BUSINESS

European aerospace giant Airbus confirmed Friday that it was shutting down its specialty freight business using colossal Beluga jets, resulting in the loss of 75 jobs.

The Louvre in Paris opened its first-ever fashion exhibition on Friday, seeking to draw new, younger audiences amid national concern about conditions inside the landmark art destination.

British fashion house Burberry announced Friday a further decline in sales, hit by weak demand in China, but the troubled group is showing signs of recovery under new leadership.

A Maltese businessman behind bars for five years for alleged involvement in the murder of the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was granted bail Friday, even as he continues to await trial.

The publication of the black box data from an Azerbaijani plane that crashed in Kazakhstan last month has been delayed, a Kazakh official said Friday, after Azerbaijan accused Russia of shooting the airliner.

The introduction of the upgraded variant comes at a time when Tesla faces increased competition from both traditional automakers and new electric vehicle startups, particularly in China.

The Louvre in Paris opened its first-ever fashion exhibition on Friday, seeking to draw new, younger audiences to the world's most popular museum.

Europe should take greater risks and plough more money into artificial intelligence, Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun told AFP at the World Economic Forum.

Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena said Friday that it was launching a bid for its larger rival Mediobanca in a potential 13.3 billion euro ($13.9 billion) deal that could help reshape the country's banking sector.

Spanish business circles believe banking giant Sabadell's decision to return its headquarters to Catalonia will entice back the thousands of firms that fled after the region's botched 2017 independence bid.

The Bank of Japan hiked interest rates on Friday to their highest level in 17 years and signalled more were in the pipeline despite fears of turmoil under US President Donald Trump.

Asian markets rose Friday after a record day on Wall Street in response to Donald Trump's tax-cut pledge, while the yen weakened slightly ahead of an expected interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan later in the day.

On a frosty Polish winter evening, 96-year-old Esther Senot told the 100 or so shivering students at Auschwitz-Birkenau how she was a teenager much like them when she was first brought to the Nazi death camp on September 2, 1943.

Japan's much-loved "tonkatsu" pork cutlets come with a mound of freshly shredded cabbage, but a surge in the price of the humble vegetable has prompted chef Katsumi Shinagawa to skimp on servings.

Flying through Bangkok's cloudless blue skies, a small aircraft sprays a white mist over a thick haze of pea soup smog below.

Iraqi grocery store owner Abu Amjad al-Zubaidi is grappling with asthma, a condition his doctor blames on emissions from a nearby power plant that fills his Baghdad neighbourhood with noxious smoke.

OpenAI on Thursday introduced an artificial intelligence program called "Operator" that can tend to online tasks such as ordering items or filling out forms.

Father Bashar Basiel moved freely in and out of his parish in the occupied West Bank until Israeli troops installed gates at the entrance of his village Taybeh overnight, just hours after a ceasefire began in Gaza.

Manchester United and Tottenham both enjoyed some much needed respite from their Premier League woes with victories in the Europa League on Thursday.

Indonesia and France will sign an agreement Friday for the transfer of a Frenchman who has languished on death row since 2007 for alleged drug offences, an Indonesian minister and sources close to the talks told AFP. Indonesia has in recent weeks released half a dozen high-profile detainees, including a Filipina mum on death row and the last five members of the so-called "Bali Nine" drug ring.

The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza are trapped in limbo, two days before the second prisoner exchange of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, with many having relatives both on the list to be freed and those who aren't.

The World Trade Organization's director-general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, urged countries to not retaliate against president Donald Trump's tariffs, saying it could cause "catastrophic" outcomes for growth.

A union official accused the online retail giant of closing the seven facilities to curb unionizing efforts in the province.

Several US states have reached a $7.4 billion settlement with the Sackler family and their pharmaceutical company Purdue over the opioid crisis that has ravaged the lives of millions of Americans, officials said Thursday.

The chief executive officer Bjoern Gulden of Adidas AG will cut 500 roles based at its headquarters in Herzogenaurach as the company outperformed projected sales for the retro sneakers.

A deadly knife attack on a kindergarten group in Germany, where an Afghan man was arrested at the scene, reignited a bitter immigration debate Thursday, a month before elections.

Walmart is raising the salary for its market managers from $570,000 up to a maximum of $620,000 annually.

Secluded in his stronghold in southern Afghanistan, reclusive Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is the cornerstone of the movement that has ruled the country unchallenged since reclaiming power in 2021, strictly enforcing Islamic law.

Higher interest rates that increase borrowing costs appear to be creating a growing financial strain on consumers.