AFP News

Manchester City collapsed to their fifth straight defeat on Saturday, hammered 4-0 by Tottenham in another huge blow to their Premier League title hopes as Arsenal got their challenge back on track.

Hedge fund manager Scott Bessent is a credible, safe choice for US Treasury secretary -- and one that is likely positive for markets -- observers said Saturday following President-elect Donald Trump's highly anticipated nomination.

Novak Djokovic announced on Saturday that his retired long-time rival Andy Murray is joining the 24-time Grand Slam-winning player's coaching team, starting at the Australian Open in January.

New rules allowing wealthy polluting countries to buy carbon-cutting "offsets" from developing nations were agreed at UN climate talks Saturday, in a move already raising fears they will be used to greenwash climate targets.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed a law that allows those who sign up to fight in Ukraine to write off unpaid debts worth almost $100,000, the government announced.

War-torn Sudan is on a "countdown to famine" ignored by world leaders while humanitarian aid is only "delaying deaths", Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) chief Jan Egeland told AFP on Saturday.

When Lebanese carpenter Samir awoke in a panic Saturday to the sound of explosions and screams, he thought his own building in central Beirut had been hit by an air raid.

Lost your umbrella, keys, or perhaps a flying squirrel? - Flying squirrels, iguanas - But dogs, cats and even flying squirrels and iguanas have been dropped off at police stations, where officers look after them "with great sensitivity" -- consulting books, online articles and vets for advice.

Thousands demonstrated in major French cities Saturday against violence targeting women, as campaigners push for the country to learn from a mass rape trial that has shocked the public.

Ireland, Britain and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice.

Negotiators were struggling to reach a deal Saturday at UN climate talks in Baku.

Pope Francis will visit the French Mediterranean island of Corsica on December 15, just days after skipping the reopening of Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral which was ravaged by a fire in 2019, the Vatican said Saturday.

At least 32 people were killed and 47 wounded in sectarian clashes in northwest Pakistan, an official told AFP on Saturday, two days after attacks on Shiite passenger convoys killed 43.

An Israeli air strike in central Beirut killed at least four people early Saturday, bringing down a residential building and jolting residents across the city out of bed as Israel kept up its air campaign against Hezbollah.

George Russell of Mercedes took pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Friday while title-chasing Max Verstappen was fifth as the Dutchman closes in on a fourth successive world championship.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos' security detail has been put on alert over what his office is calling an "active threat" against his life by Vice President Sara Duterte, the palace said Saturday.

US antitrust lawyers are calling on a judge to force the sale of Google's Chrome browser to limit the company's market clout in a move that would shake up the internet giant.

President-elect Donald Trump's new Treasury chief needs to hit the ground running once he takes office, tasked with rolling out his boss's economic vision and grappling with the country's debt limit.

US President-elect Donald Trump on Friday named billionaire Scott Bessent as his Treasury secretary, choosing the hedge fund manager to help execute an agenda promising tax cuts and tariffs.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir held an urgent meeting of top security brass on Friday after a shootout at the home of powerful former spy chief Akol Koor, who was sacked almost two months ago amid rumours of a coup plot.

Alarm grew in France on Friday over the fate of a prominent French-Algerian novelist detained in the country of his birth, with his publisher urging his immediate release and President Emmanuel Macron closely following the case.

Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and his wife are set to assume absolute power after loyalist lawmakers Friday approved a constitutional amendment elevating her to the position of "co-president" and boosting the pair's joint control over the state.

The arrest of a Ugandan opposition figure in Kenya was carried out with the knowledge of Nairobi, a Ugandan government spokesperson told AFP Friday.

French President Emmanuel Macron accused Haiti's transitional council of being "total morons" for dismissing the country's prime minister, according to a video shot at the G20 summit in Brazil this week and shared on social media Thursday.

The Russian ruble slumped on Friday to its lowest level against the US dollar since March 2022, a day after Moscow fired a hypersonic missile on Ukraine and Washington sanctioned a key Russian bank.

The judge in Donald Trump's criminal hush money case ordered on Friday that sentencing be delayed indefinitely, a legal win for the President-elect as he prepares to return to the White House.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled.

New Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim said he is the right man to revive the ailing English giants' fortunes ahead of his debut against Ipswich on Sunday.

Romanian far-right leader George Simion, a Donald Trump fan, has been touring the countryside, including bringing truckloads of construction material to a flood-hit village, ahead of Sunday's presidential election.