AFP news

Anton Yushyn spent four years studying Italian at university in Kyiv but the outbreak of war taught him the most valuable lesson of his student life: to prioritise what matters most.

It started with a raid on a Chinese-run online gambling centre north of Manila where hundreds of foreigners and Filipinos were forced to run scams or risk torture.

Keita Suzuki leads a group of young analogue photography fans around a coastal city in Japan, stopping to snap pastel hydrangea blooms with bulky vintage film cameras.

The sporting programme at the Paris Olympics endured a chaotic start on Wednesday as men's football kicked off and a huge police operation was put in place for Israel's first appearance at the Games.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked for unity from lawmakers Wednesday as he addressed a US Congress divided by his military campaign in Gaza, with a rift between the nations deepening over the conflict's humanitarian toll.

Google-parent Alphabet on Tuesday reported profit and revenue that beat expectations as its AI-amped cloud and search ads businesses thrived.

US President Joe Biden will give what could be his final Oval Office speech Wednesday to explain why he dropped out of November's election and deny that he will spend six months as a lame duck.

Rescuers aided by drones were continuing a desperate search on Wednesday for possible survivors of devastating landslides in an isolated area of southern Ethiopia that have killed 229 people and affected thousands more.

The tired troops moved through the forest in east Ukraine at dawn, imitating assault rifle fire while searching for non-existent Russians between the trees.

Toxic "forever chemicals" are increasingly being used in US pesticides, threatening human health as they contaminate waterways and are sprayed on staple foods, a study said Wednesday.

Asian markets fell on Wednesday following a mixed batch of US earnings that did little to boost enthusiasm as investors look for the tech sector to continue filing blockbuster profits after pumping billions into artificial intelligence.

At the end of a narrow suburban street north of Paris, a giant structure shrouded in a skin of mesh and steel looks like a football stadium, but is in fact a vast data centre.

Soaring high across a gorge in the rugged Himalayas, a newly finished bridge will soon help India entrench control of disputed Kashmir and meet a rising strategic threat from China.

The head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and French President Emmanuel Macron rejected Tuesday a Palestinian demand that Israel be barred from the Paris Games over the war in Gaza.

Kamala Harris's outspoken stance on the Gaza war hints at a possible shift from Joe Biden's Israel policy as she eyes the Democratic presidential nomination -- as Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to find out this week.

The number of arrests in days of violence in Bangladesh passed the 2,500 mark in an AFP tally on Tuesday, after protests over employment quotas sparked widespread unrest.

After winning support from Democratic party heavyweights, Kamala Harris will test her potential candidacy with voters Tuesday at a campaign rally in Wisconsin, a critical "swing state" for her likely face-off with Donald Trump.

Israel swiftly condemned an agreement brokered by China Tuesday which Beijing said would bring Hamas into a "national reconciliation government" for post-war Gaza.

As Polish lawmakers debated easing stringent abortion laws, Warsaw-based lawyer Jerzy Podgorski was in court defending a man from the remote town of Pinczow charged with aiding his partner's abortion.

With its castle, medieval tower and river-side beach, the western Ukrainian tourist town of Starokostiantyniv doesn't seem an obvious target for Russian missile and drone strikes.

Asian markets were mixed Tuesday as investors struggled to extend a surge on Wall Street, where the tech sector bounced back after last week's losses, while attention turned to the upcoming release of key US inflation data.

Hamas announced Tuesday it had signed an agreement in Beijing with other Palestinian organisations including rivals Fatah to work together for "national unity", with China describing it as a deal to rule Gaza together once the war ends.

A shrine perched on an extinct volcano in Myanmar once thronged with the bustle of pilgrims praying to flower-eating spirit Popa Maedaw, but civil war has cut the complex off from the faithful.

At a kids' role-playing theme park in Seoul, 23-year-old Park Woo-joo is on a very adult mission: the university-educated but unemployed South Korean is searching for his future career.

EU consumer authorities told Facebook owner Meta on Monday to take action to assuage European consumer groups' fears over its new "pay or consent" model or face further action.

A Russian court has sentenced US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to more than six years in prison for violating strict military censorship laws, a ruling her employer slammed as a "mockery of justice".

In his fight to get his kidnapped soldier son back from Gaza, Yehuda Cohen has marched through the desert, addressed tens of thousands, been spat at and called a traitor.

Thousands of Gazans fled an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone Monday after the army ordered them to leave and warned of an imminent operation in response to rocket attacks.

Israeli strikes on Saturday hit a power plant and fuel storage facilities in Hodeida, the main port under the control of Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels.