MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia on Thursday accused Ukraine and the United States of turning a deaf ear to its concerns after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a historic visit to Washington. Zelensky enjoyed a hero's welcome on a lightning trip on Wednesday in which US President Joe Biden committed nearly $1.8 billion in military supplies including, for the first time, the Patriot missile defence system. "We can say with regret that so far neither President Biden nor President Zelensk

CHONGQING, China (AFP) - Elderly patients lined the wards of hospitals in major cities in China Thursday as the country battled a wave of COVID cases. The virus is surging across China in an outbreak authorities say is impossible to track after the end of mandatory mass testing. Attached to a breathing tube under a pile of blankets, an old man racked with COVID-19 lay groaning on a stretcher in the emergency department of a hospital in central China Thursday. A paramedic at Chongqing Medical Uni

      LONDON -- Film-maker Steven Spielberg has said he truly regrets the "decimation of the shark population" following the success of his 1975 film "Jaws".    Spielberg's Oscar-winning thriller told the story of a man-eating great white shark that attacked a US seaside town, prompting a rise in sports fishing across America.    "I truly and to this day regret the decimation of the shark population because of the book and

SAN FRANCISCO -- Twitter suspended Thursday accounts of more than a half-dozen journalists who had been writing about the company and its new owner Elon Musk. Silencing journalists at Twitter while claiming to be a free speech champion is the latest controversy provoked by Musk since he took over the company, which has seen staffing gutted and advertisers exit. Some of the journalists had been tweeting about Twitter shutting down an @ElonJet account that tracked flights of billionaire Musk

DOHA, Qatar -- France will face Argentina and Kylian Mbappe will do battle with Lionel Messi in a heavyweight World Cup final after the French beat underdogs Morocco 2-0 on Wednesday. Holders France stayed on course to become the first team in 60 years to successfully defend the trophy thanks to goals from Theo Hernandez and Randal Kolo Muani at Al Bayt Stadium. Morocco, the first African side ever to reach a World Cup semifinal, battled as they have done throughout the tournament and were roare

DOHA, Qatar -- Defending champion France edged past England 2-1 on Saturday as Harry Kane missed a late penalty in the World Cup quarterfinals, after Morocco became the first African team ever to reach the last four. France will face the surprising North Africans in a semifinal on Wednesday, earning their place when Olivier Giroud's header proved the difference at Al Bayt Stadium. In a tense match, Aurelien Tchouameni's strike opened the scoring with 17 minutes gone, but Kane brought England lev

South Korea’s top financial watchdog on Tuesday launched an on-site inspection of NHN’s mobile payment service Payco after news that its signature key was leaked broke the day before. This key is a tool that app developers use when registering and distributing their apps on app stores. It certifies that an app is developed by a certified company—in this case, Payco. Apps that used this signature key are considered safe and not detected as malicious by security programs. Back

BEIJING (AFP) -- Former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin died Wednesday at the age of 96, state media reported, hailing him as a great communist revolutionary who helped quell the 1989 pro-democracy protests. Jiang took power in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, in which the military used deadly force to end the uprising, and led China towards its emergence as a global economic powerhouse. The major bodies of China's ruling Communist Party (CCP) bodies announced his death through a

WASHINGTON -- Twitter's owner Elon Musk has pledged the platform will not become a "hellscape," but experts fear a staff exodus following mass layoffs may have devastated its ability to combat misinformation, impersonation and data theft. Twitter devolved into what campaigners described as a cesspit of falsehoods and hate speech after recent layoffs cut half the company's 7,500 staff and fake accounts proliferated following its botched rollout of a paid verification system. Further thr

LONDON -- Daniel Craig and co-stars of "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" lauded Angela Lansbury on Sunday as the whodunit sequel in which the late actress makes a cameo closed the London Film Festival. Craig said 96-year-old Lansbury -- who died Tuesday, after becoming a household name through playing a writer-detective in "Murder, She Wrote" -- had been "in my life all my life." "I mean, my favorite film was 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks'," said t

London (AFP) – Son Heung-min struck twice as Tottenham bolstered their bid to reach the Champions League last 16 with a 3-2 win against Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday.   Antonio Conte's side fell behind to Daichi Kamada's early strike at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. But Son equalised with a composed finish and Harry Kane converted a penalty as the England captain bagged his first Champions League goal this season. Son's blistering volley put Tottenham in complete control towards t

MARSEILLE -- A festival dedicated to James Joyce's novel "Ulysses" is touring 18 European cities, with artists and writers linking the work to contemporary issues such as immigration. "Ulysses," published in 1922, counts among the 20th century's key novels, and its centenary has already sparked much celebration in Joyce's native Ireland. But Liam Browne, co-artistic curator of "Ulysses European Odyssey," said the tour is to go beyond the kind of liter

MYKOLAIVKA, Ukraine -- Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that Lyman, a key town located in one of four Ukrainian regions annexed by Russia, had been "cleared" of Moscow's troops. The latest development in Ukraine's weeks-long counter-offensive against Moscow's invasion comes as Russia pushed forward with finalising the annexation of captured Ukrainian territories despite condemnation from Kyiv and the West. The recapture of Lyman -- which Moscow's forces pummelled for

LONDON -- Queen Elizabeth II will be laid to rest on Monday, after a state funeral attended by leaders from around the world and a historic last ceremonial journey through the packed streets of London. Huge crowds gathered in near silence to watch as the queen's flag-draped coffin, topped with the Imperial State Crown, her orb and sceptre, was carried slowly to a gun carriage from parliament's Westminster Hall where it had lain in state since Wednesday. To the tune of pipes and drums, the gun