WTO hikes 2026 trade growth forecast on AI boom
The WTO on Thursday sharply raised its global trade growth forecast for 2026, with merchandise trade riding the AI boom and proving more resilient than expected amid the Middle East crisis.
California, Washington and Oregon announced Wednesday they will form a new public health body to issue vaccine guidelines, saying the move is needed to counter the Trump administration's growing "politicization" of science.
A dozen patents belonging to Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel and lost for almost 50 years were recently found in a Swedish couple's summer house, the Nobel Foundation told AFP.
European and US equities mostly rebounded Wednesday as a global bond selloff eased, with shares in Google parent Alphabet jumping after a favourable court ruling.
The Trump administration is attacking higher education institutions in the United States as authoritarian governments seek to quash independent thought, the former president of Harvard University said Wednesday.
The 11th stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race was shortened on Wednesday as dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated at the finish line, organisers said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday vowed to carry on fighting in Ukraine if a peace deal cannot be reached, striking a defiant tone a day before Kyiv's allies gather in Paris to discuss security guarantees.
A harrowing film that premiered at the Venice Film Festival Wednesday about a five-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last year gives a "voice and face" to Palestinian victims of the war, its director said.
The defense team of Brazilian ex-president Jair Bolsonaro told the close of his trial for coup plotting on Wednesday that an acquittal was "imperative" to avoid what it presented as a potential miscarriage of justice.
At least 21,000 children in Gaza have been disabled since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, 2023, a United Nations committee said Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump hosted new Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Wednesday for talks focused on the war in Ukraine -- featuring a flyover as the right-wing leader arrived at the White House.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he had not heard about "The Wizard of the Kremlin", a film starring Jude Law as the Russian leader that premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
French authorities are bracing for a day of nationwide protests led by far-left activists next week, with intelligence officials warning the movement's decentralised nature makes its scale and impact difficult to predict.
The amount of carbon dioxide that can be stored underground is vastly overestimated, new research said Wednesday, challenging assumptions about the "limitless" potential this approach holds to reducing global warming.
Irish budget airline Ryanair on Wednesday said it would slash more than one million winter seats in Spain over "excessive airport fees", sparking "extortion" accusations from the national airport operator.
European supporters groups on Wednesday said plans by the Spanish and Italian football federations to host league matches overseas were "absurd".
Google has escaped a breakup of its Chrome browser in a major US competition case, but the judge imposed remedies whose impact remains uncertain just as AI starts to compete with search engines.
Rescue teams struggled Wednesday to reach survivors as night approached days after a powerful earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, as access to remote areas remained obstructed.
The presence of the leaders of Russia and North Korea alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping at a massive parade in Beijing Wednesday was part of efforts to build an anti-Western "new world order", the EU's foreign policy chief said.
A gut-wrenching film premiering at the Venice Film Festival Wednesday about a five-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last year gives a "voice" to Palestinian victims of the war, its director said.
Britain's finance minister Rachel Reeves on Wednesday promised to keep a "tight grip" on public spending as interest rates soar on the UK's long-term debt, and set November 26 for her annual budget speech.
The director of a new film about a five-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza told the Venice Film Festival Wednesday she wanted to give "a voice and a face" to victims.
The EU put forward a huge trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur for approval by member countries Wednesday, reassuring chief critic France it came with "robust" safeguards to protect farmers.
Pizzeria owner Saeed is unable to take or serve orders at his restaurant in the Iranian capital, his business stalled by rolling power outages that have compounded the country's many economic woes.
Gregor Townsend said the chance to coach Scotland at another Rugby World Cup was "exciting" after extending his contract until the 2027 tournament in Australia.
Families huddled hungry and homeless days after a deadly earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan, not daring to set foot in the few remaining buildings for fear an aftershock could bring them down.
An Espanyol fan who racially abused Athletic Bilbao striker Inaki Williams was sentenced to a year in prison on Wednesday by a Barcelona court.
A global bond selloff extended on Wednesday, sending yields in Japan to record levels, and gold reached a new peak, as investors fret over mounting government debt.
Players should not be vilified for forcing through transfer moves, former England star Rio Ferdinand told AFP on Wednesday following the Alexander Isak saga, adding: "Nice guys don't win."
The United Nations on Wednesday urged nations late in turning in their climate plans to do so quickly, with major polluters among dozens of countries still to unveil new commitments.
The arrest of an Emmy award-winning comedy writer for social media posts about transgender people has reignited a UK row over freedom of speech, with one government minister saying Wednesday "we need to look at" the law.
A Swiss court on Wednesday weighed whether to hear a landmark climate case pitting residents of a tiny Indonesian island being swallowed by rising sea levels against cement giant Holcim.
With "The Testament of Ann Lee", a movie about the founder of the 18th-century Shaker religious movement screening at the Venice Film Festival, director Mona Fastvold sought to honour a figure "on the verge of being erased from memory".