AFP news

Dressed in a pristine white knit top, Robyn Qiu cut an incongruous figure in her parents' dusty, hangar-like metal hardware factory in eastern China as she gestured excitedly while an assistant filmed her on a smartphone.

With the US presidential election heading into the home stretch, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will likely be hoping for Donald Trump to return to the White House.

Michelle Obama on Saturday aired her "genuine fear" that Donald Trump could retake the White House as the popular former first lady made a passionate appeal to voters in the desperately close US election.

Georgia's ruling party was on course to win a closely watched election Saturday, according to partial results that were rejected as "falsified" by pro-Western opposition parties which denounced a "constitutional coup".

The deployment of North Korean troops to help Russia in its war against Ukraine is unlikely to have a significant impact on the fighting on the ground but could affect security interests in Asia, Europe, and elsewhere, analysts said.

Israel bombed military targets in Iran on Saturday, killing at least two soldiers, fulfilling a vow to avenge a missile barrage and stirring fears of a full-scale Middle East war.

The Commonwealth's 56 members agreed the "time has come" for talks about the legacy of the "abhorrent" transatlantic slave trade Saturday, in a landmark summit declaration that raised the prospect of future reparations.

After over a decade of snapping up Bordeaux wine estates, buying into a dream of elegant living in France and good earnings in their home market, many Chinese investors are now selling up.

Israel said it conducted air strikes against Iran on Saturday that hit military bases and missile sites in retaliation for the Islamic republic's attacks, warning it would "pay a heavy price" if it responds.

Georgians go to the polls on Saturday in watershed elections widely seen as decisive for the fate of the country's fledgling democracy and European aspirations.

When Georgia's richest man first burst into politics 12 years ago, he vowed to "astonish Europe" with the democracy he would bring to the Black Sea nation.

On the outskirts of Mandalay, nervous Myanmar soldiers man a checkpoint just kilometres away from rebels who have set their sights on the former royal capital of 1.5 million people.

Turkish Cypriot activist Sude Dogan feels "trapped in northern Cyprus", a self-proclaimed statelet recognised only by Ankara, saying she cannot travel, study or work abroad because she cannot get a Cypriot passport.

South Korea urged Russia to stop its "illegal cooperation" with Pyongyang and voiced "grave concern" on Friday as Moscow moved to ratify its defence treaty with North Korea.

Civil society groups implored Google on Thursday to rigorously enforce its policy to demonetize environmental disinformation, saying ads placed alongside climate denial content persistently popped up despite the tech titan's pledge to crack down.

Major European and Asian stock markets diverged Friday in a quiet end to the week's trading dominated by earnings updates.

The US election takes a detour from the swing state circuit to decamp to Texas on Friday as Kamala Harris rallies with pop superstar Beyonce and Donald Trump sits down with the world's biggest podcaster.

Russia's central bank hiked interest rates to 21 percent on Friday, taking borrowing costs to their highest level in more than 20 years as Moscow's Ukraine offensive has triggered rapid price rises at home.

Homeowners in the northern Philippines used spades and rakes to clear out debris left by Tropical Storm Trami on Friday while rescuers trawled through thick mud looking for the missing as the death toll rose to 76.

The families of 78 victims who suffocated to death in Thai army trucks two decades ago joined survivors on Friday to voice anger that those responsible will never be brought to justice.

The killing of Hezbollah's powerful leader Hassan Nasrallah a month ago has marked a fundamental shift for the Iran-backed Lebanese movement and revived calls for it to surrender its vast weapons arsenal.

Winding through the lawless, rugged hills of northern Myanmar, National Highway 3 links a stunning series of victories by ethnic rebels and pro-democracy fighters in their war against the junta.

The most eagerly anticipated World Series showdown in decades gets under way here Friday as the Los Angeles Dodgers take on the New York Yankees in what promises to be a baseball blockbuster for the ages.

An unexpected schism among American youth could decide the US presidential election, with young women largely leaning left to back Kamala Harris, but many men turning right to rally behind Donald Trump, according to polls.

Las Vegas may be America's playground but for those who live and work in Sin City, high costs make life difficult, and that single issue will be decisive when they vote for a new US president in November.

The Amish people of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, are a throwback to another era, with their quiet farm life, horse-drawn carriages and rejection of modern technology.

Bruce Springsteen took the stage Thursday at Kamala Harris's star-studded campaign rally in swing state Georgia, with the rock legend warning that White House hopeful Donald Trump aims to be an "American tyrant."

In a Russian forest, the Grigoryeva sisters had found a comforting refuge in their old wooden house, their "izba".

The quest by Boeing's new CEO to revive the aviation giant's fortunes suffered a serious blow when striking machinists voted down the latest contract proposal, prolonging a nearly six-week stoppage.