AFP news

The number of irregular migrants arriving in Britain on small boats soared in 2024, data showed Wednesday, piling pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to stem the dangerous Channel crossings.

Power was restored to most of Puerto Rico Wednesday after a major blackout plunged the island into darkness on New Year's Eve, the US territory's electric utility said.

A US Army veteran with an Islamic State flag and "hellbent" on carnage steered a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year revelers in New Orleans on Wednesday, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

Former India coach Ravi Shastri called Wednesday for a two-tier structure in Test cricket with relegation and promotion to ensure the survival of the red-ball game.

Camped on the street winding up to the residence of South Korea's impeached president, protesters direct vitriol at police and echo obscure conspiracies as investigators prepare to execute a warrant for his arrest.

Russia's gas transit to Europe via Ukraine stopped on Wednesday, Moscow and Kyiv said, ending a decades-long arrangement and marking the latest casualty of the war between the neighbours.

South Korean investigators probing a Jeju Air crash which killed 179 people in the worst aviation disaster on its soil said Wednesday they will send one of the retrieved black boxes to the United States for analysis.

From "A Farewell to Arms" to the cartoon character Popeye the Sailor, thousands of artistic works will enter the public domain in the United States on Wednesday.

Four-time major champion Naomi Osaka used a rain break to her advantage to power to a straight-sets win in the second round of the Auckland Classic on Wednesday.

Smokers in Italy's financial and fashion capital of Milan risk being fined for lighting up on city streets or crowded public areas, after the country's toughest ban comes into effect Wednesday.

Umayyad Square in Damascus hummed to the throngs of people brandishing "revolution" flags as Syria saw in the new year with hope following 13 years of civil war.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday vowed that his country would use 2025 to fight for an end to Russia's nearly three-year-long invasion by any means necessary.

Elon Musk adopted the moniker "Kekius Maximus" on X Tuesday, sparking speculation among his 210 million followers about his mysterious new handle that is a mash-up of an alt-right symbol, a memecoin, and the lead character of the movie "Gladiator."

A major power outage plunged much of Puerto Rico into darkness on New Year's Eve, with the US island territory's electric utility saying restoration could take up to two days.

Beijing insisted on Tuesday that it had shared information on Covid-19 "without holding anything back", after the World Health Organization implored China to offer more data and access to understand the disease's origins.

President Xi Jinping said China will put in place "more proactive" macroeconomic policies next year, state media reported, as he addressed a top political advisory body on Tuesday.

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, celebrating his 40th birthday Monday, said he could play another five to seven years in the NBA at a high-caliber level -- though he conceded he would probably retire before then.

Famed actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie signed off on a divorce settlement Monday, according to People Magazine, marking a turning point in the eight-year legal saga.

South Korean authorities began releasing the bodies of plane crash victims to families Tuesday, as investigators raced to determine why the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 crash landed and burst into flames.

Asian stocks ended the year mainly in the red on Tuesday after worries about 2025 and profit-taking turned Wall Street's usual holiday period "Santa Claus rally" into a mini-rout.

Crowds will marvel at fireworks and toast champagne to greet 2025 on Tuesday, waving goodbye to a year that brought Olympic glory, a dramatic Donald Trump return, and turmoil in the Middle East and Ukraine.

King Charles III announced awards for actors Stephen Fry and Carey Mulligan, as well as victims of Britain's Post Office scandal in the country's traditional New Year's Honours on Tuesday.

In Jimmy Carter's tiny hometown of Plains, Georgia on Monday, the former US president's death was only beginning to sink in, even if friends and neighbors have been bracing for it since he went into hospice care nearly two years ago.

Venezuela's highest court on Monday fined TikTok $10 million in connection with viral challenges that authorities say left three adolescents dead from intoxication by chemical substances.

The US Treasury Department said Monday that a China state-sponsored actor was behind a cyber breach resulting in access to some of its workstations, according to a letter to Congress seen by AFP. The incident happened earlier this month, when the actor compromised a third-party cybersecurity service provider and was able to remotely access the Treasury workstations and some unclassified documents, a Treasury spokesperson added.

Climate change sparked a trail of extreme weather and record heat in 2024, the United Nations said on Monday, urging the world to pull back from the "road to ruin".

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou arrived in Mayotte on Monday, vowing to bring help to the Indian Ocean territory ravaged by Cyclone Chido.

Wildly popular with young people for their dizzying array of flavours, including apple, watermelon and cola, the time is up for disposable e-cigarettes in Belgium -- the first EU country to ban them.

European and Asia stock markets mostly fell Monday in jittery holiday trade ahead of a potentially tumultuous 2025 when Donald Trump returns to the White House.