AFP news

The coming year will put incoming US President Donald Trump's geopolitical strategies to the test, as wars rage in the Middle East and Ukraine and tensions rise in Asia.

Washington's decision to give anti-personnel mines to Ukraine is the biggest blow yet to a landmark anti-mine treaty, its signatories said during a meeting.

Namibia's vice president was among the first to vote in elections Wednesday that could see her become the desert nation's first woman leader, even as her ruling SWAPO party faces the strongest challenge yet to its 34-year grip on power.

Spanish traveller Alberto Blasco Ventas looked out at Ukraine's destroyed Irpin brige, blown up to stop Russian troops in 2022 and now a hotspot for thrill-seeking tourists visiting the country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Kazakhstan on Wednesday for a two-day trip aimed at shoring up ties with his Central Asian ally as tensions mount over the Ukraine war.

Google and the US government faced off in a federal court on Monday, as each side delivered closing arguments in a case revolving around the technology giant's alleged unfair domination of online advertising.

Conflicts, violence and disasters across Africa have dramatically driven up the number of displaced people on the continent over the past 15 years, international monitors said Tuesday.

Stock markets retreated and the dollar was mixed Tuesday after Donald Trump warned he would impose huge new tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada immediately on taking over as US president in January.

In the wake of ChatGPT's dramatic arrival two years ago, companies are excited about generative AI's possibilities but heading into 2025 with careful deliberation rather than rushing to transform their operations.

With Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior injured for the Champions League clash at Liverpool on Wednesday, superstar summer signing Kylian Mbappe will become their key attacking weapon.

Indonesia has rejected an Apple $100 million investment proposal aimed at lifting a ban on iPhone 16 sales, saying it lacks the "fairness" required by the government.

Nations gathered in Busan, South Korea have a week to agree the world's first treaty to curb plastic pollution, a gargantuan challenge given the major divisions that remain.

US lawmakers urged the government Monday to rethink banking ties with Hong Kong, citing its "increasing role" in money laundering, sanctions evasions and reported funneling of banned technology to Russia.

At a crowded camp in Gaza for those displaced by the war between Israel and Hamas, Ayman Siam laid concrete blocks around his tent to keep his family dry as rain threatened more misery.

Russia is carrying out "genocidal activities" by laying landmines on Ukraine's territory, an official from Kyiv's defence ministry told a landmine conference in Cambodia on Tuesday.

The world approved a bitterly negotiated climate deal Sunday but poorer nations most at the mercy of worsening disasters dismissed a $300 billion a year pledge from wealthy historic polluters as insultingly low.

US shoppers are coming out in force this holiday season, but the festiveness is being tempered by inflationary pressures that have abated but not completely faded.

President-elect Donald Trump's hardline immigration proposals -- including a controversial mass deportation plan -- could prove economically damaging, analysts say, with US sectors that rely heavily on foreign workers like agriculture and construction especially hard hit.

Noxious smog smothering the plains of north India is not only choking the lungs of residents and killing millions, but also slowing the country's economic growth.

From a distance, it seemed like a relaxing get-together among friends.

Pep Guardiola said he expected a slip in Manchester City's standards sooner or later but even he has been shocked by the English champions' implosion in a five-game losing streak.

Ukraine on Sunday showed journalists fragments of the Russian missile used to strike the city of Dnipro last week, after Moscow said it had tested its new Oreshnik ballistic missile.

Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell called for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war while on a visit to Lebanon on Sunday, as the militant group claimed a wave of cross-border attacks.

US President-elect Donald Trump's top security advisor called on Sunday for an end to the escalation of the war between Ukraine and Russia, and for both parties to come to the negotiating table.

US President-elect Donald Trump tapped Pam Bondi, a staunch ally who helped defend the ex-leader against impeachment, as US attorney general on Thursday following firebrand Matt Gaetz's withdrawal from the running.

Most markets gained Friday after a bounce on Wall Street, while bitcoin continued its march higher to move within touching distance of the $100,000 mark.

Pep Guardiola has extended his contract as manager of Premier League champions Manchester City for a further two seasons, saying Thursday "I could not leave now" with the club facing arguably the toughest period of his time at the Etihad Stadium.

Iran said Friday it would launch a series of "new and advanced" centrifuges in response to a resolution adopted by the UN nuclear watchdog that censures Tehran for what the agency called lack of cooperation.

German third-quarter growth was downgraded Friday with official data showing it expanded even more weakly than previously thought, in a new blow for Europe's top economy as it battles multiple headwinds.