AFP news

After months of stop-start negotiations, Hamas has sounded an optimistic tone about the latest hostages-for-ceasefire proposal, raising hopes an agreement may soon be reached -- even as medics in the besieged strip reported fresh strikes on Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah on Friday.

Walkouts could start in May and continue from July 1 to September 8, the CGT union branch representing binmen warned, a period that includes the Games, which run from July 26 to August 11.

Dozens of people surrounded a bus believed to be taking asylum seekers from a hotel in the Peckham area of the British capital to an accommodation barge moored off the south coast of England.

Danish shipping giant Maersk posted a huge drop in net profit for the first quarter on Thursday as Yemeni rebel attacks force it to avoid the vital Red Sea route.

In the northeastern Kharkiv region bordering Russia, a guided bomb attack killed two civilians, a 38-year-old woman and her father inside a car, the region's governor said.

A Ukrainian man was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison in Texas on Wednesday for his role in ransomware attacks by the notorious Russia-based REvil hacking group, the US Justice Department said.

The deluges in the state of Rio Grande do Sul have displaced some 1,400 people in more than 100 municipalities, most of whom have been moved to shelters.

The world economy is expected to expand by 3.1 percent this year, up from a previous projection in February of 2.9 percent, according to the the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Mediators have proposed a deal that would halt fighting for 40 days and exchange Israeli hostages for potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners, according to details released earlier by Britain.

The announcement follows Yousaf's announcement on Monday that he would resign as party leader and Scotland's first minister once a successor has been chosen to head the devolved government.

Torrential rains in Kenya and other countries in East Africa have caused deadly havoc, with floods and landslides forcing people from their homes, destroying roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

Over 20 vehicles careened into the nearly 18-metre-long (60-foot) gash in the tarmac and plummeted down the steep slope below.

Microsoft pledged a $2.2 billion investment in artificial intelligence and cloud computing in Malaysia on Thursday to help develop the country's AI infrastructure.

Judge Juan Merchan has already sanctioned the property mogul for defying his order on nine occasions, fining him $9,000 on Tuesday and warning Trump he could face jail for continuing to lash out on social media.

The group unveiled a fresh $3.5-billion stock buyback and forecast capital expenditure this year would reach between $22 billion and $24 billion.

After a marathon session that lasted overnight, the lower house provisionally approved what remains of Milei's flagship "omnibus" reform bill with 142 votes against 106. There were five abstentions.

It was widely reported last week that the 65-year-old, regarded as the greatest designer in the sport's history, was set to quit following a controversy involving allegations about team principal Christian Horner.

Protesters and counter-protesters were seen clashing with sticks and tearing down metal barricades, TV images showed. Others were seen launching fireworks or hurling objects at each other in the dark -- lit up with laser pointers and bright flashlights.

Elon Musk's EV company, which moved earlier this month to cut more than 10 percent of its 140,000 employees, will disband two departments and lay off most of the employees from the groups, reported the Information late Monday.

The TSE tribunal upheld a claim by the far-right politician, who lost the race to leftist Lula, over online "promotion of negative electoral propaganda," according to a ruling seen by AFP Tuesday.

Like gunpowder and the atomic bomb, artificial intelligence (AI) has the capacity to revolutionize warfare, analysts say, making human disputes unimaginably different -- and a lot more deadly.

Students here were among the first to embrace the pro-Palestinian campus encampment movement, which has spread to a number of universities across the United States.

Madonna's long-awaited free concert on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach has upended the neighborhood, with over a million fans expected -- but for retired resident Mario Renato Borges, it's the least the singer deserves.

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken urged Hamas to accept a truce in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to send troops into its far southern city of Rafah.

Eruptions at a remote Indonesian volcano forced more than half a dozen airports to close with ash spreading as far as Malaysia, officials said Wednesday, while authorities rushed to evacuate thousands due to tsunami fears.

For months, the US central bank has maintained its benchmark lending rate at a 23-year high to cool demand and rein in price increases -- with a slowdown in inflation last year fueling optimism that the first cuts were on the horizon.

Paul Auster, the prolific American novelist whose works included "The New York Trilogy," has died of complications from lung cancer, a friend of the novelist told AFP. He was 77.

A French environmental charity said it had turned down the chance to take part in the torch relay ahead of the Paris Olympics over the role of Coca-Cola as a major sponsor.

The amount included more than $7 billion already spent on repairs and compensation for about 430,000 affected people, it added.