AFP news

Organisers of the Paris Olympics have promised a "great national party" for the country, but with 100 days to go, France's bitter politics and gloomy mindset are dampening the mood.

Israel's armed forces chief has vowed to respond to Iran's unprecedented attack against the country, even after appeals for restraint poured in from world leaders fearing wider regional conflict.

Orange lava bubbles and pops, occasionally spewing large fountains from a volcano that has been erupting for a month in Iceland, the second-longest eruption since the region's volcanic activity reawakened in March 2021.

Deborah Biegaj has been coming to Coachella for about a decade, and long thought little of drinking heavily at the mammoth California desert festival -- it's just what you did.

India begins voting Friday in a six-week election, with Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi's victory all but assured, raising concerns for the health of the world's largest democracy.

Australia's famed Great Barrier Reef is suffering one of the most severe coral bleaching events on record, leaving scientists fearful for its survival as the impact of climate change worsens.

Asian stocks fell and oil prices climbed Tuesday on growing fears of a wider war in the Middle East after Israel's army chief vowed a response to Iran's unprecedented attack on his country at the weekend.

The final bill for the Paris Olympics is still unknown but, depending on the point of view, are likely to be expensive compared to original estimates or cheap, when set against other recent Games.

Pakistan has initiated discussions with the IMF over a new multi-billion dollar loan agreement to support its economic reform program, its new finance minister told AFP on Monday.

France and its allies on Monday drummed up aid pledges of over two billion euros ($2.1 billion) for Sudan a year after civil war erupted sparking one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Under Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore has held its own in an era of globalised finance and cutting-edge tech, while continuing his venerated father's policy of muzzling free media and snuffing out dissent.

The ferry sank live on television as the children on board sent desperate text messages to their parents -- 10 years after South Korea's worst-ever maritime disaster, families are still reckoning with the horror.

Israel launched dozens of air strikes on Gaza overnight, Hamas said Monday, as the army said it will not be distracted from the war after Iran's unprecedented attack heightened fears of wider conflict.

Donald Trump goes to court Monday as the first US ex-president ever to be criminally prosecuted, a seismic moment for the United States as the presumptive Republican nominee campaigns to re-take the White House.

Australian police said Monday they are investigating why a 40-year-old man with mental illness appeared to target women as he roamed a Sydney shopping mall with a large knife, killing six people and injuring a dozen more.

Ten years ago, Nepali mountain guide Dawa Tashi Sherpa was fighting for his life after being hit by an avalanche on Everest which was then the deadliest disaster on the world's highest mountain.

Gaza's ancient Greek site of Anthedon has been bombed, its "Napoleon's Palace" destroyed and the only private museum burned down: the war has taken a terrible toll on the rich heritage of the Palestinian territory.

In front of the Eiffel Tower, stands are emerging from a tangle of scaffolding, while at the historic Place de la Concorde, forklift trucks buzz around carrying building materials.

Coachella day two was heavy on alt-rock throwbacks including a highly anticipated No Doubt reunion, but it was Taylor Swift -- who wasn't on the lineup and didn't perform -- creating buzz on Saturday.

Iran's attack on Israel gives Joe Biden a familiar dilemma, but on steroids -- how to balance support for a difficult ally while preventing the nightmare scenario of a wider war?

Iran on Sunday urged Israel not to retaliate militarily to an unprecedented attack overnight, which Tehran presented as a justified response to a strike that destroyed its consulate building in Damascus earlier this month.

Australian police on Sunday said a 40-year-old itinerant with mental illness was behind a Sydney shopping centre stabbing rampage that killed six people, including a new mum whose nine-month-old baby is still in hospital with serious wounds.

Valeriy Kucherenko is a decorated "Hero of Ukraine" but the battle he is currently fighting is learning how to eat and use the toilet alone.

On a stretch of grass doubling as a parking lot in an impoverished Johannesburg township, a group of party activists chanted "we need new leaders!"

Solomon Islanders will head to the polls this week, voting in an election that promises to bolster or blunt China's regional ambitions, with security consequences that will ripple far beyond the Pacific nation's palm-fringed shores.

I Am Maximus added the Grand National to his Irish National win last year to give trainer Willie Mullins his second victory in the world's greatest steeplechase at Aintree on Saturday.

Troop reinforcements from Israel's ally the United States headed to the region on Saturday, with fears of wider war growing more than six months into Israel's battle against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

A governing council tasked with filling a leadership vacuum in Haiti and restoring a semblance of order was formally established Friday in the Caribbean nation, which has been rocked by an explosion of gang violence.

Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli, whose penchant for python and flamboyant animal prints made him the darling of the international jet set for decades, died Friday at 83, the luxury company said.