AFP news

Visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday urged Israel to create safe zones for Palestinian civilians in Gaza before it resumes "major military operations" in the Hamas-ruled territory.

The UK government said on Thursday it had triggered a formal probe on public interest grounds into the proposed sale of the Telegraph Media Group to an Abu Dhabi-backed investment fund.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and other major oil-producing nations on Thursday announced they would further slash production next year in an effort to prop up volatile prices.

The United States on Wednesday slapped sanctions on a crypto mixer that it said was serving as a money laundering tool for hackers affiliated with the North Korean government.

The Paris police chief has outlined drastic security measures for next year's summer Olympics, sparking an outcry from politicians Wednesday who said they were an attack on civic freedoms.

Manchester United are facing elimination from the Champions League in the group stage after squandering a two-goal lead to draw 3-3 with Galatasaray in Istanbul on Wednesday, while Arsenal and PSV Eindhoven secured qualification for the last 16.

More than 50 years after the last Apollo mission, the United States will try once again to land a craft on the Moon on January 25, said the head of what could be the first private company to successfully touch down on the lunar surface.

Russian forces were ramping up attacks in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, Moscow and Kyiv said, as they vie to secure elusive territorial gains before the end of the year.

General Motors announced hefty new initiatives Wednesday to return billions of dollars to shareholders, lifting its stock price as it estimated the recent labor strike hit at $1.1 billion.

Swedish furniture giant Ikea saw a five-fold increase in net profit for its full-year 2023 which ended in August, boosted by rising sales, Ingka Group which owns most Ikea franchises said Wednesday.

Far-right Dutch leader Geert Wilders suffered a major setback to his goal of forming a governing coalition Wednesday when a key potential partner ruled itself out, uncomfortable with his extreme views.

The Canadian government and Google announced Wednesday a "historic" deal to support the country's media, heading off an imminent threat by the digital giant to block news on its platform.

Elon Musk apologized Wednesday for endorsing a social media post widely seen as anti-Semitic, but accused advertisers who are turning away from his social media platform X of "blackmail" and said anyone who does so can "go fuck yourself."

Four years after startling the car world with designs for the Cybertruck, Elon Musk is set Thursday to mark the arrival of Tesla's iconoclastic take on the American pickup.

Seventeen Thai hostages kidnapped and held for weeks by Hamas in the Gaza Strip are expected to return home on Thursday to be met by overjoyed relatives at the Bangkok airport.

The UN climate conference opens in Dubai on Thursday with nations urged to increase the pace of action on global warming and phase out fossil fuels, amid intense scrutiny of oil-rich hosts UAE. The two-week-long climate negotiations being held this year in the glitzy Gulf city come at a pivotal moment, with emissions still rising and this year likely to be the hottest in human history.

The UN's former climate chief said she was "giving up hope" that fossil fuel firms will be part of the solution to warming as pivotal COP28 talks start Thursday in oil-rich United Arab Emirates.

Hours after the traumatic October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Michael and his wife knew they had to abandon their Tel Aviv home and flee to the nearest destination, Athens, for the sake of their family.

Henry Kissinger, the relentlessly ambitious US diplomat whose unapologetic promotion of raw American power helped shape the post-World War II world, died Wednesday, his consulting firm said.

They are ambitious and relatively young leaders whose passionate views about running their large, powerful states offer contrasting ideals on how the deeply-polarized United States should be run.

The Emirati host of the UN climate conference in Dubai denied Wednesday reports that he used his presidency of the crucial talks on global warming to pursue fossil fuels deals.

High in remote mountains in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, a new plant will soon take atmospheric CO2 and pump it into rock -- part of controversial attempts to target planet-heating emissions without abandoning fossil fuels.

Four-year-old American hostage Abigail is surrounded by family in Israel who "brought her life back" after seven weeks of captivity, her great aunt said Wednesday, as relatives stressed they will not rest until everyone held by Hamas is freed.

A US Osprey military aircraft with eight crew on board crashed on Wednesday off a Japanese island, the coastguard said, in the latest accident involving the tilt-rotor military aircraft.

After 17 days trapped inside a collapsed Himalayan road tunnel they were building, Indian workers described the horror of their ordeal, and the hopes and prayers that kept them strong.

"All views are welcome. All views are needed," declared Sultan Al Jaber, president of the UN's COP28 and head of the Emirates state oil and gas company in the run-up to the climate talks in Dubai.

Ecuador's new president and vice president have been in office less than a week -- but it's already clear no love is lost between them.

The Dutch version of a new book about the British Royal Family has been withdrawn amid reports it accidentally revealed which royal commented about the skin colour of Harry and Meghan's baby.

The death toll from floods that have devastated many parts of Kenya has almost doubled to 120, a government official said on Tuesday.