AFP News

The visit to France, which will be followed by trips to Serbia and Hungary, marks the Chinese leader's first European tour since the coronavirus pandemic.

Tesla received a key security clearance from China during Elon Musk's whistlestop visit to the world's biggest electric car market, which wrapped up on Monday.

The announcement is the latest twist in a bidding war which last week saw US music group Concord ramp up its offer to beyond Blackstone's previous bid for Hipgnosis, whose catalogue includes Justin Bieber, Shakira and Neil Young.

Tech billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk boarded a plane departing Beijing on Monday, an AFP journalist said, after a whistlestop visit that saw his firm win a key data security clearance from Chinese authorities.

Arjan Smit gazes out over his tulip fields, a riot of red and pink flowers he has cultivated all his adult life and part of a family business his grandfather started in 1940.

Togolese vote in legislative elections on Monday after a divisive constitutional reform that opponents say allows President Faure Gnassingbe to extend his family's decades-long grip on power.

Tech billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk met in Beijing on Sunday with China's number two official, Premier Li Qiang, who promised the country would "always" be open to foreign firms.

Some 20,000 Georgians staged a "March for Europe" Sunday, calling on the government to scrap a controversial "foreign influence" bill which the EU has warned would undermine Tbilisi's European aspirations.

It touched 160.17 in morning trade -- its weakest since 1990 -- fanning speculation that Japanese authorities would step in to support their currency for the first time since 2022. But it briefly bounced to 155.05, with Bloomberg reporting that the move suggested investors were weighing the prospect that officials would step in.

The yen slumped to a fresh 34-year low against the dollar on Monday, fuelling expectations Japanese authorities would step in to support their currency for the first time since late 2022.

A Hamas delegation is due to arrive Monday in Egypt, where it will respond to Israel's latest proposal for a long-sought hostage-release deal and truce in the Gaza Strip after almost seven months of war.

G7 ministers meet for environment and climate change talks in Turin on Monday, with experts urging the highly industrialised countries to use their political clout, wealth and technologies to end fossil fuel use.

South Africans vote next month in a general election that could bring about the most significant political change in three decades, with the ruling African National Congress at risk of losing its parliamentary majority.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will break his silence on Monday and announce whether or not he will step down following the opening of a corruption probe into his wife's business dealings.

Thousands of Georgians staged a "March for Europe" Sunday, calling on the government to scrap a controversial "foreign influence" bill, which the EU has warned would undermine Tbilisi's European aspirations.

Ukraine's army leader admitted Sunday that Kyiv's position on the battlefield has worsened after Russian forces captured another village in the east, pressing their advantage in manpower and ammunition.

France's top diplomat on Sunday urged de-escalation between Israel and the Hezbollah movement during his second visit to Lebanon since cross-border tensions flared alongside the Gaza war.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday she would stand in upcoming European Parliament elections, a move apparently calculated to boost her far-right party, although she would be forced to resign immediately.

The White House insisted Sunday that pro-Palestinian protests that have rocked US universities in recent weeks must remain peaceful, after police arrested around 275 people on four separate campuses over the weekend.

On a cinder block work table in the war-torn Gaza Strip, puppet maker Mahdi Karira is busy turning old tin cans into figurines.

Pope Francis presided over mass in Saint Mark's Square in Venice on Sunday, warning of environmental damage and over-tourism in a closely watched visit, the first for the ageing pontiff outside Rome since last year.

South and Southeast Asia braced for more extreme heat on Sunday as authorities across the region issued health warnings and residents fled to parks and air-conditioned malls for relief.

Diplomatic efforts increased on Sunday to reach a long sought-after truce and hostage-release deal in Gaza, as Israel carried out further air strikes and shelling on the war-battered territory.

Tech billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk was in China for talks on Sunday, making his second trip in less than a year to the world's biggest market for electric vehicles.

Ayman Chaudhary turned her love for reading into a living on TikTok, posting video snippets about books like those banned in schools in ultra-conservative parts of the United States.

The US Federal Reserve is highly likely to keep interest rates unchanged later this week, as policymakers contend with a recent uptick in inflation that has sharply cut the chance of a summer start to interest rate cuts.

The war in Gaza and broader Middle East tensions are expected to get top billing at a Saudi-hosted special meeting of the World Economic Forum that begins on Sunday.

Washington's top diplomat will travel to Saudi Arabia on Sunday as the deadline approaches on a landmark -- and, analysts say, long-shot -- deal that would see the kingdom recognise Israel.

Hamas's armed wing released video Saturday of two men held hostage in Gaza who are seen alive and urging Israeli authorities to strike a deal for the release of all the remaining captives.