AFP news

Ravel first performed "Bolero" at the Paris Opera in 1928 and it was an immediate sensation. He died 10 years later and his heirs earned millions of dollars until the copyright ran out in 2016 and passed into public domain.

Tensions between Moscow and Washington soared after the Kremlin accused Ukraine of attacking the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula with a US missile on Sunday, killing four people including two children.

Hundreds of people die every year in India from cheap alcohol made in backstreet distilleries, but this case in Tamil Nadu state is one of the deadliest in recent years.

China claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and has refused to rule out using force to bring the self-ruled island under its control.

It's all part of an effort to strengthen quality control on the 737 MAX, a bestselling airliner that has suffered some high-profile problems.

Romania's 1-1 draw with Slovakia in Frankfurt secured the point both nations needed to progress, while Ukraine's brave effort in a 0-0 draw with Belgium was not enough.

The two men bidding to be British prime minister faced off late on Wednesday in a bad-tempered, last head-to-head TV debate before the country's general election next week.

The troops and tanks entered Plaza Murillo, a historic square where the presidency and Congress are situated, in the afternoon, prompting global condemnation of an attack on democracy.

Narration by Hall of Fame announcer Al Michaels generated using artificial intelligence will voice the recaps that will be personalized to individual viewers of NBC's Peacock streaming service.

Pyongyang "successfully conducted the separation and guidance control test of individual mobile warheads" on Wednesday," KCNA reported, adding that the "separated mobile warheads were guided correctly to the three coordinate targets."

Patients in Gaza's few standing hospitals are dying in droves from infections resulting from a lack of protective gear and soap, even when they survive their horrific blast injuries.

The 52-year-old landed in Canberra the night before, hours after pleading guilty in a US Pacific island court to a single count of revealing military secrets.

The demonstrations were sparked last week by the 2024 finance bill and took Ruto's government by surprise as the initially peaceful rallies gathered momentum across the country.

The Japanese unit's latest retreat came as uncertainty surrounded the Federal Reserve's timetable for cutting interest rates, and the Bank of Japan's caution in tightening monetary policy.

The NHS, created after World War II to provide free healthcare to all, is a shadow of its former self, weakened by years of underfunding and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The border between the two countries has seen daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants ever since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hezbollah's ally Hamas, which triggered the war in Gaza.

The internet and electricity shut off. A shell landed near Poroshyna's home. Ukrainian forces struggled to hold positions that had been under their control for months.

Safety concerns and the cost of developing next-level systems have slowed down progress on autonomous vehicles, but work on regulations is motoring ahead, said the UN.

Left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (3 for 6) and gangling pacer Marco Jansen (3-16) spearheaded the rout of Afghanistan's brittle batting line-up for just 56 off 11.5 overs after they chose to bat.

NATO's 32 nations on Wednesday appointed outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the alliance's next head, handing him the job at a crucial moment with Russia on the march in Ukraine and US elections looming.

Fighting raged Wednesday between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in Gaza's southern city of Rafah, witnesses said, as fears grow of a wider regional war drawing in Lebanese Hamas ally Hezbollah.

Some of the world's major music labels are suing music generation services Suno and Udio, accusing the startups of violating the copyrights of top artists to train their generative AI engines without permission.

The welcome sight of the masked Kylian Mbappe back on the pitch could not disguise another under-par performance from France at Euro 2024 which raises questions about their chances of winning the competition.

Mass expulsions? The 78-year-old, known for his unfinished border wall project, has said he would be happy to "use the military" as part of the effort and would open detention camps to process targets for expulsion.

Asian and European markets mostly rose Wednesday following a tech-led bounce on Wall Street as investors prepared for the release of crucial US inflation data.

Austria's highly controversial former foreign minister Karin Kneissl -- who now lives in Russia -- told AFP she feels slandered as Vienna reels from an unfolding Russian spying scandal.

North Korea test-fired what appeared to be a hypersonic missile on Wednesday, but the launch ended in a mid-air explosion, an official from Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

Kenyan protest organisers called Wednesday for fresh peaceful marches against controversial tax hikes, as the death toll from nationwide demonstrations climbed to 13, an official from the leading doctors' association told AFP. The mainly youth-led rallies began mostly peacefully last week, with thousands of people marching across the country against the tax increases, but tensions sharply escalated Tuesday, as police opened fire on demonstrators who stormed parliament.

Iranians vote on Friday to elect a new president from six candidates, including a lone reformist who hopes he can challenge the dominance of conservatives in the Islamic republic.