AFP news

Hundreds of staff at The Washington Post, one of America's most storied newspapers, will walk off the job for 24 hours Thursday, their union announced, slamming the company for refusing to negotiate a contract "in good faith."

The most notorious, violent and often sexist video game "Grand Theft Auto" is finally dropping a playable woman character into its testosterone-fuelled world, capping a wider trend towards more inclusivity in the gaming industry.

Social media giant X, formerly known as Twitter, has defended its response to recent rioting in Dublin that was in part fuelled by far-right users of the platform.

US antitrust officials are seeking additional information related to ExxonMobil's megadeal to acquire Pioneer Natural Resources for about $60 billion, according to a securities filing Tuesday.

Personal genetics firm 23andMe on Tuesday confirmed that hackers using stolen passwords accessed the personal information about 6.9 million of its members.

Humanity faces an "unprecedented" risk from tipping points that could unleash a domino effect of irreversible catastrophes across the planet, researchers warned Wednesday.

President Vladimir Putin will visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, the Kremlin has announced, as Moscow courts allies abroad despite being isolated by the West over the Ukraine conflict.

There was a clear failure in the psychiatric care of the radicalised Islamist suffering from mental troubles who stabbed a German tourist to death in central Paris at the weekend before being arrested, France's interior minister said Monday.

The White House issued a dire warning Monday that US aid for Ukraine will run out by the end of the year, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin could win the war if Congress fails to agree fresh funding.

Venezuela vowed Monday to "reclaim" what it considers its right to a disputed oil-rich region bordering Guyana, which said it would remain "vigilant" although it did not expect an imminent invasion.

An army drone strike accidentally hit a village in northwestern Nigeria killing dozens of civilians celebrating a Muslim festival, local authorities, the military and residents said on Monday.

Israeli troops battled Hamas militants in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday after expanding their offensive deeper into the besieged territory, with warnings that an "even more hellish scenario" was unfolding for trapped civilians.

Chest-high waters surged down the streets of India's southern city Chennai on Tuesday with eight people killed in intense floods as Cyclone Michaung was set to make landfall on the southeast coast.

Banque Pictet et Cie will pay nearly $123 million under a deferred prosecution agreement in which the private bank admitted to helping US taxpayers evade $50.6 million in taxes, US officials announced Monday.

A court in Mauritania's capital Nouakchott on Monday sentenced former president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to five years in prison for having abused his position to amass an ill-gotten fortune.

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.