AFP news

The Gaza war's reported Palestinian death toll neared 30,000 Wednesday as fighting raged in the Hamas-run territory despite mediators insisting a truce with Israel could be just days away.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Tuesday slammed "completely unacceptable" errors by its Gemini AI app, after gaffes such as images of ethnically diverse World War II Nazi troops forced it to stop users from creating pictures of people.

Ukraine has been locked in an existential fight for its freedom ever since Russia sent armed soldiers with no insignia -- dubbed the "little green men" -- to take over the Crimea peninsula on February 28, 2014, following a pro-EU revolution in Kyiv.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's funeral is planned for Friday in a Moscow church, his allies said two weeks after his shock death in an Arctic prison.

German officials will investigate how Berlin film festival winners made "one-sided" comments condemning Israel's war in Gaza at the awards gala, a government spokeswoman said on Monday.

President Joe Biden and Donald Trump will both visit the US-Mexico border on Thursday in a high-profile clash of schedules as they vie to win over voters on immigration -- one of the hottest issues in the 2024 election.

Boeing employees are confused and distrustful of changes to safety reporting systems implemented by the aerospace giant after fatal plane crashes in 2018 and 2019, according to a US report released Monday.

Japanese inflation slowed less than expected to two percent in January, data showed Tuesday, hitting the central bank's target and firming expectations of an end to its outlier negative rates policy.

French President Emmanuel Macron triggered a shockwave in Europe on Tuesday by refusing to rule out the dispatch of Western ground troops to Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion.

Hong Kong activists on Tuesday staged a rare public protest against government plans for a new national security law, saying it lacked democratic oversight and human rights safeguards.

US President Joe Biden said Monday he hoped a ceasefire in Gaza could start by the beginning of next week, adding that Israel was ready to halt operations during the Muslim month of Ramadan as part of any deal.

An apple farmer, an airline caterer and an out-of-work graduate are among the Indian nationals hired by Moscow, with the help of recruiters around the world, for the Russian army in Ukraine.

Tech companies showcased countless connected gadgets at the world's biggest wireless telecom fair, the four-day Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which wraps up on Thursday.

As Iranians head to the polls for legislative and other elections on Friday, candidates have promised them on campaign posters to "fight corruption" and "fix the economy".

The set of rules will streamline authorization requirements and ease procedural hurdles faced by businesses, according to a press release.

Smartphone makers are packing their latest devices with flashy new artificial intelligence tools such as real-time voice translation and advanced photo editing in efforts to reignite consumer demand.

Hungary's parliament was expected to ratify Sweden's NATO bid on Monday, the final obstacle for an enlargement of the alliance spurred by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

India's Reliance Industries has signed a "binding pact" for a merger deal with Walt Disney's local unit, Bloomberg News reported Monday, a major shakeup for the country's multi-billion dollar entertainment industry.

Jurgen Klopp hailed Liverpool's League Cup final triumph against Chelsea as the "most special" trophy of his career as the German learned he can win with kids.

The World Trade Organization opened a high-level ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi Monday with calls for consensus as geopolitical tensions and the looming US election undermine chances of a major breakthrough.

An active member of the US Air Force set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington on Sunday, officials said, as media reported he was protesting the war in Gaza.

Israel said Monday its army had readied a plan to evacuate Gazans ahead of a feared invasion of far-southern Rafah, leading the UN chief to warn a ground attack would "put the final nail in the coffin" of its aid operations.

Da'Vine Joy Randolph has won every major prize going this film award season for her supporting role in "The Holdovers" -- but she insists she is taking nothing for granted as the Oscars loom.

Israeli air strikes targeted homes in the southern Gaza Strip, witnesses said on Friday, adding to what aid groups describe as an increasingly hopeless humanitarian situation despite efforts towards new truce talks.

Boeing and Airbus struck deals to sell billions of dollars' worth of planes at this week's airshow in Singapore, but supply chain disruptions mean they may struggle to deliver them on time, analysts said.

Online retailer Amazon said Friday it had paid $1.9 million to more than 700 contracted workers in Saudi Arabia as reimbursements for unlawful recruitment fees, among other alleged violations.

2024 will be a year of change for the world's biggest tech companies as they bow to EU rules that come into force next month, shaking up how Europeans use vastly popular platforms from Google to Instagram.

Vice, the dynamic, fast-growing digital media company that gained a wide following with young readers, said Thursday it will no longer publish on its flagship website and is eliminating hundreds of jobs.

Kenya's world marathon record-holder Kelvin Kiptum will be laid to rest Friday in the nation's athletics heartland after the 24-year-old died in a car accident.