AFP news

Qatar Airways unveiled a bid to take a 25 percent stake in troubled airline Virgin Australia on Tuesday, a deal that could shake up Australia's Qantas-dominated market.

Dockworkers at major ports along the US East and Gulf Coasts began walking off the job Tuesday after last-minute negotiations yielded no new labor contract, a stoppage expected to drag on the world's largest economy just ahead of the November presidential election.

Many amateur French sports clubs are struggling to cope with a wave of enquiries and a boom in wannabee players sparked by the Paris Olympics.

As the evening light falls on her vineyards in northwestern Turkey, Zeynep Arca Salliel pinches the grapes and tastes the skin.

Hardcore supporters of AC Milan and Inter Milan were arrested on Monday for alleged organised crime offences as part of a probe into illegal profits made around matches and the infiltration of mafia gangs into so-called "ultras" groups.

The death toll from a devastating storm that battered the southeastern United States climbed to 118 on Monday, as the disaster became a hot topic in an already bitter election campaign, with the White House angrily refuting claims it had been slow to respond.

An audacious raid on Dutch vaccines, a "manly pep talk" with Prince Harry and near-death from Covid -- excerpts from the memoir of former UK prime minister Boris Johnson are entertaining Britain's political class.

The United States said Sunday that it had a strong military presence in the Middle East after deploying reinforcements amid Israel's widening of the war to include hundreds of targets in Lebanon.

US singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson, a country music legend who notably hit the silver screen opposite Barbra Streisand in "A Star is Born," has died at the age of 88, his family announced Sunday.

The UK's last coal-fired power station will officially close its doors on Monday, making Britain the first G7 country to end its reliance on the fossil fuel to produce electricity.

Japan's incoming prime minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Monday he aimed to call snap elections for October 27, as equities plunged on a strong yen and fears that tax hikes are on the cards.

Britain's economy grew less than initially estimated in the second quarter, revised official data revealed Monday, dealing another early blow to new Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Labour government.

Search and rescue teams in Nepal's capital picked through wrecked homes on Monday after waters receded from monsoon floods that killed at least 200 people around the Himalayan republic.

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Monday to achieve all his "goals" in Ukraine and celebrated the second anniversary of annexing four Ukrainian regions, as his army claimed fresh advances in the conflict.

Germany's anti-cartel watchdog said Monday it had placed US tech giant Microsoft under closer surveillance for any possible abuse of its market position.

Six of China's biggest banks said they would tweak interest rates on existing mortgages following a request to lower them from Beijing's central bank, state media said Monday, as the country seeks to pull itself out of a housing sector slump.

Shares in Hong Kong and mainland China rocketed Monday, extending last week's surge after Chinese authorities unveiled a raft of measures aimed at kickstarting the world's number two economy.

Israel's long-contentious relationship with the United Nations has since October 7 spiralled to new depths, amid insults and accusations and even a questioning of the country's continued UN membership.

Incoming NATO chief Mark Rutte brings new leadership this week to one of the world's most powerful-sounding roles -- helming the nuclear-armed Atlantic alliance.

Dutch former prime minister Mark Rutte will take the reins as NATO's new secretary general on Tuesday at a perilous time for the Western military alliance.

Israel carried out an air strike on a Beirut apartment block on Monday, a Lebanese security source said, killing four people in its first such raid on the heart of the city since the outbreak of the Gaza war last year.

The death toll from powerful storm Helene jumped to at least 91 on Sunday, with one county in North Carolina alone reporting 30 deaths, authorities said, as rescuers battled to reach people in need across the southeastern United States.

Austrians headed to the polls on Sunday in a general election that could see the far right narrowly beat the conservatives for a historic win in the Alpine EU nation.

Israel said on Sunday it was carrying out new air raids against "dozens" of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, after killing the Iran-backed group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Taxi driver Surendra Parajuli's decision to buy an electric cab would have been unthinkable a decade ago, when chronic power cuts left Nepalis unable to light their homes at night.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Moscow for "waging war on hospitals" after Russian strikes on a hospital in the border city of Sumy killed 10 people Saturday.

The killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is a major boost for embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has faced huge protests at home and growing criticism from abroad, analysts said Saturday.

Gunfire, murders and threats -- insecurity is part of everyday life across much of Mexico and one of the main challenges awaiting Claudia Sheinbaum when she becomes president on Tuesday.

Lebanon's Hezbollah movement has been a powerful domestic and regional force, politically and militarily, but the group's confirmation on Saturday of its leader's killing marks an unprecedented blow.