AFP news

South Korean police said Wednesday that security guards were blocking a raid on President Yoon Suk Yeol's offices to investigate his brief imposition of martial law, with the opposition party accusing the presidential staff of illegally protecting an insurrectionist.

China has expanded military drills around Taiwan aimed at drawing "a red line" for the next US president, Taipei authorities said on Wednesday, branding Beijing a "troublemaker".

Nippon Steel on Wednesday slammed the "inappropriate" influence of politics on its planned takeover of US Steel after a media report said President Joe Biden would block it.

Mohamed Salah helped maintain Liverpool's perfect record in the Champions League on Tuesday while holders Real Madrid bounced back from their defeat at Anfield to topple in-form Italians Atalanta.

A ferocious fire tore through Malibu on Tuesday, destroying at least seven homes in one of California's most desirable areas, and forcing thousands to evacuate.

The first family of news -- commanding a stable that includes Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and a host of British and Australian media -- had been the inspiration for the hit TV series "Succession."

Netanyahu, who has repeatedly sought to delay his appearance in court, is the first sitting prime minister of Israel to face a criminal trial.

An announcement on the 2030 and 2034 World Cups will be made on Wednesday, with expectations of a dramatic expansion of geographic footprint -- and with that planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions.

The six-episode "Saudi Pro League: Kickoff" debuted just three weeks before the FIFA Congress is set to formally approve Saudi Arabia -- the sole candidate -- as host of the quadrennial spectacle.

Commodity markets were steadier after oil and gold won strong support Monday owing to an uncertain future for Syria and the wider crude-rich Middle East.

A day after Yoon himself was hit with a travel ban, his party was meanwhile forging a "resignation roadmap" that reportedly could see him step down in February or March before fresh elections, while the opposition plans to organize an impeachment vote every Saturday.

Taiwanese forces were on high alert in anticipation of Beijing's People's Liberation Army (PLA) staging war games in response to Lai's US stopovers and call with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.

The 20th king of the Bamoun people, Mouhammad Nabil Mfourifoum Mbombo Njoya, stood up from his ornate throne -- a replica of the original, now at a German museum -- for the ancient ritual to get under way.

Former US president Donald Trump -- who returns to the White House next month -- unleashed a grueling trade war with China during his first term in office, lambasting alleged intellectual property theft and other "unfair" practices.

The Ukrainian officer, who uses the callsign "Goth", was speaking to AFP in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia made in November its largest gains in a month since March 2022.

Shutting out the far-right National Rally (RN) and hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), the effort to find a way forward comes as caretaker ministers scramble to clarify France's 2025 finances, after the previous administration fell over its cost-cutting budget plans.

Assad fled Syria as an Islamist-led rebel alliance swept into the capital Damascus, ending five decades of brutal rule by his clan on Sunday.

The two firms signed an agreement in 2023 to produce battery parts for the manufacture of electric vehicles in Europe.

The Pentagon chief is in Tokyo on what will likely be his last official Asia-Pacific trip, as the United States and Japan prepare for a new era shaped by incoming president Donald Trump's protectionist policies.

"The operation went without complications" on Monday night, and Lula was "doing well, under monitoring" in an intensive care unit, the Syrian-Lebanese Hospital in Sao Paulo said in a statement posted on the president's Instagram account.

The world's second-largest economy is battling sluggish domestic consumption, a persistent crisis in the property sector and soaring government debt -- all of which threaten Beijing's official growth target for this year.

Rising more than 2,400 meters (8,000 feet) above sea level on the central island of Negros, Kanlaon is one of 24 active volcanoes in the Philippines.

Last week far-right and hard-left lawmakers joined efforts to oust the minority government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier in a historic no-confidence vote following a standoff over an austerity budget.

The action is twice the length of the first "warning strike" organized by union IG Metall last week, which saw some 100,000 workers down tools.

History is being made at the International Court of Justice, with the largest-ever number of countries and institutions seeking to sway judges crafting a legal framework for the global fight against climate change.

His win marks a historic victory, making him the first president in the three decades of Ghana's Fourth Republic -- since the 1992 return to multi-party democracy -- to reclaim the presidency after being voted out.

In his first formal television interview since the election -- and just six weeks before Inauguration Day -- Trump again signaled that US support for Ukraine will scale back, saying he will "probably" cut the aid helping Kyiv repel Russia's invasion.

Rescue workers were combing through the wreckage in a bid to recover bodies from the blast that levelled five homes early Saturday, but the number of people possibly still buried in the debris was unknown.

Crowds cheered in the streets of Damascus, where celebratory gunfire erupted as five decades of brutal Baath party rule came crashing to a dramatic end with Assad's flight from the capital on Sunday.