AFP News

The bitcoin market on Friday engineered the "halving" of the reward for operating the cryptocurrency, a much-anticipated step designed to limit production and boost the digital money.

Togo lawmakers on Friday gave final approval to a constitutional reform switching to a parliamentary system that opposition parties say will allow President Faure Gnassingbe to extend his grip on power.

The US House of Representatives is poised to hold a crucial vote on Saturday on a major aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan -- and a possible ban of TikTok.

A soaring wave of gang violence in Haiti left 1,660 people dead and some 850 injured in the first three months of 2024, a UN report said Friday.

Researchers at Microsoft have revealed a new artificial tool that can create deeply realistic human avatars -- but offered no timetable to make it available to the public, citing concerns about facilitating deep fake content.

The mayor of a mining town in violence-riddled Ecuador was shot dead Friday, the second such killing in days ahead of a weekend referendum on tougher measures against organized crime, police said.

Elon Musk on Friday came out against banning TikTok in the United States, even if it would mean less competition for his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, as the initiative sees fresh bipartisan momentum in Congress.

Donald Trump's unprecedented criminal trial is set for opening arguments next week after final jury selection ended Friday in proceedings overshadowed by a man setting himself on fire outside the Manhattan courthouse.

Deeper integration of the European Union's internal market could prove crucial for boosting lackluster economic growth and productivity levels in the 27-member trading bloc, a senior IMF official told AFP Friday.

After years of high-level US pressure on its ally to show restraint, Israel's purported attack on Iran takes the region and Western-led diplomacy into uncharted territory.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare was set Saturday to retain his seat in elections, local media reported, paving the way for the pro-China leader to try to form a government.

Croatia's top court said on Friday that the country's president, who had campaigned to become prime minister ahead of this week's parliamentary election, could not head the new government.

The United States on Friday blocked oil, gas and mining operations across tracts of unspoiled wilderness in Alaska, winning praise from environmentalists for safeguarding habitat for polar bears, caribou and other Arctic species.

French authorities Friday detained a man suspected of entering the Iranian consulate in Paris and falsely claiming to be armed with an explosive vest, police and prosecutors said.

US skiing great Lindsey Vonn has welcomed plans to use artificial intelligence to shield Olympic athletes from vicious online hate, recounting how she was "wildly harassed" before the 2018 Winter Games.

Three days after a fire which ravaged Copenhagen's historic former stock exchange broke out, emergency services said Friday that the situation was "unstable" due to equipment issues and a strong breeze.

Chinese carmaker Chery signed a deal Friday to produce mainly electric vehicles in Spain, as Beijing's auto sector pushes ahead with plans to expand into Europe despite growing competition concerns.

IOC president Thomas Bach said artificial intelligence can help identify talented athletes "in every corner of the world" as he unveiled the Olympic AI Agenda in London on Friday.

In her photography studio in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Aku Sharsheeva, tried unsuccessfully to connect to TikTok this week.

Tesla is recalling 3,878 Cybertruck vehicles because of a defect that can cause unintentional vehicle acceleration, increasing crash risk, according to a US notice posted this week.

Around a quarter of British children aged between five and seven-years-old now have a smart phone, a study by the UK communications regulator said on Friday.

The limited nature of Israel's reported strike on Iran and the restrained immediate Iranian reaction shows both sides, in particular Tehran, are looking to de-escalate after weeks of tensions but the situation remains dangerously explosive, analysts say.

The sum reportedly paid by Nike to lure the German football team away from its historic partner Adidas was "inexplicable", the CEO of the German sportswear giant Bjorn Gulden told AFP in an interview.

Russian strikes on Ukraine in the early hours of Friday killed at least eight people, including two children, as Kyiv said it shot down a Russian strategic bomber for the first time.

Sitting around a fire in the hills of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Ibrahim Abu Alyah and some friends stood watch over his herd in the aftermath of a settler attack on their village.

General Francis Omondi Ogolla, the Chief of the Kenya Defense Forces (CDF), was killed when his helicopter went down shortly after takeoff in a remote area of northwestern Kenya on Thursday.

Ukraine said Friday that, for the first time since Russia's invasion, it had downed a Russian long-range bomber used to fire cruise missiles at cities across the war-battered country.

Emirates, Dubai's state-owned flagship airline, and sister carrier flydubai resumed check-ins after telling passengers to stay away on Wednesday, when thousands of delayed passengers clogged the airport.

Air defense systems over several Iranian cities were activated, state media reported, after the country's official broadcaster said explosions were heard near the city of Isfahan. There had been no reaction from Israeli or Iranian officials to the overnight strikes and the extent of the damage remained unclear.