AFP News

Israel's war against Hamas has sparked anger and division around the world, including on US campuses, where some Jewish students feel targeted and abused while others have taken leading roles in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

British head of state King Charles III will make a limited return to public duties next week, after doctors said they were "very encouraged" by the progress of his treatment for cancer.

Greece on Friday handed over the Olympic flame of the 2024 Games to Paris organisers in a ceremony at the Athens marble stadium where the competition was revived nearly 130 years ago.

A rare meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his US counterpart Joe Biden at the White House has been postponed, a Turkish official said Friday, amid tensions over the Gaza war.

ExxonMobil and Chevron both reported a dip in profits Friday on lower refining margins and natural gas prices, but ExxonMobil's big takeover appears on track to close before Chevron's.

Poland opened an art show Friday to celebrate its only Van Gogh painting, a rare early landscape worth millions that was once hawked by a pedlar for the price of a beer.

France and Germany on Friday firmed up plans to jointly develop a next-generation battle tank equipped with artificial intelligence and laser technology, billed as a game changer in modern warfare.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has suspended all duties and gone silent while he considers whether to step down on Monday over a graft investigation against his wife.

At least 10 people were killed Friday in a fire that broke out in a defunct hotel being used as a makeshift homeless shelter in the city of Porto Alegre in southern Brazil, officials said.

Ukraine warned Friday that Moscow was ramping up attacks on railways in a bid to disrupt military supplies ahead of a fresh Russian offensive while Kyiv waits for new US weapon deliveries.

Burkina Faso has suspended the BBC and Voice of America radio networks from broadcasting after they aired a rights report accusing the army of attacks on civilians in its battle against jihadists.

The number of people killed in floods in Kenya due to heavier than usual rainfall since the start of the monsoon in March has risen to 70, a government spokesperson said Friday.

The US central bank's favored measure of inflation accelerated last month, according to government data published Friday, pushing back the chances of an interest rate cut this summer.

Armed groups in the Middle East and North Africa have little difficulty getting their hands on portable surface-to-air missiles despite a campaign to prevent their proliferation, according to a report published Friday.

Angry at their government agreeing to cede territory to arch-foe Azerbaijan, dozens of Armenian protesters have blocked major highways and vowed to fight the transfer of land they say is rightfully theirs.

A delegation from mediator Egypt is travelling to Israel on Friday, a source close to the Israeli government told AFP, in what local media said is a bid to reignite stalled hostage-release negotiations.

The European Union on Friday added Chinese-founded online retailer Shein to its list of digital companies that are large enough to come under stricter safety curbs.

Cybersecurity firm Darktrace said Friday it had accepted a $5.3-billion takeover bid from US private equity firm Thoma Bravo, which highlighted the British group's "capability in artificial intelligence".

Syria has avoided getting embroiled in the Gaza war, experts said, despite a strike on Iran's Damascus consulate, blamed on Israel, that threatened to ignite a regional conflagration.

Both sides have stepped up attacks this week, with Hezbollah increasing rocket fire and Israel saying it had carried out "offensive action" across southern Lebanon.

Criticism of Qatar over its role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas has prompted a rare pushback by the Gulf state against its detractors, analysts have said.

Markets were mixed on Friday after forecast-topping earnings from Microsoft and Alphabet helped soothe worries that a tech-fuelled rally may have been overdone, while the yen hit a fresh 34-year low after the Bank of Japan stood pat on interest rates.

BHP's multi-billion-dollar bid to buy rival Anglo American promises to be the largest mining merger deal in decades, and one driven by the race for cleaner energy and green metals.

China's foreign minister warned Antony Blinken on Friday that US pressure could trigger a "downward spiral", as the visiting secretary of state raised concerns on issues including support for Russia.

Electric vehicle executives at a top car show in China were bullish on prospects for growth, despite a gruelling price war and mounting Western pressure on the industry.

British mining giant Anglo American on Friday rejected a blockbuster $38.8-billion takeover bid from Australian rival BHP, slamming it as "highly unattractive" and "opportunistic".

Olga drew her index finger abruptly across her neck as she recounted the threats her husband levelled at her after he returned to Russia, wounded from fighting in Ukraine.

Columbia University backed off late Thursday from an overnight deadline for pro-Palestinian protesters to abandon an encampment there as more college campuses in the United States sought to prevent occupations from taking hold.