Not including the latest two, Hamas have so far given back the remains of 15 of the 28 deceased hostages that Hamas had agreed to return as part of the US-brokered truce deal with Israel.

New York, United States -- AI chip juggernaut Nvidia became the world's first $5 trillion company on Wednesday, as investors remain confident that artificial intelligence will deliver a new wave of innovation and growth. The California-based tech giant saw its share price rise by 4.91 percent to $210.90 at the...

San Francisco, United States - Microsoft and OpenAI announced Tuesday a sweeping overhaul of their landmark artificial intelligence (AI) partnership, giving both companies greater independence while maintaining their close collaboration. Microsoft will hold approximately 27 percent of the restructured OpenAI, an investment valued at roughly $135 billion, as the ChatGPT...

San Francisco, United States -- Data from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI suggest that more than a million of the people using its generative AI chatbot have shown interest in suicide. In a blog post published on Monday, the AI company estimated that approximately 0.15 percent of users have "conversations that include explicit...

Lagos, Nigeria -- Nigeria's Dangote oil refinery, already the largest in Africa, aims to become the biggest in the world in three years' time with an expansion doubling its capacity, its owner said on Sunday. "We are more than doubling the barrels... to 1.4 million from 650,000," said Aliko Dangote,...

Paris, France -- France's TotalEnergies said Saturday the consortium it leads to build a $20-billion liquified natural gas project in Mozambique has decided to lift a suspension on the work imposed in 2021 because of violence. TotalEnergies said in a statement the "force majeure" halt to the Mozambique LNG project...

New York, United States -- An unknown local lawmaker just a few months ago, leftist Zohran Mamdani has burst onto New York's political scene and is closing in on becoming the first Muslim mayor of America's most populous city. Since his surprise victory in the Democratic Party primary in June,...

Paris, France -- The ATP announced on Thursday the creation of a new Masters 1000 event which will take place annually in Saudi Arabia from as early as 2028. The new event will be played on hard courts and take place "at the start of the season" in a city...

Dubai, UAE -- Property Finder, the MENA region’s largest property platform, has announced its investment in Stake, a fast-growing digital real estate investment platform. Stake enables users to invest in fractional property ownership and private real estate funds starting from as little as AED 500. The company, which won the...

Geneva, Switzerland -- The rules-based international trade system is in danger, UN chief Antonio Guterres warned Wednesday, amid spiraling debt, heavy tariffs and financial insecurity for emerging nations. Guterres said too many countries were trapped in a debt crisis, spending more money on servicing creditors than funding health and education....

San Francisco, United States - ChatGPT-maker OpenAI on Tuesday announced an "Atlas" search browser, leveraging its artificial intelligence prowess in a direct challenge to Google Chrome. "This is an AI-powered web browser built around ChatGPT," OpenAI chief Sam Altman said in a streamed presentation. OpenAI has ramped up its challenge...

Paris, France -- A Hermes handbag once belonging to Jane Birkin will be auctioned in Abu Dhabi on December 5, following the record-breaking sale of the original for over $10 million, Sotheby's said Tuesday. Nicknamed the "Birkin Voyageur", the estimated value of the late actor's black leather bag hovers between...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will meet US President Donald Trump during a three-day visit to Washington next month, a source close to the government told AFP on Tuesday. The Crown Prince will arrive on November 17 and discuss political, economic and security files...

Deir el-Balah, Palestinian Territories -- The Palestinians trying to rebuild their lives in the ruins of Gaza are short of many things: food, clean water, medicine -- and cash. On Sunday, two bank branches reopened, triggering an eager rush of clients. They were quickly disappointed. "The Bank of Palestine reopened...

Bangkok, Thailand -- Call it the China power paradox: while Beijing leads the world in renewable energy expansion, its coal projects are booming too. As the top emitter of greenhouse gases, China will largely determine whether the world avoids the worst effects of climate change. On the one hand, the...

Washington, United States - US envoy Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump's chief negotiator on the Middle East, has said that he felt "betrayed" when Israel launched a strike targeting Hamas negotiators in Qatar last month. In a CBS interview alongside Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law who worked with Witkoff on the...

Dubai, UAE-- On the day 4 of GITEX GLOBAL 2025, policymakers, cybersecurity leaders, and innovators convened to address the most pressing question of the intelligent age--how to secure a world powered by AI and data. While cybersecurity and resilience dominated the day’s discourse, the show floor remained a convergence of...

Paris, France -- Portugal great Cristiano Ronaldo once again topped the Forbes highest-paid footballers list for the 2025-26 season, as one of three members of the top 10 plying their trade in Saudi Arabia. It is the sixth time in the last decade that Ronaldo has topped the Forbes list...

Washington, United States - Flawed engineering and inadequate testing contributed to the catastrophic implosion of a private submersible during a 2023 expedition to the Titanic wreckage, the US National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday. Its report comes after a US Coast Guard investigation in August outlined a litany of issues...

Stockholm, Sweden -- Music and video streaming giants Spotify and Netflix have penned a deal to bring several video podcasts produced by Spotify to Netflix's platform, the companies announced late Tuesday. Under the deal, 16 video versions of podcasts produced by Spotify Studios and the Ringer -- which was acquired...

Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- Couples from anywhere in the world can now get married using the Abu Dhabi government's app without even setting foot in the emirate, the head of the project told AFP on Tuesday. The idea of online marriage is still in its infancy, with Ukraine launching...

DUBAI, UAE – A powerful confluence of more than 500 experts and 150 cybersecurity leaders has converged in Dubai for the World Economic Forum's inaugural joint session of the Annual Meetings of the Global Future Councils and Cybersecurity. The crucial, three-day summit, running from October 14 to 16, 2025, is...

Washington, United States - A winner of this year’s Nobel prize in economics warned Monday that artificial intelligence offers "amazing possibilities" but should be regulated because of its job-destroying potential. The remarks from Canadian Peter Howitt, professor emeritus at Brown University in the United States, came amid growing concerns about...

Paris, France -- Qatar has revealed itself as the owner of a famous self-portrait by French realist master Gustave Courbet and will loan the painting to Paris's Musee d'Orsay for five years, museum officials said on Monday. "The Desperate Man" depicts Courbet with a wild-eyed stare looking out of the...

Dubai, UAE – Expand North Star by GITEX GLOBAL is underway in the UAE as the world’s largest startup and investor connector event launched its landmark 10th anniversary on Sunday alongside thousands of local and international visitors. Organized by Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), and hosted by the Dubai Chamber...

Stockholm, Sweden - The Nobel economics prize wraps up the 2025 season when it is announced on Monday, as experts say this year's prize could honour research on artificial intelligence or inequality. The winner or winners of the prestigious prize will be announced at 11:45 am (0945 GMT). Last year...

Beijing, China -- China accused the United States of "double standards" on Sunday, after President Donald Trump threatened an additional 100 percent tariff on the world's second-largest economy. Trump reignited his trade war with China on Friday, accusing Beijing of imposing "extraordinarily aggressive" new export curbs relating to rare earths....

Doha, Qatar -- The United Arab Emirates moved to within a match of their second World Cup appearance with a comeback 2-1 victory against Oman in Doha on Saturday. The Emiratis, who last appeared at a World Cup in 1990, were made to work for their win, when late goals...

Washington, United States - US President Donald Trump has undeniably scored a diplomatic victory by helping to broker a truce for Gaza, but the path to the lasting peace he says he wants for the Middle East is littered with obstacles. And it remains to be seen whether the 79-year-old...

Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- Abu Dhabi, the capital of leading oil producer the United Arab Emirates, said Friday it had awarded a contract for a mega solar power plant to French group Engie in partnership with a local firm. The 1.5-gigawatt Khazna Solar PV plant, expected to have nearly...

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates -- The world's top conservation body kicked off its world congress Thursday in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi, where it will unveil its updated "red list" of threatened species a day later. Hundreds of participants were meeting at the venue where the International Union for...

Stockholm, Sweden -- The Nobel Prize for Literature was on Thursday awarded to Laszlo Krasznahorkai considered by many as Hungary's most important living author, whose works explore themes of postmodern dystopia and melancholy. The Swedish Academy honored him "for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic...

New York, United States - Gold topped $4,000 an ounce for the first time Wednesday as investors flocked to the safe haven metal on worries over the US government shutdown, France's political crisis and other global economic uncertainties. US and European stock markets rose while Asian equities fell as investors...

Abu Dhabi, UAE – G42, the Abu Dhabi-based technology group, Wednesday announced its participation at GITEX Global 2025 with the launch of the G42 District, a new experience space centered on the company’s vision for AI Native Societies--communities where intelligence is embedded across public services, national infrastructure, and daily life....

Ajman, UAE -- Real estate transactions in Ajman reached AED 2.97 billion in September, achieving a remarkable growth of 53 percent compared to the same period in 2024, according to real estate report issued by the Department of Land and Real Estate Regulation. Omar bin Omair Al Muhairi, Director-General of...

Dubai, UAE: With capabilities of AI advancing every year, its potential to address challenges once thought unsolvable is rapidly expanding, from the possibility of curing genetic diseases to transforming urban mobility or enabling green data centers. With the global AI market set to reach $4.8 trillion by 2033 (UNCTAD), the...

San Francisco, United States - OpenAI on Monday unveiled a new feature for ChatGPT, the leading generative AI model with 800 million weekly users, enabling it to interact with everyday apps like Spotify and Booking.com. Chief Executive Sam Altman announced the new tool to a crowd of enthusiastic developers gathered...

Cairo, Egypt - A limestone tablet dating back more than 4,000 years has disappeared from Egypt's Saqqara necropolis, authorities said Monday, weeks after a gold bracelet was stolen from the national museum. In a statement, the antiquities ministry announced "the disappearance of an ancient tablet from the tomb of Khenti...

New York, United States -- OpenAI signed a multi-year partnership Monday with chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices as the ChatGPT-maker continues an investment spree to secure massive amounts of computing power for rolling out generative artificial intelligence. The companies announced the plan to develop AI data centers that the chipmaker said...

Paris, France -- The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded on Monday to three scientists for discovering how a particular kind of cell can stop the body's immune system from attacking itself. The discovery of these "regulatory T-cells" has raised hopes of finding new ways to fight autoimmune diseases and...

Beijing, China - China's push to develop top-end artificial intelligence microchips is gaining momentum, but analysts say it will struggle to match the technical might of US powerhouse Nvidia within the current decade. Ramping up its chip industry is a way for Beijing to beat restrictions imposed by Washington on...

Istanbul, Turkey - Turkish authorities have banned a Robbie Williams concert scheduled for October 7 in Istanbul over "safety concerns" following several calls for protest, a source from the city governor's office told AFP Sunday. The concert would have occurred on the anniversary of the devastating Hamas-led attacks in Israel...

Hanoi, Vietnam -- Vietnam recorded economic growth of 8.2 percent in the third quarter, among the highest increases in more than a decade, the government said Sunday, despite fresh US tariffs taking effect. Finance Minister Nguyen Van Thang said the figure -- excluding the surge in 2022 driven by a...

Tokyo, Japan -- Bitcoin reached a new record high on Sunday, rising above the $125,000 mark. The cryptocurrency reached $125,689, shooting above its previous August record of around $124,500. Bitcoin has enjoyed a strong upward momentum with investors cautious about the US government shutdown. Gains in US shares have also...

Damascus, Syria -- Syria will select members of its first post-Assad parliament on Sunday in a process criticized as undemocratic, with a third of the members appointed by interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. The assembly's formation is set to consolidate the power of Sharaa, whose Islamist forces led a coalition that...

Turin, Italy - Artificial intelligence technology is in an "industrial bubble," Amazon founder Jeff Bezos told a tech conference in Italy on Friday, but the benefits to society will be "immense". "Investors don't usually give a team of six people a couple billion dollars with no product... and that's happening...

Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- The Carrefour name has disappeared from storefronts in some Arab countries, with pro-Palestinian shoppers and activists hailing the shift as a victory for their boycott of brands perceived as being linked to Israel. The French multinational has long been in the crosshairs of Palestinian supporters, who...

New York, United States - Swifties, the wait is nearly over. Taylor Swift's hotly anticipated "The Life of a Showgirl" drops at 12:01 am Eastern time Friday (0401 GMT), accompanied by a swirl of public release parties and plenty of fans in the music superstar's chosen color this time around:...

If confirmed, OpenAI workers' sale of a reported $6.6 billion in shares to investors would make the company the world's most valuable startup, overtaking Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX -- valued at around $400 billion.

Sydney, Australia - The makers of over a dozen suncreams have halted sales in Australia after a consumer advocacy group analysis found many of them did not provide the sun protection factor their makers claimed. Long, hot days in the sun are a fixture of daily life in Australia, famous...