AFP News

US space tourism company Virgin Galactic announced Thursday it is exploring the possibility of opening a new base in Italy, potentially bringing crewed launches to Europe for the first time.

Georgia's pro-EU protests entered their third week Thursday, amid fears the post-electoral crisis could further escalate with the ruling party set to appoint a loyalist as the country's next president.

Thousands of Afghans on Thursday attended the funeral of the refugees minister, AFP journalists saw, after he was killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul the day before in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

The common murre, a large black-and-white seabird native to northern waters, has become far less common in Alaska over the past decade due to the impacts of climate change.

Brazil's 2026 presidential election may offer a field of candidates featuring neither incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva nor far-right rival Jair Bolsonaro.

Narges Mohammadi, the Iranian 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate on temporary medical leave from prison, said in a video call released Thursday that she would never let prison silence her.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is "cognitively healthy" after surgery to relieve bleeding pressure on his brain and should be leaving intensive care on Friday, his medical team said.

UN investigators say they have compiled secret lists of 4,000 perpetrators of serious crimes in Syria and hope the fall of Bashar al-Assad will help ensure accountability up to the highest level.

Indian teen prodigy Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest undisputed world chess champion Thursday after beating China's Ding Liren in the final match of their series in Singapore.

Time Magazine on Thursday named US President-elect Donald Trump its "person of the year," marking the second time he has won the accolade in acknowledgement of the mogul's stunning political comeback.

Salome Zurabishvili was a French diplomat before entering the turbulent politics of her ancestral homeland, where she was elected Georgia's first woman leader in 2018 and became the beacon of Tbilisi's EU aspirations.

The Swiss central bank announced an unexpectedly large interest-rate cut on Thursday, citing rising "uncertainty" about the economic outlook due to the potential impact of Donald Trump's policies and political turmoil in Europe.

The United States was pushing Thursday for an "inclusive" transition in Syria from president Bashar al-Assad's brutal rule, after the country's new leaders pledged to protect minority rights.

French President Emmanuel Macron was expected Thursday to name a new prime minister a week after MPs toppled the government, with politicians across the spectrum holding their breath while he conducts a day visit to Poland.

In the small town of Dedovsk, just outside Moscow, pensioner Zinaida Kudriavtseva is struggling to pay the bills.

Waving colourful glow sticks, singing parody songs and sporting elaborate outfits, demonstrators in Seoul this week calling for President Yoon Suk Yeol's departure have highlighted South Korea's unique and creative protest culture.

An investigation into alleged rape and sexual assault in Stockholm which Swedish media said targeted Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe has been closed due to insufficient evidence, the Swedish prosecutor said Thursday.

Israel has been accused of carrying out a "massacre" of journalists in Gaza in two separate reports from media freedom organisations this week that analysed the deaths of reporters worldwide this year.

An investigation into alleged rape and sexual assault in Stockholm which Swedish media said targeted Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe has been closed due to insufficient evidence, the Swedish prosecutor said Thursday.

Gaza's civil defence agency reported that Israeli air strikes on Thursday killed at least 33 people, including 12 guards securing aid trucks in southern parts of the Palestinian territory.

US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday appointed election denier Kari Lake to be the new director of Voice of America, the state-funded international media organization.

French politics was on hold Thursday during a day trip to Poland by President Emmanuel Macron, who is expected to name a new prime minister a week after MPs toppled the government.

At a popular meeting spot for substance abusers near central Helsinki, even the addicts warn that Finland has a spiralling drug problem, particularly among young people.

Slovakia's Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova has sparked uproar by dismissing several heads of major cultural institutions and halting projects steered by LGBT+ associations under the pretext of promoting "Slovak culture".

Long dependent on fossil fuels before emerging a champion of offshore wind power, Danish company Orsted is now struggling to restore its business after dropping several major projects.

Her husband orchestrating her sexual abuse by strangers could have broken her.

US heavyweight Kevin Johnson came close to the top of the boxing world before his star dimmed.

Riyad Avlar spent 20 years languishing in Syria's jails, including a decade in the infamous Saydnaya prison, the scene of some of the Bashar al-Assad government's most brutal abuses.

A rash of unexplained drone sightings in the skies above New Jersey has left locals rattled and sent US officials scrambling for answers.