AFP news

One week into his second administration, Donald Trump has put technology at the forefront, featuring tech billionaires prominently at his inauguration and announcing major AI infrastructure deals from the White House.

Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company, and streaming behemoth Spotify on Sunday announced a multi-year direct deal that will affect both recording and publishing royalty rates.

Sweden on Sunday said it had seized a ship suspected of having damaged a fibre-optic cable under the Baltic Sea linking the country to Latvia, which sent a warship to investigate the latest apparent act of sabotage.

The Louvre in Paris opened its first-ever fashion exhibition on Friday, seeking to draw new, younger audiences to the world's most popular museum.

Europe should take greater risks and plough more money into artificial intelligence, Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun told AFP at the World Economic Forum.

Hundreds of migrants in the United States were arrested Thursday and others flown out of the country on military aircraft as President Donald Trump's promised mass deportation operation got underway, the White House said.

Novak Djokovic said Friday there was a chance he may have played his last Australian Open after retiring with a muscle tear in the semi-finals to leave his bid for a record 25th Grand Slam crown in tatters.

Spanish business circles believe banking giant Sabadell's decision to return its headquarters to Catalonia will entice back the thousands of firms that fled after the region's botched 2017 independence bid.

The Bank of Japan increased interest rates on Friday to their highest in 17 years and signalled more hikes to come, sending the yen higher against the dollar.

Air pollution in the Thai capital forced more than 350 schools to close on Friday, city authorities said, the highest number in five years.

Helicopter pilot Tim Thomas has fought dozens of wildfires all over the world, but nothing prepared him for the scale and the challenge of the devastating blazes that ripped through Los Angeles.

Father Bashar Basiel moved freely in and out of his parish in the occupied West Bank until Israeli troops installed gates at the entrance of his village Taybeh overnight, just hours after a ceasefire began in Gaza.

OpenAI on Thursday introduced an artificial intelligence program called "Operator" that can tend to online tasks such as ordering items or filling out forms.

Extreme weather disrupted the schooling of about 242 million children in 85 countries last year -- roughly one in seven students, the UN children's agency reported Thursday, deploring an "overlooked" aspect of the climate crisis.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he would seek to bring interest rates lower by unleashing energy production, and would speak to the Federal Reserve if needed.

US President Donald Trump ordered the declassification Thursday of the last secret files on the assassination of president John F. Kennedy, a case that still fuels conspiracy theories more than 60 years after his death.

For years, as disputes over names on the map riled up nationalist passions in several parts of the world, US policymakers have watched warily, trying to stay out or to quietly encourage peace.

An explosive new wildfire erupted north of Los Angeles on Wednesday, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and setting nerves jangling in an area still reeling from two deadly blazes.

The Kremlin said Thursday it saw nothing new in US President Donald Trump's calls for Russia to end its military offensive in Ukraine, and that Moscow was ready for "mutually respectful" dialogue with him.

Negligence played a role in the deaths of 78 people who perished when a huge fire gutted a luxury ski resort hotel in northern Turkey this week, an expert said. There were safety failures on multiple levels at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the ski resort of Kartalkaya, the head of the Ankara Chamber of Architects said late on Wednesday.

Donald Trump is back in the White House, promising to use the United States's vast economic weight to hit back at China for its alleged unfair trade practices and role in the deadly American fentanyl crisis.

The US film industry's first major gathering since wildfires devastated Los Angeles begins Thursday at Sundance, where Olivia Colman and John Lithgow will kick off the indie movie festival under somber circumstances.

The United States' new top diplomat Marco Rubio reaffirmed the country's "unwavering support" for Israel, days into a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a large-scale raid in the occupied West Bank.

Real Madrid are the first football club to top a billion euros in revenue during a single season, fuelled by income generated by the revamped Santiago Bernabeu stadium, according to financial experts Deloitte.

This year's Oscar nominations will be unveiled Thursday in an announcement delayed by the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, with transgender cartel musical "Emilia Perez" expected to lead a highly competitive field.

Air pollution forced nearly 200 schools in Bangkok to close on Thursday, local authorities said, as officials urged people to work from home and restricted heavy vehicles in the city.

Donald Trump's return to the White House has darkened the mood in Germany a month before elections, as multiple crises shake the foundations on which Europe's biggest economy built its post-war prosperity.

South Korean investigators recommended Thursday that impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol be charged with insurrection and abuse of power, as they handed prosecutors the results of their probe into his ill-fated declaration of martial law.

The gesture was controversial enough, but now come the sub-controversies: Elon Musk is trolling Wikipedia and encouraging its defunding after a description of his recent flourish, seen by some as a Hitler salute, appeared on the encyclopedic website.