AFP news

Naomi Osaka is braced for a "battle" after setting up a clash Monday with Coco Gauff in the China Open last 16 while top seed Aryna Sabalenka also marched on.

Britain's economy grew less than initially estimated in the second quarter, revised official data revealed Monday, dealing another early blow to new Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Labour government.

Japan's incoming prime minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Monday he aimed to call snap elections for October 27, as equities plunged on a strong yen and fears that tax hikes are on the cards.

Israel's long-contentious relationship with the United Nations has since October 7 spiralled to new depths, amid insults and accusations and even a questioning of the country's continued UN membership.

Incoming NATO chief Mark Rutte brings new leadership this week to one of the world's most powerful-sounding roles -- helming the nuclear-armed Atlantic alliance.

Sweden's beleaguered electric car battery maker Northvolt said Monday it would cut a quarter of its staff in the country, as it struggles with strained finances and a slowdown in demand.

The gunman suspected of planning to kill Donald Trump on his golf course wrote a chilling letter months ago about a failed "assassination attempt" on the former US president, according to court papers filed Monday as he was remanded in custody.

As wars rage worldwide, with civilian casualties a daily occurrence, critics of the United Nations say the body is failing at its most basic job, while experts warn the organization is being scapegoated for things that are beyond its control.

As one of the world's most biodiverse countries, Colombia is determined to lead by example when it hosts an upcoming UN summit to save nature, Environment Minister Susana Muhamad told AFP on Monday.

Boeing proposed lifting hourly wages for striking workers by 30 percent on Monday, sweetening its initial offer in an effort to end a 10-day stoppage that shuttered Seattle-area plants.

Everton announced on Monday that the US-based Friedkin Group has reached an agreement to buy Farhad Moshiri's majority stake in the struggling Premier League club.

The world's biggest rainforest, the Amazon, has lost an area about the size of Germany and France combined to deforestation in four decades, a study showed Monday.

Telegram founder and chief executive Pavel Durov said Monday that the messaging platform had removed more "problematic content", weeks after his arrest in France on charges of failing to act against criminals using the app.

Unlike many artists, will.i.am, lead singer of the Black Eyed Peas, is not at war with artificial intelligence.

A proposed regeneration of the area around Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium could generate GBP7.3 billion ($9.7 billion) annually to the British economy, according to an economic feasibility study commissioned by the club.

A French court on Monday began hearing the cases against six new defendants as the mass rape trial that has sparked horror in the country moved into its fourth week.

Britain's governing Labour party on Monday sought to strike a more upbeat note about the country's future but against a furious backlash from unions at proposed cuts to welfare payments and a row over top ministers receiving gifts.

Bitter enemies Russia and Ukraine clashed at the world's oldest arbitration court on Monday over a long-running case about access to coastal waters around the annexed Crimea peninsula.

The EU on Monday launched a WTO challenge against a Chinese anti-subsidy investigation into imports of European dairy product, in an escalating trade row between Beijing and Brussels.

Israel's military pounded Hezbollah targets in south and east Lebanon Monday and said more strikes were coming, warning Lebanese to stay out of harm's way despite international calls for restraint.

He built on his father's real estate empire and turned the family's millions into billions, but Donald Trump has not stuck to selling merely buildings.

World champion Max Verstappen on Sunday described his punishment for swearing as "silly" and threatened the row could hasten his exit from Formula One.

The UN's refugee chief questioned Sunday what future awaited the Sudanese people as the country's civil war rages, pushing its people ever further afield including to Uganda and Europe's maritime borders.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday arrived in the United States for a crucial visit to present Kyiv's plan to end two and a half years of war with Russia.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats narrowly beat the far-right AfD in a state election Sunday in the formerly communist east, a rare bit of good news for his party.

The "Pact for the Future" is the United Nations' master plan for tackling challenges that lie ahead for humanity, with 56 "actions" covering everything from peacekeeping to the potential threats posed by artificial intelligence.

A regional military escalation is not in Israel's "best interest," White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said on Sunday, as heightening cross-border tensions between Israel and Lebanon have led to fears of an all-out war.

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is due Monday in Washington for a first official visit at a time of soaring tensions in the Middle East, seeking to highlight economic and technological cooperation.

The Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged on Friday, but governor Kazuo Ueda said further hikes remain on the cards if the economy grows as predicted.