AFP

AFP

Tech-equipped Indigenous firefighters protect Thai forests

AFP|Published

Satellite imagery from the peak of the 2020 crisis showed northern Thailand blanketed by dense clusters of fire hotspots, with nearly 400 recorded in Chiang Mai ...

EU to fine e-commerce platforms importing harmful items

AFP|Published

The EU says an estimated 5.9 billion low-value retail packages entered the EU in 2025, more than 90 percent originating from China. Some 4.6 billion cheap parcels ...

Exotic pet trade thrives in China despite welfare concerns

AFP|Published

Throngs of people from across China packed into the cavernous exhibition halls for the annual pet fair, where exotic animals are a more common sight than cats or ...

Trump bars firms with pro-diversity policies from govt contracts

AFP|Published

Companies now hoping for government contracts will have to include on their contracts a seven-paragraph clause pledging that " The contractor will not engage in ...

Iran war speeds tie-up between tech start-ups and US military

AFP|Published

The ongoing Mideast war has catalysed a transformative alliance between the tech sector and the US military, marking a significant shift in defence strategies that ...

US jury finds Meta, YouTube liable in social media addiction trial

AFP|Published

The jury answered yes to all seven questions on verdict forms for both companies, finding that Meta and YouTube were negligent in the design and operation of their ...

Musk's SpaceX looking to raise $75 bn in June IPO: report

AFP|Published

SpaceX, which is also developing a spacecraft for reaching Mars, was valued at $1.25 trillion in early February, when it merged with Musk's artificial intelligence ...

War-linked power crunch pushes Sri Lanka to four-day week

AFP|Published

Banks operated on shorter hours, while many private firms introduced work-from-home arrangements, industry bodies said, urging members to help curb energy use.

New Mexico jury finds Meta liable for endangering children

AFP|Published

The verdict came after roughly a day of deliberations following a six-week trial in which the state accused Facebook and Instagram's parent company of failing to ...

With Middle East in flames, Texan bunker maker sees business boom

AFP|Published

Foreign and US clients are rushing to buy his bunkers, seeking refuge in case of air raids, nuclear fallout or apocalypse.

Oil holds above $100, stocks fall as Khamenei targets Hormuz

AFP|Published

Tehran has targeted energy facilities this week across the Gulf, with ships hit near Iraq, fuel tanks attacked in Bahrain and drones fired at oil fields in Saudi ...

Nigeria's 'Mothers of Chibok' go from farm to factory

AFP|Published

Beaming with pride and dressed in colourful traditional gowns, they donned hairnets before entering the production area, where peanuts they cultivate at home are ...

Highway anti-crime wall divides South Africa's tourist hub

AFP|Published

The nearly nine-kilometre (six-mile) wall will separate part of the road that leads in from the international airport from the packed, impoverished settlements that ...

Meta sues Brazil, China advertisers over celebrity deepfake scams

AFP|Published

AI technology is allowing criminals around the world to create sophisticated voice and video copies of well-known figures to endorse scam investments, and helping ...

Warner Bros. board gives Netflix four days to improve merger offer

AFP|Published

Warner Bros. said Wednesday its board had concluded that the Paramount offer constitutes a " Company Superior Proposal" under the terms of its Netflix merger agreement. ...

Trump's global tariffs declared illegal by the US Supreme Court

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The Supreme Court's three liberal justices joined three conservatives in Friday's ruling, which upheld lower court decisions that tariffs Trump imposed under IEEPA ...

Laser-written glass can store data for millennia, Microsoft says

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Since 2019, Microsoft's Silica project has been trying to encode data on glass plates, in a throwback to the early days of photography, when negatives were also ...

Fans flock to Japan zoo to see viral baby monkey Punch

AFP|Published

Punch's predicament sparked sympathy online, spawning a devoted Punch fanbase who began posting updates on the monkey under the hashtag #HangInTherePunch.

Glencore returns to profit, says standalone business case 'strong'

AFP|Published

Full-year profit reached $363 million after a loss of $1.6 billion posted in 2024, in what CEO Gary Nagle called " a year of significant progress".

Oil in spotlight as Trump's Iran warning rattles sleepy markets

AFP|Published

Trump warned Iran of the " consequences of not making a deal" ahead of talks between Washington and Tehran in Geneva.

'Artists of steel': Japanese swords forge new fanbase

AFP|Published

Despite the rapidly greying, shrinking population of blademakers in Japan, their fine steel swords known as katana are amassing a new generation of fans, particularly ...

Samsung starts mass production of next-gen AI memory chip

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The high-bandwidth HBM4 chips are seen as a key component needed to scale-up the vast data centres powering the explosion in artificial intelligence.

EU tells TikTok to change 'addictive' design

AFP|Published

In preliminary conclusions of a probe opened two years ago, the European Commission said it found TikTok was not taking effective steps to address the app's negative ...

Stellantis takes massive hit for 'overestimation' of electric shift

AFP|Published

The colossal $26 billion write-down will likely dwarf any profits the automaker was set to book for 2025, to be announced on February 26, after it posted net profit ...

Launching the idea of data centers in space

AFP|Published

Elon Musk's decision to have his rocket company SpaceX take over his artificial intelligence outfit xAI has added fuel to the debate about whether orbiting data ...