Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai will attend a two-day summit focusing on girls' education in Muslim communities to be held in Pakistan's capital Islamabad this weekend. Neighbouring Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are banned from going to school and university.
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, in office since 2013, is due to take the oath of office for a third term Friday despite a global outcry that brought thousands out in protest on the ceremony's eve.
Footage of the attack on a fast-food outlet in the southern city of Melbourne showed two people in dark hoodies and trousers with a container of what police described as "flammable liquid". One of them tried to set the fluid alight at the front of the outlet, just out of the view of a camera. In an instant, the arsonist is seen again engulfed in flames and then hurriedly removing the burning trousers before running off bare-cheeked with an apparently unharmed accomplice. Victoria state police... Читать дальше...
Sabalenka is the world number one and favourite to win a third title in a row in Melbourne. But the 20-year-old Gauff, ranked three, finished 2024 with a flourish by winning the China Open and the season-ending WTA Tour Finals. She took that form into this season, winning all her singles matches at the United Cup including beating world number two Iga Swiatek in straight sets to lead the United States to glory. Gauff, who faces a potential banana skin against the 2020 Australian Open champion... Читать дальше...
The German is approaching the opening major of the year with his confidence high after winning the Rome and Paris Masters 1000 titles in recent months. Such was his form that he won more matches than anyone bar world number one Sinner last season, propelling him to a career-high ranking. But a Grand Slam has remained elusive for nearly a decade, with runner-up finishes at the 2020 US Open and French Open last year his best efforts so far. "Look, I think everybody knows what I'm chasing. Everybody knows what my goal and my dreams are, right?
Yousafzai was evacuated from the country in 2012 after being shot by the Pakistan Taliban, who were enraged by her activism, and she has returned to the country only a handful of times since. "I am excited to join Muslim leaders from around the world for a critical conference on girls' education," she said Friday in a post on X. "On Sunday, I will speak about protecting rights for all girls to go to school, and why leaders must hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes against Afghan women... Читать дальше...
The death toll from the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area rose to at least ten, the authorities said, even as new fires continued to spring up. US President Joe Biden pledged extra federal funds and resources to deal with “the most... devastating fire in California’s history.”
After surviving the terror of a chaotic wind-driven fire, Norman was at his Altadena house when he saw two suspicious men in the hours before dawn on Thursday. "They were testing doors and looking in windows" of homes that had been evacuated, he told AFP. Norman, a teacher, said a police officer friend told him that looters had been arrested a few blocks away just hours earlier. So he decided to take matters into his own hands. "I did the classic American thing: I went and got my shotgun and I sat out there... Читать дальше...
Swiatek pulled out of the WTA's late-season Asian swing in September citing "personal matters". Only later was it revealed Swiatek had been absent because of a one-month ban for testing positive for a banned heart drug. She denies knowingly doping, saying it came from contaminated non-prescription medication. "Trust me, I was the one that was the most surprised," the Polish world number two told reporters in Melbourne. "I had no idea what's going to happen. The first three weeks, I would say, were pretty chaotic. Читать дальше...
With the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) leading the Austrian government's coalition talks for the first time in the country's history, an estimated 50,000 people rallied in Vienna to urge the conservative People's Party (OeVP) not to join forces with the FPOe.
Average global temperatures surpassed the internationally-agreed 1.5 degrees Celsius in the past two years, an EU monitor said on Friday, with the Earth recording its hottest year ever in 2024 as natural disasters increased in frequency and intensity across the world.
Makhmudzoda's three children and wife were sitting huddled together to share the phone's flashlight in their modest brick home. A shortage of water needed to fuel hydroelectric plants has led to serious power outages in Tajikistan, a poor former Soviet republic nestled in the Central Asian mountains and surrounded by Afghanistan, China, and fellow ex-Soviet states Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The power crisis is only set to worsen, as Central Asia is hard-hit by climate change. Amid chronic shortages... Читать дальше...
Looking in almost any direction from a chopper above the city, AFP reporters witnessed half a dozen blazes -- eruptions of smoldering smoke emerging from the mountainous landscape like newly active volcanoes, and filling up the horizon. Within minutes, a previously quiet airspace above the nascent Kenneth Fire had become a hotbed of frenzied activity, as firefighting officials quickly refocused their significant air resources on this latest blaze. Around half a dozen helicopters buzzed at low altitude... Читать дальше...
Last year was the warmest globally since data recording began in 1850, Europe's climate monitor Copernicus said Friday, confirming what it had been predicting for months. But in Uruguay, nestled between Brazil and Argentina, the 2024 winter was nearly two degrees Celsius (about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) colder than usual, and summer took its time to arrive. The country's average annual temperature was 18.1 degrees Celsius, Mario Bidegain of the Uruguayan Meteorological Institute told AFP. 2017... Читать дальше...
The Belarusian top seed is looking to become the first woman since Martina Hingis (1997-99) to win three consecutive Australian Opens. Sabalenka will join a select group that also includes Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles if she makes it a Melbourne hat-trick in a fortnight's time. "I know that I have the possibility of joining legends by winning three times in a row," Sabalenka told reporters at Melbourne Park. "But I don't want to overthink about that. I just want to do my job. Читать дальше...
The Frenchman beat American qualifier Nishesh Basavareddy 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in their semi-final to become the second-oldest men's singles finalist at any event since the ATP Tour began in 1990. Monfils capitalised on opportunities better than his 19-year-old opponent, converting his only break point of the match late in the second set. He said he was relieved to reach a 35th career final to kick-start his 21st year on tour, hoping it sets him up well for the Australian Open in Melbourne starting Sunday. Читать дальше...
US dignitaries united to pay tribute to Jimmy Carter on Thursday, as all five living US presidents attending the former president's funeral in his home state of Georgia, lauding Carter's humility and commitment to promoting world peace.
US President-elect Donald Trump suffered another legal blow on Thursday, as the Supreme Court rejected Trump's bid to stop sentencing in his hush money conviction, with two conservative judges voting against the incoming president.
Los Angeles authorities urged people to stay inside on Thursday, as health experts worry that the massive wildfires burning around Los Angeles could cause significant health risks due to the "alarming" air quality and skyrocketing quantity of noxious particles.
"We survive by eating other living things. But you can give faeces back to nature so that organisms in the soil can decompose them," the 74-year-old told AFP. "This means you are giving life back. What could be a more sublime act?" "Fundo-shi" ("poop-soil master") Izawa is something of a celebrity in Japan, publishing books, delivering lectures and appearing in a documentary. People flock to his "Poopland" and centuries-old wooden "Fundo-an" ("poop-soil house") in Sakuragawa north of Tokyo, sometimes dozens of them a month. Читать дальше...
Driven by rising life expectancy and dramatically declining birth rates, Iran's demographic makeup has shifted over the years, mirroring trends across much of the world. The National Population Research Institute has found that the country's 86-million-strong population is ageing five times faster than it is growing, according to official news agency IRNA, and the UN projects that by 2050 one-third of Iranians will be 60 or older -- a three-fold increase from 2021. "With this ongoing trend, the... Читать дальше...
The UN Human Rights Committee published decisions in two cases involving 25 refugees and asylum seekers who endured years of arbitrary detention in the island nation. The panel of 18 independent experts found that in both cases Australia violated the rights of migrants, including minors who received insufficient water and healthcare. "A state party cannot escape its human rights responsibility when outsourcing asylum processing to another state," committee member Mahjoub El Haiba said in a statement. Читать дальше...
The Serbian 24-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic made the shock decision to hire Murray in November, just months after the Scot called time on his playing career. In his first comments since then, fellow former number one Murray, who has known Djokovic since their junior playing days, said the call came out of the blue. "I said to him: 'Look, I need to think about it and talk to my family,'" the BBC quoted Murray as saying. "So I spoke to them and after a couple of days I thought that it was a pretty unique opportunity and experience. Читать дальше...
Iran is reeling from a cratering economy and stinging military setbacks across its sphere of influence in the Middle East. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective on Iran's unprecedented challenges at home and abroad, FRANCE 24's François Picard welcomes Dr. Rouzbeh Parsi, Journalist and Head of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.
At least five neighbourhoods in the Los Angeles area have been affected by what authorities are calling the worst wildfire in the city's history, destroying around 2,000 buildings, while 130,000 people have been forced to evacuate as of Thursday.
