AFP News

Asian markets swung Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve's much-anticipated policy announcement, while shares in Japanese car titan Nissan soared more than 20 percent after reports said it was in merger talks with rival Honda.

Famed Australian broadcaster and former Wallabies coach Alan Jones said Wednesday he is "certainly not guilty" of alleged historical sex crimes, after his first court appearance.

Former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou headed to China on Wednesday for a trip he said was aimed at building "a bridge for peace", after Beijing last week intensified military drills around the island.

In the early hours of January 3, 2023, 32 people climbed onto a makeshift raft off southern Cuba and set out across the Caribbean for Florida, 170 kilometers (100 miles) away.

Sudanese doctor Mohamed Moussa has grown so accustomed to the constant sound of gunfire and shelling near his hospital that it no longer startles him.

The family of a French man who enlisted dozens of strangers to rape his heavily-sedated wife have been torn apart by his crimes but are still seeking answers after a gruelling three-month trial.

A shock outsider when he was first elected president eight years ago -- and a pariah when he left office -- Donald Trump appears to be the most popular person in America as far as the rich and powerful are concerned.

Catarina Macario scored two penalties in the space of five second-half minutes to lead Chelsea to a 2-1 comeback over Real Madrid in the Women's Champions League on Tuesday and confirm their status as group winners.

TikTok's breakneck rise from niche video-sharing app to global social media behemoth has drawn intense scrutiny, particularly over its links to China.

Japanese auto giants Honda and Nissan are in preliminary merger talks, media reports said Wednesday.

Young startup Databricks, which specializes in scaling and building artificial intelligence, said Tuesday it raised $10 billion, bringing the company's valuation to $62 billion.

Britain, France and Germany accused Iran on Tuesday of growing its stockpile of high enriched uranium to "unprecedented levels" without "any credible civilian justification."

US authorities on Tuesday charged the man suspected of gunning down a health insurance CEO in New York earlier this month with murder, including a charge of second-degree murder "as an act of terrorism."

The bombshell resignation of Canada's deputy prime minister is spurring new calls for the resignation of Justin Trudeau, whose rock-bottom popularity is plummeting further amid opposition attacks and US President-elect Donald Trump's tariff threats.

Authorities announced a nighttime curfew Tuesday to curb looting after a devastating cyclone hit the French overseas territory of Mayotte, with the country's prime minister warning the death toll could rise.

Towana Looney donated a kidney to her mother in 1999 only for the remaining one to fail years later due to pregnancy complications.

Bashar al-Assad's overthrow has cleared the way for US strikes against the Islamic State group in areas previously shielded by Syrian and Russian air defenses -- but the jihadists may also try to exploit the vacuum left by his fall.

Japanese auto giants Honda Motor and Nissan Motor will enter talks on a merger aimed at helping them compete against Tesla and other electric vehicle makers, newspaper Nikkei reported early Wednesday.

Bolivian ex-president Evo Morales accused his successor on Tuesday of launching a "brutal judicial war" against him, after prosecutors issued an arrest warrant over his alleged relationship with a minor.

Syria's conflict "has not ended" even after the departure of former president Bashar al-Assad, the UN's envoy to the country warned Tuesday, highlighting clashes between Turkish-backed and Kurdish groups in the north.

A Filipina inmate on death row in Indonesia was handed over to Philippine officials in capital Jakarta Tuesday, before flying home after the countries signed an agreement for her repatriation.

The dismal quality of housing across Mayotte has compounded the devastating impact of Cyclone Chido on the poverty-stricken French Indian Ocean territory where hundreds, or maybe thousands, are feared dead.

On a farm in the southern US state of Virginia, David Ayares and his research teams are breeding genetically modified pigs to transplant their organs into human patients.

An Irish regulator helping police European Union data privacy on Tuesday said it had fined Facebook-owner Meta 251 million euros ($263 million) for a data protection failure that saw users' accounts hacked.

The United Nations said Tuesday it expects around one million people to return to Syria in the first half of 2025, following the collapse of president Bashar al-Assad's rule.

The EU said on Tuesday it had opened a formal investigation into TikTok following allegations the platform was used by Russia to sway the result of Romania's later annulled presidential election.

Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson was on Tuesday released from detention in Greenland, after Denmark decided to refuse a Japanese extradition request over a 2010 clash with whalers.

Syria's new rulers stepped up engagement on Tuesday with countries that deemed ousted president Bashar al-Assad a pariah, with the French flag raised at the embassy for the first time in over a decade.

Publicity-shy Japanese author Haruki Murakami told his alma mater Tuesday that he was far from being a model scholar, as he collected an honorary degree in a rare public appearance.