WORLD

Qatar has withdrawn as a key mediator for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal after concluding that Hamas and Israel were unwilling to negotiate "in good faith", a diplomatic source told AFP Saturday.

Cycling great Mark Cavendish announced his retirement from the sport on Saturday, writing on social media that his final race will be Sunday's Tour de France Singapore Criterium.

Iran signalled an openness towards Donald Trump Saturday, calling on the president-elect to adopt new policies towards it after Washington accused Tehran of involvement in a plot to kill him.

Queen Camilla, the wife of Britain's head of state King Charles III, will miss two of the most important dates in the royal calendar this weekend because of a chest infection, Buckingham Palace said Saturday.

Cycling great Mark Cavendish announced his retirement from the sport on Saturday, writing on social media that his final race will be Sunday's Tour de France Singapore Criterium.

A suspended walkway providing tourists an up-close view of Rome's Trevi Fountain has been unveiled, a temporary addition while the famous 'La Dolce Vita' site undergoes a cleaning.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto in Beijing on Saturday, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Pakistani separatists killed at least 22 people Saturday in a bombing targeting a railway station in Balochistan province, local officials and a militant group said.

Five years of investigation and expert reports have failed to identify the precise cause of the 2019 fire that ravaged Paris' landmark Notre Dame cathedral, even as the probe draws to a close just as the cathedral prepares to reopen early next month.

North Korea staged GPS jamming attacks on Friday and Saturday, an operation that was affecting several ships and dozens of civilian aircraft in South Korea, Seoul's military said.

Elon Musk took part in a phone call between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President-elect Donald Trump after his election victory, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP Friday.

US prosecutors announced charges on Friday in an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate former president Donald Trump.

Spanish navy diver Alvaro Carrillo donned his wetsuit and prepared a speedboat to scour a normally picturesque lagoon made murky by a sea of debris -- and potentially bodies.

The world's wealthiest people are using private jets like taxis to fly away to weekend getaways, sporting events and even climate conferences, researchers who track the flights say.

The 11 people, including two minors, found dead in a pickup truck in southern Mexico were part of a group reported missing last month, authorities in Guerrero state said Friday.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, mired in crisis after his three-party coalition collapsed this week, said Friday he is open to talks on whether to move forward snap elections.

Mozambique's opposition on Friday promised fresh protests, as rights groups said at least 30 people had been killed in three weeks of demonstrations over contested election results.

Russian prosecutors on Friday demanded a six-year prison sentence for a paediatrician accused of criticising the Ukraine campaign during a private appointment, in a case that has revealed the extent of repression gripping Russia.

The $1.4 trillion package aims to jumpstart the stagnant economy by allowing local governments to reduce their debt load: report

The Kremlin on Friday said Vladimir Putin is ready to discuss the war in Ukraine with President-elect Donald Trump, but emphasized that Russia is unwilling to make any concessions, according to reports.

Catherine, Princess of Wales, takes a significant step in her recovery from cancer this weekend, as she attends formal events alongside her father-in-law King Charles III to remember Britain's war dead.

Israeli, Dutch and European leaders on Friday condemned "anti-Semitic" clashes that erupted in Amsterdam overnight after a Europa League football match, with Israel sending rescue planes for their citizens.

The UN condemned on Friday the staggering number of civilians killed in Israel's war in Gaza, with women and children comprising nearly 70 percent of the thousands of fatalities it had managed to verify.

Russian attacks overnight wounded more than two dozen people in the Ukrainian border city of Kharkiv and killed one in the southern city of Odesa, Ukrainian authorities said on Friday, as Moscow's bombardments escalated.

Yana, a 12-year-old Moscovite, is worried she will have to give up her hobby of quadrobics -- a fitness and social media trend that involves imitating the movements of four-legged animals.

Standing in a makeshift salon on the side of a dusty backstreet in Democratic Republic of Congo capital Kinshasa Papy Kalume pulled a fresh razor out of his bag.

Singer Pharrell Williams is due to kick off one of Europe's biggest tech events on Monday, the Web Summit in Lisbon, with organisers keen to move on from last year's edition when several big firms pulled out.

Yannick Bestaven already knows what it feels like to win the Vendee Globe but the 51-year-old Frenchman cannot resist the call of the solo, non-stop round the world yacht race, which sets off from Les Sables-d'Olonne on the Atlantic coast on Sunday.

For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play football is easily summed up: "It was a dream."