AFP news

Asian markets mostly fell and oil prices rallied Wednesday on fears that the Israel-Hamas conflict could spill over into a regional war after a blast at a Gaza hospital dealt a blow to President Joe Biden's diplomatic drive.

An estimated 10 percent of the dolphins in a picturesque lake in the Brazilian Amazon were killed in a week as a record drought and searing temperatures devastate the region, researchers said Tuesday.

Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn and US hardware leader Nvidia said Wednesday they would team up to create "AI factories", powerful data processing centres that would drive the manufacturing of next-generation products such as electric cars.

Qatar has agreed to supply British firm Shell with natural gas for 27 years, the Gulf emirate's state-owned energy company announced on Wednesday.

British inflation remained elevated in September, official data showed Wednesday, prolonging a cost-of-living crisis and stoking fear that UK interest rates could stay higher for longer.

The social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, said Tuesday it has started charging new users in New Zealand and the Philippines for basic features such as posting messages in a trial aimed at reducing spam.

Gazans combed through the debris of the devastated hospital, collecting the bodies of the dead in the battered enclave Wednesday, hours after a strike killed hundreds sheltering at the facility.

The US House of Representatives entered a third week of paralysis Monday as Republicans struggled to unite behind a leader to end a bitter civil war that has stalled their domestic agenda and thwarted action on the Israel crisis.

Auto giant Ford's executive chairman on Monday urged workers to end their month-long strike, warning a prolonged stoppage could have a major economic impact.

Brussels police on Tuesday shot and fatally wounded an attacker accused of gunning down two Swedish football fans in what Belgium's prime minister condemned as an act of "terrorist madness".

Venezuela's government and opposition said Monday they will restart talks seeking to end the country's political and economic crisis, after a nearly year-long suspension.

The United States' ambassador to India believes his compatriots will come to share his joy in the "unabashed fun" of Twenty20 cricket when the format features at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Sales of smartphones continued to shrink globally in the recently-ended quarter as consumers watched spending, market tracker Counterpoint reported on Monday.

Ten years after toasting a budding friendship with vodka and cake, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin will meet again in Beijing on Wednesday seeking to further deepen the "no-limits" partnership between their two countries.

The man who killed a French schoolteacher last week said he was acting for the Islamic State (IS) group, in a video recorded before the attack, a source close to the case said Tuesday.

Donald Trump was expected to attend his New York civil fraud trial when it reconvenes on Tuesday, a day after the former US president was slapped with a partial gag order in a separate criminal case.

Asian markets mostly rose Tuesday and oil was subdued as Joe Biden prepared for a trip to the Middle East aimed at preventing the Israel-Hamas conflict spilling over into a regional conflagration.

The EU will seek a global phase-out of fossil fuels and for their use to reach a peak in this decade, according to the member states' common position adopted unanimously late Monday.

Apple chief Tim Cook made a surprise visit to China this week, greeting gamers in the southwestern city of Chengdu as his company faces slumping phone sales in its biggest market.

The Israel-Hamas war is set to overshadow the Frankfurt Book Fair this week after the postponement of a Palestinian author's award ceremony sparked condemnation from top writers and the withdrawal of several Arab groups.

China's landmark Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has thousands of infrastructure projects in every corner of the globe, generating a staggering $2 trillion in contracts while courting international controversy.

Chinese internet giant Baidu unveiled the newest version of its AI chatbot ERNIE on Tuesday, claiming it rivals the capabilities of OpenAI's latest ChatGPT. Baidu led Chinese tech firms in rolling out generative artificial intelligence apps, which are trained on vast amounts of data and interactions with users to answer questions, even complex ones, in human-like language.

Rolls-Royce, the British manufacturer of aircraft engines, said Tuesday it plans to axe up to 2,500 jobs worldwide, or about six percent of its staff, to further slash costs.

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake killed two people in western Afghanistan Sunday, with damaged prisons evacuated and residents fleeing a region where tremors have claimed at least 1,000 lives this past week.

The clock is ticking, the debts are racking up but the EU still remains far from a deal on new budget rules.

US pharmacy chain Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy Sunday, the company said, after suffering declining sales and legal threats over its alleged involvement in the opioid crisis.

In the southern Gaza Strip, scores of people line up at bathrooms, many of them not having showered for days after Israel cut off water, electricity and food following Hamas's deadly assault.

At the age of 35, Ecuador's president-elect Daniel Noboa is fulfilling the political dreams of his banana tycoon father, who failed five times to win the presidency.

China's economy is expected to have seen moderate growth in the third quarter, according to an AFP survey ahead of data this week, while experts warn that there were still significant hurdles for its recovery.