Imagine a world where you could sit on the same couch as a friend who lives thousands of miles away, or conjure up a virtual version of your workplace while at the beach. Welcome to the metaverse: a vision of the future that sounds fantastical, but...

In a cottage outside Moscow, Konstantin Kotov goes through a handful of the hundreds of letters he received when he spent more than a year behind bars for violating Russian protest rules. The opposition activist served his sentence in Penal Colony ...

Thousands of migrants are stranded in a Colombian port town as they wait for boats to cross into neighboring Panama on their way to the United States, a state relief agency said. The Gulf of Uraba, on Colombia's northern coast, is one of the main t...

French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that Paris owed "a debt" to French Polynesia over nuclear tests conducted in the South Pacific territory between 1966 and 1996, but stopped short of apologising. "I want truth and transparency," Macron ...

Defending champion Simone Biles has withdrawn from the final of the Olympic individual all-around gymnastics competition due to ongoing concerns over her mental health, USA Gymnastics confirmed on Wednesday. "After further medical evaluation, Simon...

Taiwan's police on Wednesday said they had launched an investigation after local media reported more than 100 LINE messaging app accounts used by officials had been hacked and the company admitted "abnormal activities" had been detected. The hacked...

Leftist Pedro Castillo is to be sworn in as Peru's president Wednesday with a full inbox: tame the coronavirus epidemic, reactivate a flagging economy, and put paid to years of political turmoil. The rural school teacher becomes Peru's fifth presid...

New Zealand Rugby confirmed a deal Wednesday for petrochemical giant Ineos to sponsor the All Blacks, in an agreement slammed by environmental watchdog Greenpeace. Ineos has signed a six-year deal which will put its logo on the shorts of the 15- an...

Derided by purists, evangelised by innovators: "super shoes" are the tools of the trade for today's athletes and will continue to radically change the landscape of track and road running, experts have told AFP. A mass of not only new world records,...

After battling increasingly large and deadly wildfires non-stop for weeks, and with no respite in sight, firefighters in California are admitting they are burnt out. "After a point, you start getting a little screwy, your mental health doesn't do w...

The arrest of a man accused of failing to tell a partner that he had HIV has sparked fresh controversy about a Mexican law that campaigners say is outdated and discriminatory. Prosecutors in the capital drew criticism for releasing images of the ma...

The head of the British pharmaceutical giant GSK, Emma Walmsley, will present the company's quarterly results on Wednesday as criticism mounts over ineffective management and delays in Covid-19 vaccine production. She is one of a small number of wo...

Joey Jordison, the co-founder of Slipknot and one of the most influential metal drummers of his generation, has died at the age of 46, his family announced. "We are heartbroken to share the news that Joey Jordison, prolific drummer, musician and ar...

Indian officials were expected Wednesday to express alarm over Taliban gains in Afghanistan and to press for more support against China in talks with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Blinken, in his first trip to India as America's to...

An electric Ariarne Titmus dethroned Katie Ledecky to become the 200m freestyle champion Wednesday, only for the gutsy American great to bounce back and clinch the first-ever women's Olympic 1500m freestyle title. Australian Titmus now has two Toky...