by Western sanctions to band together as he hosted the leader of fellow international outlier Iran.

Sultan Al Jaber, Emirates oil executive and president of the most important climate summit since the Paris Agreement in 2015, has a quick answer when asked when the world will stop burning fossil fuels: when there's enough clean energy to replace them.

A boat carrying 41 migrants that set off from Senegal landed in Spain's Canary Islands, the emergency services said Thursday as rescuers continued searching for three other missing boats from Senegal.

US prosecutors arrested the former head of Celsius Network on fraud charges on Thursday, a year after the cryptocurrency platform filed for bankruptcy protection while owing investors $4.7 billion.

The International Criminal Court has opened a new probe into alleged war crimes in Sudan, its chief prosecutor said Thursday, expressing major concern over escalating violence.

The WHO said Friday it was now classifying aspartame, an artificial sweetener commonly used in soft drinks, as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" -- though the acceptable daily intake level remains unchanged.

Hollywood actors were "duped" into extending negotiations for two weeks by studios who wanted more time to promote their summer blockbuster movies, union president Fran Drescher told AFP on Thursday.

Beijing's top diplomat Wang Yi has urged Washington to "work with China" to improve ties during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday.

South Africa's top court on Thursday upheld an earlier ruling that former president Jacob Zuma should return to prison to complete his 15-month term for contempt of court, dismissing an appeal seeking to keep him out of jail. Zuma was sentenced in June 2021 after refusing to testify before a panel probing financial sleaze and cronyism under his presidency -- but was freed on medical parole just two months into his term.

The IEA trimmed its forecast for 2023 oil demand for the first time this year as macroeconomic headwinds including higher interest rates bite, but still sees it reaching a record level thanks to China's thirst for fuel.

Kenya's interior ministry on Thursday said more than 300 people including a lawmaker had been arrested following violent anti-government protests that left seven people dead.

The top US and Chinese diplomats will hold their second meeting in as many months on Thursday in Jakarta, seeking to manage tensions that risk flaring anew over alleged Chinese hacking.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally oversaw the successful test of the country's newest intercontinental ballistic missile, state media reported Thursday, days after Pyongyang threatened to down any US spy planes that enter its airspace.

Elon Musk on Wednesday launched his own artificial intelligence company, xAI, as he seeks to compete with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT -- a program he accuses of being politically biased and irresponsible.

More than 600 migrants forced out of Tunisia's port of Sfax to the desert borderlands with Libya are being sheltered and given humanitarian aid, the Red Crescent said on Wednesday.

The UN Human Rights Council voted Wednesday to condemn recent Koran burning incidents, but many countries declined to back the resolution, fearing it encroached on free speech.

Spain's coastguard resumed the search for three migrant boats reported lost off the Canary Islands after suspending an aerial search earlier in the day due to bad weather.

World hunger stopped rising in 2022 after growing for seven years but remains above pre-pandemic levels and far off track to be eradicated by 2030, UN agencies said Wednesday.

US President Joe Biden hailed Ukraine's "astounding" courage Wednesday in talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who set aside earlier frustrations with NATO to profusely thank the United States for its help.

At a training ground on the edge of Kyiv, a group of women ran through an obstacle course and fired Kalashnikovs, putting the new uniforms finally designed for them through a stress test.