AFP news

Max Verstappen on Thursday rejected the notion, rumoured and reported in recent days, that his Red Bull team were considering approaching Lewis Hamilton to partner him in a dream line-up.

Liverpool will become the latest team to attempt to storm Manchester City's Etihad fortress this weekend as Everton focus on Premier League survival following a punishing points deduction for breaching financial rules.

Ecuador's new president, the 35-year-old millionaire heir to a business empire, Daniel Noboa, took office Thursday as the leader of a country gripped by a bloody drug war.

Latin American governments are learning not to get too comfortable in office, as disgruntled voters repeatedly topple incumbents, often in favor of outsiders or inexperienced politicians.

The retail sector's efforts to entice holiday gift purchases builds to a crescendo this weekend with the annual "Black Friday" shopping day followed by the newer "Cyber Monday."

Most Asian markets fell Friday following a broadly healthy week, with traders hoping for fresh Chinese moves to help the country's troubled property sector after officials called on banks to provide support.

US Department of Defense officials will visit Guyana next week, the South American country's vice president said Thursday, as he pledged that "all options" are on the table in its row with neighboring Venezuela.

Chinese basketball great Yao Ming says that criticism of the men's national team has gone too far after some players were abused online following a series of disappointing results.

British music retailer HMV returns to the iconic site of its former flagship store in central London on Friday, in a much-needed boost to the flagging fortunes of the capital's premier shopping street.

Just a few metres of rock and earth separate Indian rescue teams from 41 workers who have been trapped inside a collapsed road tunnel for nearly two weeks, officials said Friday, saying they were optimistic of success within hours.

A spate of thefts of rare Russian classics worth millions of euros from libraries across Eastern Europe has left a trail that points all the way to auctions in Russia.

The government of Venezuela lambasted Peru on Wednesday following a controversial football match, at one point accusing Lima of kidnapping its national team by refusing to allow the aircraft bringing the players home to refuel.

One year after the Qatar World Cup, billboards emblazoned with the tournament's official slogan, "All is now," still stand by Doha's roadsides.

Just five days after winning in Las Vegas, Max Verstappen will climb into his Red Bull for the final time this year on Friday when he begins his bid for another record-extending triumph at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The four megastar members of K-pop girl group Blackpink were given one of Britain's most prestigious honours Wednesday by King Charles III, recognising their work as environmental advocates.

Britain celebrates the 60th anniversary of science-fiction series "Doctor Who" Saturday as fans hail a programme that has enthralled generations since it was first broadcast.

Sam Altman's shock return as chief executive of OpenAI late Tuesday -- days after being sacked -- caps a chaotic period that highlighted deep tensions at the heart of the Artificial Intelligence community.

The emirate of Qatar has further boosted its status as a specialist power in resolving delicate hostage situations by using its influence to help secure the release of hostages by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The far-right, anti-Islam party of firebrand politician Geert Wilders has won a stunning victory in the Dutch election, partial results showed Wednesday, a political bombshell that will resound in Europe and around the world.

New Zealand's incoming conservative prime minister said Thursday that an agreement to form a three-party coalition government had been reached, 40 days after the country went to the polls.

The head of the United Nations children's agency on Wednesday called the besieged Gaza Strip "the most dangerous place in the world to be a child," and said that the hard-won truce deal between Israel and Hamas was not enough to save their lives.

A car erupted into a fireball at a US-Canada checkpoint near Niagara Falls on Wednesday, killing the two occupants, triggering border closures and sparking a massive security alert on the eve of a major holiday.

Ambulances were on standby Thursday morning as Indian rescuers dug through the final metres of debris separating them from 41 workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for nearly two weeks.

A newly-released mass of security footage from the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol has reignited a host of long-debunked conspiracy theories -- with conservative lawmakers and media personalities getting in on the act.

Oil extended losses Thursday after OPEC announced the shock delay of a key policy meeting, suggesting fresh upheaval in the bloc, while equities struggled after two US reports dented recent euphoria over the future of interest rates.

North Korea said Thursday it would deploy new weapons and stronger armed forces to the border with the South, as Seoul's spy agency said Pyongyang had received Russian help to successfully put a military spy satellite into orbit.

The World Health Organization has asked China for more data on a respiratory illness spreading in the north of the country, urging people to take steps to reduce the risk of infection.

World leaders will face a reckoning over humanity's failure to curb climate-heating emissions and polluting fossil fuels when they meet for UN climate talks next week, as the planet swelters in likely the hottest year in human history.

By helping broker an Israel-Hamas deal to free hostages, US President Joe Biden has achieved a long-sought win in a war that has cost him politically.