AFP news

Japanese stocks eked out another record Tuesday following the weekend election of a pro-stimulus advocate to lead the country's ruling party, while gold also hit a new high amid the US government shutdown and French political upheaval.

Swiss postmodernist novelist Christian Kracht and Australia's Gerald Murnane and Alexis Wright are among the favourites for the Nobel literature prize, experts told AFP ahead of the Swedish Academy's much-anticipated announcement on Thursday.

With tears rolling down his cheeks, detained Chinese political exile Zhou Junyi struggles to make his voice heard over dozens of families visiting Bangkok's main immigration detention centre.

Israel marks the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attack on Tuesday, as Hamas and Israeli negotiators hold indirect talks to end the two-year war in Gaza under a US proposed peace plan.

Frenchwoman Gisele Pelicot, whose ex-husband recruited dozens of strangers online to sexually assault and rape her while drugged, arrived in court Monday for an appeal trial triggered by the bid of one man to overturn his conviction.

Delegations from Hamas, Israel and the United States are due to convene in Egypt for talks on Monday, with President Donald Trump urging negotiators to "move fast" to end the nearly two-year war in Gaza.

Tokyo stocks surged more than four percent to a record high Monday and the yen sank on bets that the new leader of Japan's ruling party will embark on a new era of loose monetary policy to kickstart the country's economy.

Gisele Pelicot, 72, who became an icon for women in a mass rape trial last year that resonated around the world, is to reluctantly break months of silence to face in court the one man in the case who still denies he raped her.

After a series of interviews, Nicole Becker was ecstatic to receive a job offer from a sportswear brand.

French President Emmanuel Macron named a new government on Sunday, putting together a team of largely familiar faces under Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu as he struggles to pull the country out of a political crisis.

Members of local committees in Syria began on Sunday selecting members of a transitional parliament, in a process criticised as undemocratic, with a third of the members appointed directly by interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Negotiators were converging on Cairo on Sunday ahead of talks aimed at ending nearly two years of war in Gaza, with Israel's leader expressing hope that the hostages still being held there would be released in a matter of days.

Georgia's ruling party won local elections Saturday and police fired tear gas and water cannons at anti-government protesters who tried to enter the presidential palace, as tens of thousands of people rallied to the opposition's call to save democracy.

The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza on Saturday said it was "essential" to end the Gaza war immediately, as Israel bombarded the territory even after US President Donald Trump called on it to stop.

From Venezuela, Maria travelled halfway around the world in search of a better life.

Sean Combs, once a music world powerhouse, took a deep breath. An outsider viewing the clip might have thought Combs was running for mayor.

A man who launched a car-ramming and stabbing attack on a British synagogue on Yom Kippur may have been inspired by Islamist extremism, police said on Friday, as emotions ran high after the atrocity.

Hundreds of thousands of people protested across Italy on Friday during a large-scale strike over the treatment of the Gaza aid flotilla and far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's cautious stance on the conflict.

Years of criticism of an EU-backed migration pact between Italy and Libya are coming to a head as migrant rescuers say the Libyan coastguard has begun firing directly at them.

The Carrefour name has disappeared from storefronts in some Arab countries, with pro-Palestinian shoppers and activists hailing the shift as a victory for their boycott of brands perceived as being linked to Israel.

A Hamas official told AFP on Friday that the group still needed time to study a plan put forward by US President Donald Trump to end nearly two years of devastating war in Gaza.

Some Nobel laureates were straight-A students from the get-go. According to the Nobel Foundation, other laureates had to overcome major academic challenges before going on to win the prestigious Nobel.

Sean "Diddy" Combs will be sentenced Friday for his conviction on two prostitution-related counts, crimes prosecutors say deserve more than a decade behind bars as the music mogul seeks "mercy" and a swift release.

Taylor Swift is in a sparkling new era. In the title track featuring pop princess Sabrina Carpenter, who opened for Swift at some Eras Tour stops, Swift tells the story of a showgirl named Kitty, and how that life became her own.

Indonesian families whose children were offered free school meals are joining non-profit groups calling for the flagship government programme to be suspended after thousands of students fell ill from the food.

Artificial intelligence, the technology upending nearly every corner of society, is creeping into religion, serving up virtual Jesus and automated sermons -- a change drawing mixed reviews from the faithful.

Protesters around the world Thursday railed at Israel's interception of a flotilla carrying aid for Gaza's besieged Palestinians, urging greater sanctions in response.

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday condemned France's detention of a Russian-linked ship as "piracy", vowing a "significant" response to what he called European threats as tension flared.

Two people were killed on Thursday and four wounded when a man ploughed a car into a crowd outside a packed Manchester synagogue on a sombre Jewish holiday and then embarked on a stabbing spree, UK police said.