AFP news

The number of new Covid-19 cases reported worldwide rose by 80 percent in the last month, the World Health Organization said on Friday, days after designating a new "variant of interest".

The death toll from record-breaking rains across northern China rose to at least 78 on Friday, as authorities warned of more flooding and another storm approached the country.

Under mountains that dagger the sky, a misfit caravan of Pakistani porters trudge towards K2 toting live chickens and lawn furniture for adventurers seeking an audience with the world's second-highest peak.

US consumer inflation inched up in July, government data showed Thursday, rebounding slightly for the first time in around a year and weighing on policymakers as they mull further interest rate hikes.

The US Treasury announced coordinated sanctions with Canada and Britain on Thursday against Riad Salameh, Lebanon's longtime central bank chief, who recently left office without a successor.

Ukraine urged civilians near the northeastern front line to evacuate on Thursday as Russia ramped up an assault to capture territory already seized once during the conflict.

Russia is launching its first mission to the Moon's surface in nearly 50 years on Friday, hoping to reclaim prestige in space despite military and diplomatic setbacks at home over the Ukraine conflict.

Linda Yaccarino, CEO of social media platform X, said Thursday that the company formerly known as Twitter is "close" to breaking even and is hiring to beef up a staff slashed by owner Elon Musk.

The death toll from a terrifying wildfire that razed a historic Hawaiian town hit 53 Thursday, making it one of the deadliest disasters to strike the islands since they became a US state.

Russia launched its first probe to the Moon in almost 50 years on Friday, a mission designed to give fresh impetus to its space sector, which has been struggling for years and become isolated by the conflict in Ukraine.

Four months into a battle both believed they would win, Sudan's army has lost its grip on Khartoum to paramilitaries, who are unable to declare victory and instead are accused of waging war on civilians.

Athletes flex muscled biceps before going hand-to-hand in a newly televised arm-wrestling league seeking to take the sporting spotlight in otherwise cricket-mad India with a glitzy Bollywood-style makeover.

Asian markets mostly fell Friday as a below-forecast US inflation reading boosted hopes the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates next month but did little to dispel fears it could hike later in the year.

The progress on the prisoners -- one of them detained for nearly eight years -- comes after quiet, exhaustive diplomacy between the longtime adversaries whose separate talks on restoring a nuclear deal broke down.

Russia's plan to launch its lunar lander on Friday is the latest in an international push to return to the Moon that includes the world's top powers but also new players.

At least 36 people have died after a fast-moving wildfire turned a historic Hawaiian town to ashes, officials said Wednesday, as visitors asked to leave the island of Maui found themselves stranded at the airport.

Shareholders of Finland's Rovio, creator of the Angry Birds franchise, have overwhelmingly accepted Japanese Sega's offer to buy the company, allowing the deal to go through, the Finnish company said Thursday.

Stocks fell Thursday ahead of much-anticipated US inflation data, which comes against a backdrop of renewed concerns that the Federal Reserve could announce another interest rate hike before the end of the year.

Gazing up from K2 Basecamp, Sajid Ali Sadpara sees Earth's second-highest mountain, his father's final resting place, and a blight of litter on the furthest reaches of the natural world.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Wednesday that the biggest obstacle to millions of refugees returning home is a lack of infrastructure, devastated by more than a decade of civil war.

In central Moscow, retired businessman Igor Inkin is preparing to turn down simple pleasures like dessert as the value of the ruble in his pocket continues to slide.

Seven people were killed in flash floods in southwestern China on Wednesday, as authorities in Beijing tripled the death toll from the capital's heaviest-ever rains.

Even in a country which regularly holds the world record for jailing journalists, the case of Turkish investigative reporter Baris Pehlivan stands out.

NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered the first evidence that Mars once had a climate which alternated between wet and dry seasons similar to Earth, a study said on Wednesday, suggesting the red planet may have once had the right conditions to support life.

There is "no evidence" that the growth in using Facebook led to "widespread psychological harm", the largest independent scientific study on the topic concluded Wednesday, contradicting previous analyses and widespread perceptions.

Iraq's rising temperatures and protracted drought are a "wake-up call" for the world, United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said in Baghdad on Wednesday.

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday issued an executive order aimed at restricting certain American investments in sensitive high-tech areas in China -- a move that could further strain ties between the world's top two economies.

The United States on Wednesday accused Sudan of having threatened to expel the United Nations mission from the war-torn country if the UN envoy, already in Khartoum's crosshairs, speaks before the Security Council on the atrocities of the conflict.

In the scorching summer heat, an Israeli farmer tends to a dripline taking a mix of ground and recycled water to palm trees -- an approach honed for decades in the arid country and now drawing wide interest abroad.