BUSINESS

Russian leader Vladimir Putin was in the northeastern city of Harbin on Friday, the final day of a visit aiming to promote crucial trade with China and win greater support for his war effort in Ukraine.

Taiwan's president-elect Lai Ching-te, a staunch defender of the island's democracy, will be sworn into office Monday as Beijing ratchets up military and diplomatic pressure on Taipei.

The incoming Taiwanese president's best strategy to stop China from seizing the self-ruled island will likely be to bolster an agile defensive "porcupine" approach by spending more on missiles and drones.

Asian markets diverged Friday as hopes for US interest rate cuts played up against profit-taking from another strong week and warnings from Federal Reserve officials that borrowing costs should be kept elevated for now.

The Dominican Republic, a top tourist destination in the Caribbean, stands in stark contrast to its violence-plagued, unstable neighbor Haiti.

A Turkish court on Thursday sentenced the former head of a pro-Kurdish party to 42 years in prison for his alleged role in deadly 2014 protests that erupted as Islamic State group jihadists overran the Syrian town of Kobane.

Chad's junta leader General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno won the African nation's May 6 presidential election with 61 percent of the vote, according to final results announced Thursday.

Languishing behind bars since 2016, Selahattin Demirtas has waged a relentless battle against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while profoundly expanding the national appeal of his leftist pro-Kurdish party.

Walmart reported higher profits Thursday behind solid gains at US stores as the retail giant pointed to increased purchases by wealthier shoppers and improving e-commerce sales.

Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner has signed a lease for a building project at the site of the former Yugoslav army headquarters in Belgrade that was bombed in US-led NATO strikes in 1999.

France accused Azerbaijan on Thursday of "interference" in the politics of its Pacific territory of New Caledonia, which has seen deadly riots in recent days.

Baidu is a key player in China's tech industry, which once charted years of ballooning growth until Beijing imposed a regulatory crackdown on the sector starting in 2020.

The probe is under a mammoth law known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) that forces the world's largest tech firms to do more to protect European users online and clamp down on illegal content.

Easyjet said Thursday that chief executive Johan Lundgren would step down at the start of 2025 after seven years piloting the no-frills airline, notably through Covid turbulence.

European consumer groups on Thursday accused Chinese shopping app Temu of using "manipulative techniques" to force users to spend more and other violations of a landmark EU tech law.

Asian equities rallied Thursday after US data showed inflation cooled last month, fuelling speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates twice this year.

Like hundreds of other pro-Turkish fighters, Omar left northern Syria for mineral-rich Niger last year, joining Syrian mercenaries sent to the West African nation by a private Turkish military company.

A motorway attack that claimed the lives of two prison officers in France this week marks a new level of violence by the latest generation of drug traffickers, police officers and experts told AFP. On Tuesday, gunmen attacked a prison van at a motorway toll in northern France, killing two prison officers and freeing a convict linked to gangland drug killings.

A hole-in-the-wall taqueria is among the first restaurants in Mexico to be awarded a star by the prestigious Michelin Guide -- an accomplishment its owner credits to "love and effort."

Since announcing plans in late March to replace CEO Dave Calhoun at the end of 2024, Boeing's problems have seemingly gone from bad to worse, complicating an already daunting executive search.

Japan's economy suffered a worse-than-expected contraction in the first quarter, official data showed Thursday, in further bad news for its unpopular government.

Google's use of artificial intelligence to sum up answers to search queries has publishers wondering if traffic to their websites will wither.

A suspect detained for shooting Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico is a 71-year-old writer from the centre of the European nation, the interior minister said Wednesday, after media identified the man.

"Furiosa", the latest frenetically paced "Mad Max" action movie, zoomed into pole position among this year's blockbusters with a raucous world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday.

The Department of Justice said that Boeing can be prosecuted for violating a 2021 criminal settlement over the certification of the 737 MAX. The DOJ determination, filed in US court in Texas on Tuesday, comes on the heels of a near-catastrophic Alaska Airlines flight in January that made an emergency landing after a panel on the fuselage blew out.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico suffered life-threatening injuries when he was shot multiple times on Wednesday.

Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico was on Wednesday shot multiple times and rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries after a cabinet meeting, officials said, in an attack condemned by EU chiefs.

Switzerland's Federal Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced Gambian ex-interior minister Ousman Sonko to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity committed under the regime of former dictator Yahya Jammeh.

Ireland is certain to recognise Palestinian statehood by the end of May, the country's Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said on Wednesday, without specifying a date.