AFP news

Hong Kong is facing its toughest fiscal test in three decades following a painful run of mammoth deficits, with experts urging the government to make careful cuts as the economy wobbles.

Germany's rocky path towards Sunday's early elections began when the outgoing coalition government collapsed in acrimony on November 6, the very day Donald Trump won re-election to the White House.

London-based model Alexsandrah Gondora understands the power of being in "two places at the same time" thanks to an AI replica of herself: "She's doing the hard work so I don't have to!"

As an openly gay politician who lives with her Sri Lanka-born partner in Switzerland, Alice Weidel was an unusual choice to many to lead Germany's far-right and anti-immigration AfD into Sunday's elections.

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was trying to get money back for the billions of dollars sent to support Ukraine's war against Russia.

Germany holds elections on Sunday after its three-party "traffic light" coalition collapsed last year and could soon have a "black-red" government while a "Jamaica" or "blackberry" alliance is less likely.

German voters head to the polls on Sunday, with the conservatives the strong favourites after a campaign rocked by a far-right surge and the dramatic return of US President Donald Trump.

Arsenal's Premier League title bid suffered a huge blow as West Ham earned a shock 1-0 win over the 10-man Gunners, while troubled Manchester United rallied from two goals down in a 2-2 draw at Everton on Saturday.

German politicians made a final scramble for votes Saturday on the eve of key elections in which conservatives hope to win despite the dramatic rise of the far right targeting a record score.

The United States urged UN members to back its "simple, historic" resolution on the Ukraine war, which diplomatic sources said omits mention of Kyiv's territory occupied by Russia.

The family of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas confirmed on Saturday receipt of her remains, just ahead of the seventh hostage-prisoner exchange under a fragile Gaza ceasefire.

Stories of a pre-election state of emergency, police escorts for toddlers and forged ballot papers -- a blizzard of online disinformation has targeted German voters ahead of Sunday's election.

For a film about sex work to win an Oscar is rare. "The sex work industry as a whole is really skeptical of any film having to do with sex work," says Calvert.

Liverpool will take on Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 of this season's Champions League while Friday's draw also threw up a showdown between reigning champions Real Madrid and their city rivals Atletico.

Pope Francis, in hospital with pneumonia, is not out of danger and will have to stay at least another week, his doctors said Friday amid questions over the 88-year-old's future as head of the Catholic Church.

After steel and aluminium, US President Donald Trump has set his sights on slapping 25 percent tariffs on semiconductors, cars and pharmaceuticals.

On a snowy prairie in Minnesota stands a monastery like no other. Their order has shrunk, from being the world's largest male Benedictine monastery with 340 monks, to below 100.

Germany's far-left Die Linke party has enjoyed a late poll surge ahead of Sunday's elections, boosted by a spirited anti-fascist speech by its new rising star that quickly went viral.

Spotify on Thursday began accepting audiobooks narrated by digital voices created by artificial intelligence software firm ElevenLabs, pitching it as a cost-effective option for authors.

Elon Musk said Thursday that a feature on his social media platform X which allows users to fact-check potentially misleading posts was being "gamed" over Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky and vowed to "fix" it.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday ordered an "intensive operation against centers of terrorism" in the occupied West Bank, his office said, after three buses exploded in central Israel without causing any reported injuries.

European and Asian markets rose on Friday, with Hong Kong leading the way thanks to a surge in tech stocks led by e-commerce titan Alibaba.

Nissan shares surged 11 percent Friday after a report said a Japanese group including a former prime minister plans to ask US electric vehicle giant Tesla to invest in the automaker.

The World Trade Organization's entire mission is overseeing global trade, but US President Donald Trump's tariff offensive has left it adrift.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back against accusations that the Trump administration has given in to Russia even before talks on ending the Ukraine war begin, saying Washington first wants to see whether Moscow was "serious".

Chinese tech companies shrugged off foreign scrutiny of upstart chatbot maker DeepSeek, telling AFP on Friday they were confident the country's tech startups would make more gains in the global artificial intelligence race.

Swedish authorities said Friday they were investigating suspected damage to an underwater cable in the Baltic Sea, following a string of incidents experts believe are acts of sabotage orchestrated by Russia.

China issued a warning Friday of potential "live fire" naval drills in international waters off Australia's eastern coast but gave little prior notice, disrupting commercial air flights, the Australian government said.

Taskin Erduan thought he'd got a bargain: three litres of vodka for around $15.