AFP news

Meta has reaped rich financial rewards by selling user data to advertisers, but its business model has pitted the US tech giant against EU regulators over data privacy.

Global tech CEOs, industry titans, Bollywood stars, pop icons and politicians are expected to jet in Friday for the main three-day celebrations hosted by billionaire tycoon Mukesh Ambani, who is building a sprawling Hindu temple complex for the event.

The junta-led government has accused the party of being responsible for a deadly attack overnight on Tuesday to Wednesday on the offices of the internal security agency.

The Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Slovak prime ministers spoke one day after French President Emmanuel Macron refused to rule out the dispatch of Western ground troops to Ukraine "to ensure that Russia cannot win this war".

Qatar has played a key mediation role since the Gaza war erupted in October and international diplomatic efforts have intensified in recent days to halt hostilities for the Ramadan Muslim holiday.

It was her first Spain press conference since she spoke on the eve of the semi-final against Sweden in Auckland, New Zealand in August.

The Ukraine war could take center stage at the meeting, with G7 countries due to meet on the sidelines to discuss shoring up Western support against Russia's invasion.

The bag belonged to an engineer from Paris City Hall, the police said, confirming a report by BFM television, adding that he had put the bag in the luggage compartment above his seat.

The vote comes amid mounting economic difficulties in Iran, which has also been grappling with the aftershocks of mass protests triggered by the 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini.

The country has one of the world's longest life expectancies and lowest birth rates, a combination that presents a looming demographic challenge.

The controversy emerged within weeks of Google's high-profile rebranding of its ChatGPT-style AI to "Gemini", giving the app unprecedented prominence in its products as it competes with OpenAI and its backer Microsoft.

The iPhone maker had dedicated nearly 2,000 employees to its secretive car development program, Bloomberg reported, but faced an increasingly competitive electric vehicle (EV) sector.

Zuckerberg is on a mini-tour of Asia that includes stops in Japan, India and South Korea, where he travelled on Tuesday night.

Vodafone, which previously rejected offers from French billionaire Xavier Niel's Iliad group, said it has "engaged extensively with several parties to explore market consolidation in Italy".

The Gaza war's reported Palestinian death toll neared 30,000 Wednesday as fighting raged in the Hamas-run territory despite mediators insisting a truce with Israel could be just days away.

Macron had hosted a conference of European leaders on Monday -- just over two years to the day after Russia invaded Ukraine -- seeking to rally greater support for Kyiv, which faces increasing battlefield challenges and dwindling munition stocks.

In the protracted bid to broker a truce, mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been putting proposals to the warring parties, with negotiations still ongoing.

The analysis comes as Boeing faces intensified scrutiny following a January 5 Alaska Airlines emergency landing that led to a temporary grounding of some Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.

The 16th Summer Paralympics take place in the French capital from August 28 to September 8, just over two weeks after the Olympics.

Australian police are investigating claims Taylor Swift's father -- nicknamed "Papa Swift" by her adoring fans -- punched a photographer while disembarking a superyacht in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Public demonstrations have all but vanished in the Chinese finance hub since Beijing quelled huge, sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019 and imposed a sweeping national security law.

Oil spills in Iraq -- a country ravaged by decades of conflict, corruption and decaying infrastructure -- have contaminated farmland in the northern province, especially during the winter rains.

The 81-year-old told the host he was a better bet than "the other guy" -- 77-year-old Donald Trump, the Republican former president he is almost certain to face in a bitter rematch of their 2020 contest.

Many eyes were trained on India -- which is often described as an obstructionist element in trade talks -- but it's Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has yet to arrive in Abu Dhabi.

Amid a spiraling humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory, representatives from Egypt, Qatar, the United States, France and others have acted as go-betweens for Israel and Hamas, seeking a halt to the fighting and the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Major hospitals are struggling to provide services after thousands of junior medics handed in their resignations and stopped working last week to protest against government plans to sharply increase medical school admissions in the face of a rapidly ageing society.

The 70-year-old, a key figure of the Nobel Prize-winning Memorial group, is the latest target of Kremlin repression, which has intensified since the offensive in Ukraine.

Tech companies showcased countless connected gadgets at the world's biggest wireless telecom fair, the four-day Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which wraps up on Thursday.

ECOWAS said it was lifting financial and economic sanctions against Guinea and ending restrictions on the recruitment of Malians to professional positions within the bloc's institutions.