Washington, United States - US President Donald Trump sued media magnate Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal for at least $10 billion Friday over publication of a bombshell article on his friendship with the infamous alleged sex trafficker of underage girls, Jeffrey Epstein. The defamation lawsuit, filed in federal...

Ajman, UAE -- The real estate sector in the Emirate of Ajman recorded real estate transactions worth AED 12.4 billion ($3.37 billion), marking a record growth of 37 percent compared to the same period last year. Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Department of Land and Real...

San Francisco, United States -- US aviation giant Boeing on Thursday signed a contract worth billions of dollars to sell 12 787 Dreamliners, with options for six more, to Gulf Air, as the Bahrain-based carrier looks to expand its global network. The order comes one month after an Air India...

Mumbai, India - Air India's inspection of the locking feature on the fuel control switches of its existing Boeing 787 aircraft found no issues, an internal communication circulated within the airline said. The switches have come under scrutiny following last month's crash of an Air India jet, which killed 260 people,...

Washington, United States - Beverage giant Coca-Cola has agreed to use real cane sugar in its US production, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday on social media. The company currently uses high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in its domestic beverages -- a sweetener that has long drawn criticism from Health Secretary Robert...

Washington, United States - After a Kentucky teenager died by suicide this year, his parents discovered he had received threatening texts demanding $3,000 to suppress an AI-generated nude image of him. The tragedy underscores how so-called sextortion scams targeting children are growing around the world, particularly with the rapid proliferation...

Washington, United States - US President Donald Trump heads to Pennsylvania on Tuesday to announce energy and infrastructure deals intended to meet big tech's soaring demand for electricity needed to fuel the AI boom. Trump will make the announcement at the inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia retained the top spot across the Middle East and North Africa region in terms of Venture Capital (VC) funding in the first half of 2025, according to the “H1 2025 MENA Venture Investment Report”. A total of $860 million was deployed during the period, surpassing...

Cairo, Egypt - In the shadow of the Grand Egyptian Museum, souvenir shop owner Mona has been readying for the tourist boom she hoped the long-awaited opening would bring -- now once again out of reach. "I had bet everything on this opening," she told AFP from her shop, just...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Diriyah Company has announced the award of a major new $600 million (SAR2.249 billion) contract for construction work on the high-profile Diriyah Square retail precinct to Salini Saudi Arabia, a subsidiary of the Webuild Group. Diriyah Square is located at the heart of Diriyah, the City...

Budapest, Hungary -- Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air said Monday that it would end its Abu Dhabi operations, which have struggled to turn a profit in the conflict-hit region. The airline will exit its  Abu Dhabi hub starting from September. The seventh biggest European airlines in terms of daily flights...

Damascus, Syria -- Syria signed a $800 million deal with UAE-based company DP World on Sunday to develop the port of Tartus, state media reported, as the new authorities continue their efforts to support post-war reconstruction. Following the toppling of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, the new Islamist...

Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- Police in Dubai said three individuals accused of a litany of crimes, including drugs and human trafficking, were extradited to Belgium, authorities said on Sunday. Officials said the three suspects had been wanted in Belgium in connection with cases of "cross-border organized crime". In December,...

New Delhi, India - Fuel control switches to the engines of an Air India flight that crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 260 people, were moved from the "run" to the "cutoff" position moments before impact, a preliminary investigation report said early Saturday. The report, issued by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation...

Berlin, Germany - Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Special Envoy to the Federal Republic of Germany, and Katrin Eder, German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, witnessed the official launch of the UAE-Germany Business Council (GUBC) during a high-level ceremony...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia continues to cement its position as a global hub for gaming, esports, and entertainment by hosting the largest-ever edition of the Esports World Cup (EWC), setting new records and attracting unprecedented international participation. The event marks a historic milestone in the esports industry, underscoring...

Paris, France - A rebooted Superman is flying into cinemas around the world this week, with critics mostly positive about the latest version of the caped hero who has been updated for the modern world. Director and screenwriter James Gunn said he set out to make the benevolent world-saver "a...

Tirabin al-Sana in Israel's Negev desert is the home of the Tirabin (also spelled Tarabin) Bedouin tribe, who signed a contract with an Israeli solar energy company to build the installation

New Delhi, India -- The Indian Premier League's business value has been estimated at $18.5 billion with reigning champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru its wealthiest franchise, according to a report by an investment bank. The world's richest cricket tournament has been a top revenue earner for the Board of Control for...

Geneva, Switzerland - The purchase of physical assets was eclipsed last year by a surge in investment in intangible items like software, data and AI, the UN said Wednesday, describing a "fundamental shift in how economies grow and compete". Investment in intellectual property-backed assets grew three times faster in 2024...

Paris, France - Europe and the Mediterranean basin has been hit by a long-lasting drought covering over 45 percent of the region since mid-March, according to AFP analysis of European Drought Observatory (EDO) data made available on Tuesday. It is the first time since data collection began in 2012 that...

Paris, France -- The potential of artificial intelligence is immense -- but its equally vast energy consumption needs curbing, with asking shorter questions one way to achieve, said a UNESCO study unveiled Tuesday. A combination of shorter queries and using more specific models and could cut AI energy consumption by...

Dubai, UAE -- Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has announced the successful completion of a landmark US$1 billion syndicated term-finance facility for the Government of Pakistan, arranged in collaboration with a consortium of regional and international financial institutions. The five-year facility is an innovative transaction, partially guaranteed by a Policy-Based Guarantee...

Algiers, Algeria - Algeria's state-run hydrocarbon company Sonatrach and the Italian energy company Eni on Monday signed a production sharing contract worth $1.35 billion to explore and develop hydrocarbons in southeastern Algeria, according to a statement. The 30-year contract covers the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in the Zemoul El...

Jerusalem, Undefined - The Israeli army announced Sunday that it would begin sending draft notices to 54,000 ultra-Orthodox Jewish men who were previously exempt from military service, a move that threatens to split the governing coalition. "The army will begin this week issuing summons to complete the enlistment process for...

Washington, United States -- US tariffs will kick in on August 1 if trading partners from Taiwan to the European Union do not strike deals with Washington, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday. The rates will "boomerang back" to the sometimes very high levels which President Donald Trump had announced...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil -- BRICS leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro from Sunday are expected to decry US President Donald Trump's "indiscriminate" trade tariffs, saying they are illegal and risk hurting the global economy. Emerging nations, which represent about half the world's population and 40 percent of global economic...

Los Banos, United States -- Oblivious to the punishing midday heat, a wheeled robot powered by the sun and infused with artificial intelligence carefully combs a cotton field in California, plucking out weeds. As farms across the United States face a shortage of laborers and weeds grow resistant to herbicides,...

Istanbul, Turkey - Turkey's competition authority has launched an investigation into Spotify for anti-competitive practices as a deputy minister demanded legal action over "provocative" playlists allegedly offensive to the president's wife and disrespectful of Islam. In a statement released on Friday, the competition authority said it had opened an investigation...

Sinjil, Palestinian Territories - Dozens of Israeli settlers and Palestinians clashed Friday in the occupied West Bank village of Sinjil, where a march against recent settler attacks on nearby farmland was due to take place. AFP journalists saw local residents and activists begin their march before locals reported that settlers...

Jerusalem, Undefined -- Israel's opposition leader said Friday he met with the United Arab Emirates foreign minister in Abu Dhabi and discussed efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza. The UAE normalized ties with Israel in 2020 as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords. Abu Dhabi also has close ties with...

Cairo, Egypt -- Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Yamahi, President of the Arab Parliament, has strongly condemned and rejected the dangerous statements issued by Israeli officials, most recently the statements made by the Israeli Minister of Justice, in which he explicitly called for the annexation of the West Bank and the...

Excited astronomers are still refining their calculations, but the object appears to be zooming at a speed up to 60 kilometres (37 miles) a second, which would mean it is not bound by the Sun's orbit, unlike comets, which all originate from within the Solar System.

San Francisco, United States -- Microsoft on Wednesday said it was slashing a little less than four percent of its global workforce as it seeks to cut layers of middle management and leverage new technologies. "We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company and teams for...

Paris, France -- When Jocelyn Leitzinger had her university students write about times in their lives they had witnessed discrimination, she noticed that a woman named Sally was the victim in many of the stories. "It was very clear that ChatGPT had decided this is a common woman's name," said...

Seville, Spain -- Countries including France, Kenya, Barbados and Spain on Monday launched a coalition to push for taxes on wealthy air passengers to help poorer nations respond to climate change, the French presidency said. The coalition, which also brings together Somalia, Benin, Sierra Leone and Antigua and Barbuda, said...

Rome, Italy -- Next season's Italian Super Cup will be played for the fourth time in Saudi Arabia but in December instead of January, the president of the Italian League announced on Tuesday. "The dates for the Super Cup are December 18 and 19 for the semi-finals, and the 22...

New York, United States - The Trump administration on Monday accused Harvard of violating the civil rights of its Jewish and Israeli students and threatened to cut off all federal funding if the university does not take urgent action. Harvard has been at the forefront of Donald Trump's campaign against...

New York, United States - Mark Zuckerberg and Meta are spending billions of dollars for top talent to make up ground in the generative artificial intelligence race, sparking doubt about the wisdom of the spree. OpenAI boss Sam Altman recently lamented that Meta has offered $100 million bonuses to engineers...

Miami, United States -- The main appeal of the Club World Cup so far has been the chance to see South American and African clubs and their fans offer a reminder that football thrives outside of Europe too. But as the tournament moves towards the business end, FIFA's new competition...

Dubai, UAE -- A planned trade corridor linking the landlocked Sahel to the Atlantic is at the heart of an ambitious Moroccan project to tackle regional instability and consolidate its grip on disputed Western Sahara. The "Atlantic Initiative" promises ocean access to Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger through a new...

Beijing, China -- Chinese electric vehicle maker Xiaomi received almost 300,000 pre-orders within an hour for its first sport utility vehicles in what the company said was a "miraculous" moment for the industry. Lei Jun, founder and CEO of the electronics-turned-car company, said he was astonished by the reaction from...

Washington, United States -- Conflicts and related fatalities have more than tripled since the early 2000s, fueling extreme poverty, the World Bank said Friday. Economies in fragile and conflict-affected regions have become "the epicenter of global poverty and food insecurity, a situation increasingly shaped by the frequency and intensity of...

London, United Kingdom - The BBC, Britain's public broadcaster that is struggling with strained finances, on Thursday launched a paid subscription service to its website in the United States to help fund its journalism. For $49.99 a year, or $8.99 a month, users will have "unlimited access" to the BBC's...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Cristiano Ronaldo inked a two-year extension with Saudi Arabia's Al Nassr, the club announced Thursday, following months of speculation over which team he would sign for next season. "Cristiano Ronaldo is staying at @AlNassrFC until 2027," the club wrote in a post on X. Minutes before the...

Paris, France -- A gardening game created by a teenager on online platform Roblox has attracted a record 21 million simultaneous players, a figure rarely seen in the industry. "You could quite easily never have heard of Grow a Garden... and yet it is by some measures the biggest video...

Beirut, Lebanon -- The World Bank announced on Wednesday it had approved $250 million to support Lebanon's post-war reconstruction and a $146 million grant to rehabilitate neighboring Syria's electricity sector. Lebanon is reeling from last year's devastating war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, while Syria faces massive needs after Islamist-led...

The Hague, Netherlands - NATO leaders are set to sign off Wednesday at their Hague summit on a defence spending pledge to satisfy US President Donald Trump's demand for a headline figure of five percent of GDP. Here are the details of what NATO is signing up to: Five percent?...

British Airways cancelled flights between London's Heathrow Airport and Dubai and Doha on Sunday following the US strikes on Iran. Air France halted flights to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates until at least Tuesday inclusive, the airline said.

New York, United States -- Tesla is expected to begin offering robotaxi service Sunday in Austin, an initial step that Elon Musk's backers believe could lead to the company's next growth wave. The launch -- which comes as Musk refocuses on his business ventures following a controversial stint in Donald...