AFP news

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro called Monday for the state to use an "iron fist" after deadly protests in response to his July reelection, which has been dismissed at home and abroad as a sham.

The United States confirmed Monday it would resume sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, as concerns over human rights in the kingdom's Yemen war give way to US hopes for it to play a role in resolving the conflict in Gaza.

Iran could launch a "significant" attack on Israel as soon as this week, the White House said Monday, as US President Joe Biden discussed the crisis with European leaders.

The UK government welcomed Monday the "de-escalation" of far-right inspired disorder and rioting following a knife attack that killed three children, but insisted officials remain on "high alert".

The Paris Olympics won mostly rave reviews from western media after they closed on Sunday, while media in Russia, whose team were excluded because of its war in Ukraine, sniffed at France's success.

Adored by her classmates and defiant even after police seized her, student Nusrat Tabassum is one of the many women who helped spearhead the movement that toppled autocratic ex-premier Sheikh Hasina.

The leaders of Tanzania's main opposition party Chadema have been released on bail, a party spokesman said on Tuesday, after they were detained in a mass roundup ahead of a youth day rally.

The boxing competition at the Paris Olympics is over but the fight now starts for its inclusion at the 2028 LA Games after a damaging gender controversy placed the sport under renewed scrutiny.

Thousands of people living around Athens fled their homes on Monday, including in the historic town of Marathon, as a huge wildfire front crept closer to the capital despite "superhuman" efforts to contain the blaze, officials said.

Asian markets mostly rose Monday as investors tried to move on from last week's upheaval fuelled by US recession worries, with focus shifting to the release of key inflation and retail data.

The stands have fallen quiet and the Athletes' Village is emptying. The rented scaffolding from the temporary stands will be dismantled and re-used.

Exhausted from a rising cost of living in the United States and non-stop ads, some young adults on TikTok are pushing back.

Venezuela's opposition called Sunday for worldwide protests on August 17 to show support for its claimed victory in last month's election over President Nicolas Maduro, who was declared the winner.

Tanzanian police have detained leading opposition figures including Chadema party leader Freeman Mbowe and his deputy Tundu Lissu and rounded up several hundred youth supporters on the eve of a planned rally, a move condemned by rights activists on Monday as "troubling".

The roar of artillery fire was deafening as Tetyana conferred with neighbours in her small village, which hugs the Russian border, over whether they should hold tight or flee.

Pacific nation Kiribati will begin voting in a general election this week, a poll that will test the strengthening ties between China and the government of the climate-threatened archipelago.

US President Joe Biden, in his first TV interview since withdrawing from the election, has said he acted under pressure from fellow Democrats and out of a determination to see Donald Trump beaten.

Hamas on Sunday urged Gaza mediators to implement a truce plan presented by US President Joe Biden instead of holding more talks, as Palestinians fled a new Israeli military operation.

A week of racism-fuelled disorder in Northern Ireland, sparked by disturbances in English towns and cities, is proving harder to end, with fears the UK region's sectarian divisions are feeding into the violence.

Banksy on Sunday unveiled a new artwork in London, depicting a shoal of fish on a police sentry box, his seventh animal-themed piece to surface in the British capital over the last week.

Paris bade a triumphant "au revoir" to the Olympics on Sunday as the curtain came down on its widely praised staging of the global sporting spectacular.

A diminutive, aging action hero who is clean-cut but controversial, world-famous yet utterly secretive: Tom Cruise's reign as the world's top movie star has long defied time, expectations and -- when stunts are involved -- gravity.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos on Sunday condemned what he called "illegal and reckless" actions by China's air force last week against a Filipino military plane patrolling over a disputed South China Sea reef.

Thousands of anti-racism demonstrators rallied across the UK on Saturday to protest recent rioting blamed on the far-right in the wake of the Southport knife attack that killed three children.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus and his newly named interim government set out Friday to restore "law and order" after a student-led uprising and deadly mass protests forced predecessor Sheikh Hasina into exile.

A Philippine news site co-founded by Nobel laureate Maria Ressa can continue operating after a court overturned a shutdown order, according to the ruling released Friday, the latest legal victory for the media outfit.

The US ambassador to Japan skipped a ceremony on Friday marking the 79th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in protest at Israel not being invited.

Ukraine pressed on with a major cross-border incursion into Russia on Friday, also launching a significant air attack on a Russian airfield hundreds of kilometres behind the front lines.

E-commerce tycoon Colin Huang has become China's richest man, an index showed Friday, capping an ascent for the former Google employee whose shopping site Temu has sucked in consumers with its low prices and all-powerful algorithms.