AFP news

China claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under Beijing's control.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who took office after the general elections of July 4, has repeatedly said that he has "nothing against private schools", which educate around 600,000 children, or 6.5 percent of the country's pupils.

French President Emmanuel Macron began a round of thorny consultations with political leaders on Friday, hoping to cobble together a viable ruling coalition after last month's inconclusive election.

Divers returned to the sea Friday in search of UK tycoon Mike Lynch's teenage daughter, the last person missing after their boat sank off Sicily killing the businessman and five others.

The company announced after markets closed Thursday that Schneider would step down on September 1 after almost eight years in charge and be replaced by Nestle's Latin America chief, Laurent Freixe.

After weeks of warnings, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said Thursday that a new eruption had started at 9:26 pm (2126 GMT) that evening, following a series of earthquakes.

Less than three weeks before the presidential debate between the US vice president and the Republican ex-president -- and only a month before early in-person voting begins - polls show the race for the White House is neck and neck.

Egypt with fellow mediators Qatar and the United States are trying to reach a deal that would end more than 10 months of war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza.

Microsoft took fans by surprise on Tuesday when announcing that its year-end blockbuster "Indiana Jones and the Great Circle", initially meant to be an exclusive for its Xbox console, would also be made available on rival Sony's PlayStation 5 in spring 2025.

Kenyan police offered a cash reward on Thursday for information leading to the arrest of a suspected serial killer who escaped from a Nairobi police cell.

The body of UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch was recovered Thursday from his sunken yacht off Sicily, as the search continued for the last of the six people missing.

The exercise, linked to the ongoing joint military drills between the United States and South Korea known as Ulchi Freedom Shield, is designed to simulate a war or national emergency. Similar drills happen every year.

Sri Lanka were in dire straits at 6-3 after skipper De Silva won the toss, losing their first three wickets for no runs in 10 balls. Yet they recovered to 236 all out, De Silva top-scoring with 74 and tailender Rathnayake, with only his third first-class fifty, close behind in making 72.

The World Health Organization in July declared an international health emergency over the spread of mpox, which first appeared in humans around 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

National carrier Air New Zealand said 10 flights had been cancelled early Thursday as volcanic ash drifted across flight paths.

South Korea, a global leader in the production of chips that power generative AI, has been quick to embrace novel uses of the technology.

The readings reinforced optimism that the central bank will begin unwinding its long-running monetary tightening campaign, with analysts saying the main debate is over how big the move will be and how many more will follow.

Leverkusen kick off the 2024-25 Bundesliga campaign at local rivals Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday.

The Vienna shows, part of the European leg of Swift's record-breaking "Eras" tour, were cancelled after authorities warned of a terror plot by sympathizers of the Islamic State armed group.

In a whirlwind quarter-hour address, Walz raced through the story of his middle-class upbringing in small town Nebraska, where he worked on the family farm, and described his experience teaching students who inspired him to go into politics.

Hoecke was greeted with rapturous applause as he appeared at a rally to drum up support for the far-right AfD in the town this month ahead of a key regional election.

At least two people have died and hundreds of thousands are stranded in the floods in at least eight districts in southern and eastern areas.

The Gaza Strip's first recorded polio case in 25 years has health workers and aid agencies grappling with the steep obstacles to conducting mass vaccination in the war-torn Palestinian territory.

The US secretary of state appealed to Hamas to urgently accept a US-backed truce proposal, while also entering into a public spat with Israel over its future presence in the Gaza Strip.

Finance minister Rachel Reeves has already warned of "difficult decisions" over whether to cut spending or hike taxes on October 30, and the latest numbers will do little to ease those concerns.

The strikes came more than 24 hours after Israel carried out similar raids deep inside east Lebanon and as tensions mounted in the wake of the Israeli killing of a top Hezbollah commander.

Boeing has been beset in recent years with concerns about safety and quality control, with a near-catastrophic incident on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX in January bringing renewed pressure on the company.

A panel of judges in California ruled that a lower court was wrong to toss the case on the grounds that Chrome users had agreed to Google's privacy policy, and that the lawsuit should head for trial.

The pair, who were nicknamed "Bennifer" when they first dated in the frenzied tabloid celebrity days of the early 2000s, had rekindled their relationship almost two decades later.