AFP news

Ratings agency Moody's on Tuesday downgraded the outlook on China's credit rating to "negative" from "stable" on the back of rising debt in the world's second-largest economy, with Beijing saying it was "disappointed" by the move.

Britain's embattled Conservative government unveiled a raft of measures Monday aimed at cracking down on record levels of migration -- a key battleground in a general election expected next year.

A former US ambassador to Bolivia has been arrested and charged with spying for Cuba over a 40-year span, the Justice Department announced Monday, detailing a shock betrayal by a suspect who called the United States "the enemy."

Canada's public broadcaster on Monday announced it would cut 600 jobs, or 10 percent of its workforce, as it confronts financial challenges sparked by a drop in television ad revenues and competition from digital news outlets.

For nearly three decades, the chaotic, overcrowded Owino secondhand market in Uganda's capital has been the cornerstone of Hadija Nakimuli's life, helping the widowed shopkeeper build a house and raise 12 children.

Music streaming giant Spotify said Monday it would reduce its number of employees by around 17 percent in a bid to cut costs amid "dramatically" slower economic growth.

The first trailer for "Grand Theft Auto VI" hit YouTube in a surprise, ahead-of-schedule post on Monday, promising a 2025 release for the latest installment in the mega-popular video game franchise.

A daredevil YouTuber who deliberately crashed his plane to boost the number of viewers on his channel and then lied about it to investigators has been jailed for six months after reaching a plea deal, US authorities said Monday.

In his rustic cabin in the forests of southern Finland, 87-year-old Erkki Pekkarinen carves delicate strips of birch bark with his knife, before intricately weaving them into beautiful objects.

The Premier League announced on Monday it had agreed a record GBP6.7 billion ($8.45 billion) domestic television rights deal for a four-year period starting from the 2025/26 season.

Saudi Arabia's energy minister has slammed the door shut on agreeing to phase out fossil fuels at the UN's COP28 climate talks, setting the stage for difficult negotiations in Dubai.

Inside the negotiating rooms and on the sidelines of the COP28 climate talks, simmering tensions over wealthy countries' "green trade" policies have been bubbling to the surface, with developing nations fearful they will be penalised.

The world may cross the crucial 1.5C global warming threshold in seven years as fossil fuel CO2 emissions continue to rise, scientists warned Tuesday, urging countries at the COP28 talks to "act now" on coal, oil and gas pollution.

A UK interfaith coalition comprising religious, political and civic leaders, as well as grieving relatives of some of those killed in the Israel-Hamas war, held a vigil Sunday in London.

Bitcoin on Monday rose past $40,000 for the first time since May last year, boosted by hopes that the United States will soon allow broader trading of the world's biggest cryptocurrency.

On a sailing boat anchored off Oman's pristine Daymaniyat Islands, volunteer divers pull on wetsuits, check their scuba tanks and then take turns plunging into the clear turquoise water.

Turkey's annual inflation rate ticked up slightly in November, the state statistics agency said on Monday, showing further signs of levelling off following a series of sharp interest rate hikes.

Eleven hikers were found dead Monday and another 12 were missing after a volcano erupted in Indonesia, with rescuers racing to carry injured and burned survivors down the mountain on foot.

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Saturday urged lawmakers, Silicon Valley and US allies to stop China from getting semiconductors and cutting-edge technologies key to national security.

A person known to the French authorities as a radical Islamist with mental health troubles stabbed a German tourist to death and wounded two people in central Paris on Saturday before being arrested, officials said.

Israel expanded its offensive against Hamas militants in besieged Gaza on Monday, as international concern deepened over the mounting civilian death toll in a war sparked by the October 7 attacks.

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck off the coast of the southern Philippines early Monday, the United States Geological Survey said, the latest in a slew of strong quakes all concentrated in the same area.

North Korean "smuggling networks" are registering ships in Pacific nations to disguise themselves while trafficking oil, according to former United Nations sanctions experts and documents obtained by AFP. With strict sanctions limiting Pyongyang's ability to import fuel, North Korean smugglers have adopted increasingly creative methods to deceive authorities and dodge scrutiny.

Elon Musk's verbal assault on advertisers who have shunned X (formerly Twitter) threatens to sink the social network further, with the tycoon warning of the platform's demise, just one year after taking control.

They call the giant climate business expo running outside the COP28 United Nations talks in Dubai the "green zone".

Alaska Airlines announced Sunday that it would buy Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9 billion, consolidating its position as the nation's fifth biggest carrier if it can attain regulatory approval.

Gold hit a fresh record Monday on growing optimism the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in the new year, with traders shrugging off boss Jerome Powell's attempts to temper expectations.

A Hong Kong court on Monday gave Chinese property giant Evergrande until the end of January to put together a restructuring plan, offering the embattled firm much-needed breathing room as it teeters on the brink of bankruptcy.

Rockstar Games said it will release a trailer next Tuesday for the first installment in a decade of "Grand Theft Auto," video-gaming's controversial blockbuster.