AFP news

Microsoft is cutting about 650 more positions from its gaming unit as it continues to tighten its belt following the blockbuster buyout of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard.

Apple on Thursday got a green light from US regulators to add a feature that would let upcoming AirPods Pro ear pieces be used as hearing aids, potentially disrupting that market.

ChatGPT creator OpenAI on Thursday released a new series of artificial intelligence models designed to spend more time thinking -- in hopes that generative AI chatbots provide more accurate and beneficial responses.

The leaders of Britain and the United States meet Friday in Washington on whether to let Kyiv fire Western-provided long-range missiles into Russia, an option that has sent tensions soaring with Moscow.

The Japanese finance ministry on Friday designated the parent company of 7-Eleven a "core" industry, a move that could make a takeover by Canadian rival Couche-Tard more difficult.

In an industrial underground space in central London, models in contrasting period dresses and playful streetwear strutted down a brightly lit London Fashion Week (LFW) runway.

Mammals that can breathe through their backsides, homing pigeons that can guide missiles and sober worms that outpace drunk ones: these are some of the strange scientific discoveries that won this year's Ig Nobels, the quirky alternative to the Nobel prizes.

China said Friday it would gradually raise its statutory retirement age, as the country grapples with a looming demographic crisis and an ageing population.

Asian markets mostly rose Friday while the yen sat around nine-month highs and gold hit a record after another healthy day on Wall Street as investors gear up for an expected US interest rate cut next week.

Tech mogul Elon Musk has likened the Australian government to "fascists", attacking proposed laws that would fine social media giants for failing to stem the spread of misinformation.

Not long after Russian dissident Ilya Yashin was freed in a major prisoner swap with the West, he received a hero's welcome in Berlin, a growing centre for exiled Russian activists.

Pope Francis wrapped up an arduous 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Friday, defying health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore.

Sudan's priceless archaeological heritage is being stripped from museums, with looters loading statuettes and fragments of ancient palaces onto lorries, smuggling them out of the war-torn country, and selling them online.

"Shogun" is tipped to become the first ever non-English-language winner of the Emmy for best drama -- the most prestigious prize at the small-screen equivalent of the Oscars -- at a glitzy ceremony on Sunday.

For Pennsylvania farmer George Wherry, 85, fracking for natural gas under his otherwise bucolic fields means greater economic "freedom" -- one of the many reasons he'll be voting for Donald Trump in November.

Donald Trump said Thursday he would not take part in another debate with Kamala Harris, as the White House rivals headed back to battleground states that are set to decide a nail-bitingly close US presidential election.

A pioneering private crew made history Thursday by becoming the first civilians to perform spacewalks, as NASA hailed "a giant leap forward" for the commercial space industry.

European consumer groups on Thursday accused the world's biggest video game companies of "purposefully tricking" consumers, including children, to push them to spend more on in-game purchases.

An Irish regulator helping to police European Union data privacy launched an investigation Thursday into Google's artificial intelligence development.

Millions of people across Southeast Asia struggled Thursday with flooded homes, power cuts and wrecked infrastructure after Typhoon Yagi swept through the region, as the death toll passed 200.

With inflation slowing and the economic outlook darkening, the European Central Bank is expected to cut interest rates again Thursday but is unlikely to give much away about its next moves.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday meets Poland's leaders to forge common cause on Ukraine as upcoming US elections and Russian attacks raise new jitters.

Major Japanese and American business groups have urged US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen not to succumb to political pressure when reviewing Nippon Steel's proposed acquisition of United States Steel.

Peru's former president Alberto Fujimori, who ruled his country with an iron fist and then spent 16 years in prison for crimes against humanity, died on Wednesday at age 86 in the capital Lima.

Prices for bread have jumped so much over the last few years that Russian pensioner Oleg Ivanovich sometimes has to go without.

Taylor Swift on Wednesday repeated her call for fans to register to vote in the US presidential election as she accepted MTV's top Video Music Award.

It has been around six weeks since Vladimir Kara-Murza swapped his prison long-johns and rubber flip flops for sharp suits, but the major opponent of the Kremlin says he is still adjusting to reality.

Israel bombed a school housing displaced Palestinians in central Gaza on Wednesday, which rescuers said killed 18 people, including UN staffers, while the Israeli army said it hit a Hamas control centre.

Boeing faces a potentially crippling strike in the Seattle region, depending on how 33,000 workers vote Thursday on a new contract that has angered many employees despite solid wage gains.