AFP news

Hosts Germany take on Spain in the first of two blockbuster quarter-final ties at Euro 2024 on Friday, with Kylian Mbappe's France up against Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal in the late match.

Superstar rapper and music industry mogul Sean Combs has been sued by a former adult film star for sexual assault and sex trafficking, court filings showed.

Britain's new prime minister Keir Starmer is an ex-human rights lawyer and public prosecutor who will have to focus his relentless work ethic and methodical mind on fixing the country.

Andy Murray suffered a losing start in his farewell to Wimbledon on Thursday, weeping openly in front of his adoring fans before admitting: "I wish I could play forever."

The World Meteorological Organization, which is tracking Hurricane Beryl's deadly course through the Caribbean, told AFP that more storms with its hallmarks could be expected in the future.

While Americans were celebrating the July 4 holiday with fireworks and feasts, President Joe Biden on Thursday continued to face explosive fallout from his debate against Donald Trump that has left many Democrats hungry for a replacement.

Erik ten Hag has signed a contract extension that keeps him at Old Trafford until 2026, the Premier League club announced on Thursday.

Lebanon's Hezbollah said it launched more than 200 rockets and explosive drones at Israeli military positions on Thursday as tensions have soared amid the almost nine-months-old war raging in Gaza.

The European Union on Thursday slapped extra provisional duties of up to 38 percent on Chinese electric car imports because of "unfair" state subsidies, despite Beijing's warnings the move would unleash a trade war.

Torrential rains and surging rivers across northeast India and neighbouring Bangladesh have killed at least nine people, disaster officials said Thursday, with more than three million people affected.

China's electric vehicle giant BYD opened a factory in Thailand on Thursday, continuing its international expansion despite a market slowdown and hours before the European Union was due to impose swingeing tariffs on Chinese EV firms.

France and Portugal renew their European Championship rivalry on Friday in a quarter-final showdown in which almost all of the focus will be on the two captains, Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo.

A US mid-range missile system deployed in the Philippines for annual joint military exercises -- to the annoyance of China -- will be pulled out of the country, a Philippine Army spokesman said Thursday.

Crowds bopped to bass-heavy electronic music at a weekend party in Shanghai that brought together deaf and hearing clubbers, with staff taking food and drink orders through sign language.

Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate as a wildfire rages out of control in northern California, with a swathe of the United States in the grip of a "record-breaking and dangerous" heatwave that was complicating firefighting efforts.

Britain voted Thursday in a general election widely expected to hand the opposition Labour party a landslide win and end nearly a decade-and-a-half of Conservative rule.

As residents of Joe Biden's hometown Scranton prepared to mark that most American of holidays -- July 4 -- many were also voicing alarm about the US president following his disastrous debate last week against Donald Trump.

More than seven percent of all deaths in 10 of India's biggest cities are linked to air pollution, a large study said Thursday, leading researchers to call for action to save tens of thousands of lives a year.

US Vice President Kamala Harris is engaged in a delicate balancing act, playing cheerleader for President Joe Biden while standing by as a leading contender to replace him if he ends his reelection bid.

Venezuela and the United States have agreed to "improve relations" as they resumed negotiations just months after Washington reimposed crippling sanctions on the South American country, Caracas said Wednesday.

Threads, Meta's alternative to X (formerly Twitter), has hit 175 million monthly users a year after its out-of-the-blue launch.

The Kenyan presidency said Wednesday it had ordered a review of salary increases for public servants in an apparent move to defuse tensions after a wave of sometimes deadly anti-government protests.

Two men accused of trying to blackmail relatives of Formula One legend Michael Schumacher had access to private family photos, German prosecutors said Wednesday.

The EU's powerful competition regulator on Wednesday announced it has conditionally approved German airline Lufthansa's proposed stake in Italy's ITA Airways.

Ex-prime minister Boris Johnson tried to rally the Conservative party faithful as UK politicians on Wednesday spent a final day campaigning ahead of the general election.

Georgian student Elene Deisadze was browsing TikTok in 2022 when she stumbled across the profile of a girl, Anna Panchulidze, who looked exactly like her.

Indonesia launched its first electric vehicle battery plant on Wednesday, President Joko Widodo said, as Southeast Asian countries move to gain a foothold in the emerging industry.

Kenyan police said they have arrested more than 270 people masquerading as protesters who are suspected of going on a criminal rampage during anti-government rallies on Tuesday.

One of the world's most renowned photo festivals, in the French town of Arles, returned this week with a timely ode to diversity at a moment when France is turning towards the far right.