AFP news

Jailed pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong shrugged and shook his head after a Hong Kong court this month announced a fresh charge of breaching the city's national security law.

Tibetans in exile celebrate the 90th birthday of spiritual leader the Dalai Lama next week, an occasion overshadowed by uncertainty about the future of the role and what it means for their movement.

Sean "Diddy" Combs used "power, violence, and fear" as the head of a decades-long criminal enterprise, prosecutors told jurors Thursday as they presented closing arguments in the final stages of the high-profile trial.

After satisfying Donald Trump's calls for Europe to ramp up defence spending in NATO, EU leaders were meeting in Brussels Thursday on the next big challenge ahead: how to seal a trade deal with the US leader.

In a Finnish town a stone's throw from Russia, Moscow's reported military build-up on its side of the border is raising concerns about the Nordic country's security, locals told AFP. Finland, which dropped decades of military non-alignment to join NATO in 2023, shares a 1,340-kilometre (830-mile) border with Russia.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday became the most prominent European leader to describe the situation in Gaza as a "genocide", as rescuers in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory said Israeli forces killed 35 people.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday said US President Donald Trump "exaggerated" the impact of US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, in his first appearance since a ceasefire in the war with Israel took hold.

While looking for jobs on Facebook, Jett thought he had found a well-paying opportunity working in online customer service in his home country of Thailand.

Esports is helping Ukrainian war veterans, who "often feel out of place" when they return from the front line, to reintegrate into society, the head of Ukraine's Esport Commission has told AFP. Denys Davydov, 43, speaks with authority as he also leads a commission on the development of rehabilitation programs for veterans through esports.

At a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, hundreds of people gathered recently for a weeknight charity fundraiser hosted by a celebrity guest.

In a remote town in southern Kyrgyzstan, teacher Nur Akhmatov watched workers building a library, conference hall and women's sports centre -- construction mostly funded by Kyrgyz emigrants sending money home from Russia.

Wimbledon head gardener Martyn Falconer is the only man at the All England Club who welcomes a drop of rain.

At a minimalist Los Angeles matcha bar, powdered Japanese tea is prepared with precision, despite a global shortage driven by the bright green drink's social media stardom.

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that "great progress" was being made to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza as a new ceasefire push began more than 20 months since the start of the conflict.

President Donald Trump insisted Wednesday that US strikes led to the "total obliteration" of Iran's nuclear capabilities and set the country's atomic programme back "decades", while Israel said it was still early to fully assess the damage.

New York City Democrats chose 33-year-old Muslim socialist Zohran Mamdani as their mayoral candidate in Tuesday's elections, stunning his opponent, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo.

Days after the Philippine Senate declined to launch the impeachment trial of the country's vice president, two interviews with Filipinos arguing for and against the move went viral.

Chelsea beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 on Tuesday to set up a Club World Cup last-16 tie against Benfica, who defeated Bayern Munich 1-0 earlier in searing heat.

Will he play nice?

Furnace-like heat and the threat of thunder and lightning are wreaking havoc at the Club World Cup -- and more of the same is likely at the 2026 World Cup.

With his surprise announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, US President Donald Trump has turned his flair for social media into diplomatic deftness, despite continued uncertainty in the Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a "historic victory" on Tuesday after agreeing a ceasefire with Iran and insisted that his country's arch-foe would never achieve a nuclear weapon.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed another 46 people waiting for aid in the Palestinian territory on Tuesday as rights groups and UN agencies slammed the US-backed food distribution system.

Their whirlwind romance began under a cloud of scandal, but now Lauren Sanchez, a former morning TV anchor with a love of flying, is set to wed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world's fourth-richest person, in a Venice extravaganza.

NATO leaders will seek to lock in US President Donald Trump's commitment to their alliance with a summit pledge to boost defence spending, as they gather Tuesday in The Hague with global attention focused on Iran.

At a bustling Beijing hospital, Tian Yigui hands over some of his elderly wife's paperwork to Meng Jia, a "patient companion" hired to help navigate China's stretched and bureaucratic healthcare system.

Celebrities in superyachts sail into Venice this week for the three-day wedding party of Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, despite irate locals who say the UNESCO city is no billionaire's playground.

President Donald Trump announced Monday that Iran and Israel had agreed to a staggered ceasefire that would bring about an "official end" to a conflict that had threatened to escalate into a full blown war involving the United States.

When Donald Trump said on Thursday he'd give himself two weeks to decide on bombing Iran, critics wrote it off as the US president using a familiar timeframe to put off difficult decisions.