AFP news

Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar on Monday pulled out of the Paris Olympics citing "tiredness", his Slovenia team announced.

Doctored images, sexual slurs, racial innuendos -- false narratives around Kamala Harris surged online as she emerged as the Democratic frontrunner in the US presidential race, with researchers warning of an incoming flood of gendered disinformation.

When Joe Biden returns to the Oval Office on Tuesday after nearly a week at his beach home recovering from Covid, he risks being the lamest of lame ducks for his remaining six months in office.

Semiconductor shares were among the big winners Monday, rebounding from recent weakness as US stocks climbed ahead of major earnings and economic data later this week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting Washington to speak at the United States Congress this week in a context of tense relations between the two countries over the Gaza war.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Southeast Asia this week to deepen ties with Washington's strategic allies, an official said Monday, as the United States seeks to bolster its regional stance against an increasingly assertive China.

Delta Air Lines struggled on Monday with lingering effects from a global IT outage, canceling hundreds more flights than US aviation rivals.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday he had been "scared" by Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro's warning of a "bloodbath" if he loses elections on Sunday.

Last-minute US presidential candidate Kamala Harris is racing to craft her image -- and social media users are moving even more swiftly to signal support, flooding the internet with jokes about coconuts and "brat summers."

Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed Monday to reduce the UK's "long-term reliance on overseas workers" as he unveiled a new skills training organisation aimed at boosting productivity and economic growth.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will testify on July 30 in a preliminary corruption inquiry into his wife Begona Gomez's business ties, a Madrid court said Monday, an issue that caused him to consider resigning three months ago.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed for Washington on Monday to deliver a key speech, as the military ordered fresh evacuations in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis before sending in troops.

More than 500 people, including some opposition leaders, have been arrested in Dhaka over violence that has wracked Bangladesh and killed 163 people since students started protesting against civil service hiring rules, police said Monday.

Democrats were in uncharted territory Monday as they raced against the clock to find a new standard-bearer after President Joe Biden's stunning late exit from the 2024 race for the White House.

China's central bank on Monday cut two benchmark interest rates in a bid to boost lending and kickstart growth in the world's second-largest economy.

Stock markets diverged and the dollar dropped Monday as Joe Biden's decision to drop out of the US presidential race fuelled fresh uncertainty.

Uncertainty is hanging over Venezuela as it prepares for presidential elections next Sunday that many fear incumbent Nicolas Maduro will attempt to steal from the opposition candidate outshining him in polls.

World leaders lined up to pay tribute to Joe Biden after he announced Sunday he was dropping out of the US presidential race.

Russia said Sunday its forces had captured two frontline villages in Ukraine, Andriivka in the eastern Lugansk region and Pishchane in the northeast Kharkiv region.

Tadej Pogacar hailed a new "golden age" for cycling after securing a third Tour de France title on Sunday to add to his 2020 and 2021 triumphs.

For years Kamala Harris faced criticism that she was not up to the job of being a heartbeat away from the US presidency.

Thousands flocked to a coastal town in western Indonesia Sunday to watch a clash between ornate mythical effigies before they are cast into the sea, in a centuries-old ritual born from a Shiite holy day of mourning.

After a long estrangement, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad may be edging towards a meeting, but analysts say normalisation will likely be gradual due to thorny issues.

Over the next two weeks, the quarterly results of Big Tech giants will offer a glimpse on the bankability of artificial intelligence and whether the major investments AI requires are sustainable for the long haul.

Chinese officials pledged Friday to help ease debt pressure on local governments through reforms to the tax system, after a key political gathering in the capital focused on jumpstarting the faltering economy.

Police in Bangladesh's capital banned all public rallies on Friday, a day after the deadliest round of student protests so far saw government buildings torched by demonstrators and the imposition of a nationwide internet blackout.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's wife Begona Gomez on Friday invoked her right to remain silent during questioning before a Madrid judge handling the preliminary corruption inquiry into her business ties.

The European Union and Serbia signed a deal Friday to develop the supply of lithium batteries that are seen as a crucial building block needed to power Europe's transition to a green economy.

Hong Kong microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung has done battle with some of the world's worst threats, including the SARS virus he helped isolate and identify.