BUSINESS

The incoming Taiwanese president's best strategy to stop China from seizing the self-ruled island will likely be to bolster an agile defensive "porcupine" approach by spending more on missiles and drones.

Asian markets diverged Friday as hopes for US interest rate cuts played up against profit-taking from another strong week and warnings from Federal Reserve officials that borrowing costs should be kept elevated for now.

The Dominican Republic, a top tourist destination in the Caribbean, stands in stark contrast to its violence-plagued, unstable neighbor Haiti.

A Turkish court on Thursday sentenced the former head of a pro-Kurdish party to 42 years in prison for his alleged role in deadly 2014 protests that erupted as Islamic State group jihadists overran the Syrian town of Kobane.

Chad's junta leader General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno won the African nation's May 6 presidential election with 61 percent of the vote, according to final results announced Thursday.

Languishing behind bars since 2016, Selahattin Demirtas has waged a relentless battle against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while profoundly expanding the national appeal of his leftist pro-Kurdish party.

Walmart reported higher profits Thursday behind solid gains at US stores as the retail giant pointed to increased purchases by wealthier shoppers and improving e-commerce sales.

Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner has signed a lease for a building project at the site of the former Yugoslav army headquarters in Belgrade that was bombed in US-led NATO strikes in 1999.

France accused Azerbaijan on Thursday of "interference" in the politics of its Pacific territory of New Caledonia, which has seen deadly riots in recent days.

Baidu is a key player in China's tech industry, which once charted years of ballooning growth until Beijing imposed a regulatory crackdown on the sector starting in 2020.

The probe is under a mammoth law known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) that forces the world's largest tech firms to do more to protect European users online and clamp down on illegal content.

Easyjet said Thursday that chief executive Johan Lundgren would step down at the start of 2025 after seven years piloting the no-frills airline, notably through Covid turbulence.

European consumer groups on Thursday accused Chinese shopping app Temu of using "manipulative techniques" to force users to spend more and other violations of a landmark EU tech law.

Asian equities rallied Thursday after US data showed inflation cooled last month, fuelling speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates twice this year.

Like hundreds of other pro-Turkish fighters, Omar left northern Syria for mineral-rich Niger last year, joining Syrian mercenaries sent to the West African nation by a private Turkish military company.

A motorway attack that claimed the lives of two prison officers in France this week marks a new level of violence by the latest generation of drug traffickers, police officers and experts told AFP. On Tuesday, gunmen attacked a prison van at a motorway toll in northern France, killing two prison officers and freeing a convict linked to gangland drug killings.

A hole-in-the-wall taqueria is among the first restaurants in Mexico to be awarded a star by the prestigious Michelin Guide -- an accomplishment its owner credits to "love and effort."