Reuters

Ethereum, the blockchain that underpins the world's second-largest crypto token ether, will soon undergo a major software upgrade that promises to slash the amount of energy needed to create new coins and carry out transactions.

Oil prices rose on Friday as investors considered Russia's threat to halt oil and gas exports to some buyers, but crude was set for a second straight weekly decline as central banks' aggressive rate hikes and China's COVID-19 curbs weighed on demand.

Asian shares crept higher as the dollar eased, with markets turning calmer after a record interest rate hike from the European Central Bank and hawkish comments from the U.S.

European Union countries' energy ministers meet on Friday to search for solutions from a long list of possible measures to shield citizens from sky-high energy prices as winter approaches.

North Korea passed a law enshrining the right to use preemptive nuclear strikes to protect itself, a move leader Kim Jong Un said makes its nuclear status "irreversible" and bars any denuclearisation talks, state media reported on Friday.

With the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth on Thursday, Prince Charles has finally become king of the United Kingdom and 14 other realms, ending a wait of more than 70 years - the longest by an heir in British history.

The South Carolina Senate on Thursday approved a bill tightening an abortion ban that is blocked by the state's highest court, following two days of fierce debate between anti-abortion Republicans and more moderate lawmakers from both parties.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch on Thursday rejected Sunoco LP's request to block efforts to enforce a $155 million judgment against the fuel retailer in a lawsuit accusing it of failing to pay interest on late payments to 53,000 oil-well owners across Oklahoma.

The U.S. ban on exports to China of Nvidia and AMD's flagship artificial intelligence chips will create new business opportunities for domestic startups jockeying for a piece of China's fast-growing data center chip market, industry executives and analysts told Reuters.

Front-loading interest rate hikes is a key strategy for the Bank of Canada as it battles the fastest rising prices in nearly four decades, a senior official said on Thursday, warning there was an ongoing risk of high inflation becoming entrenched.

U.S. President Joe Biden will co-host a food security summit later in September while in New York for the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, U.S.

European shares rose on Thursday led by gains in bank stocks after the European Central Bank delivered its biggest-ever interest rate hike to combat inflation, which is running at a half-century high and approaching double-digits.

The planned listing of Porsche AG has generated huge investor interest, Volkswagen and Porsche Chief Executive Oliver Blume said on Thursday, playing down concerns over how he will manage both companies following the IPO.

The Federal Reserve is "strongly committed" to fighting inflation, but there remains hope it can be done without the "very high social costs" involved in prior campaigns to control surging prices, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Thursday.

Companies with the highest credit ratings in the world are engaged in a now-or-never U.S.

A pro-Kurdish party set to play a key role in Turkish elections next year said it is open to talks with other opposition parties on finding a joint candidate who could end President Tayyip Erdogan's two decades in power.

Germany's economy ministry is considering a raft of measures to make business with China less attractive as it seeks to reduce its dependency on Asia's economic superpower, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

A Pakistani court ruled on Thursday that it will indict former Prime Minister Imran Khan on charges of contempt of court, his lawyer and local broadcasters said, which could lead to his disqualification from politics if convicted.

Investors are dumping European stocks this year, seeking to minimise exposure to a region buffeted not merely by soaring inflation but also an energy crisis wrought by the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

A Los Angeles-based company kicked off on Thursday what it said will be the first large-scale direct air capture (DAC) project to capture and store 5 million tons of carbon dioxide per year by 2030, benefiting from new U.S.

Britain will cap consumer energy bills for two years and funnel billions to prop up power companies, its new leader Liz Truss said on Thursday in a bid to tackle an energy crisis that has Europe and Russia squaring off in a deepening economic war.

Oil prices edged higher on Thursday, but remained near eight-month lows, as China's extension of COVID-19 lockdown measures exacerbated concerns a slowdown in global economic activity would hit fuel demand.

U.S. stock index futures slipped on Thursday after a broad market rebound in the previous session, with investors looking ahead to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech for clues on monetary policy tightening plans.

Family members rushed to be by the side of Queen Elizabeth after doctors said they were concerned about the health of Britain's 96-year-old monarch on Thursday, saying she should remain under medical supervision.

Food shortages are worsening in Tunisia with empty shelves in supermarkets and bakeries, adding to popular discontent at high prices and risking unrest as the government tries to stave off a crisis in public finances.

The energy crisis, soaring inflation and war in Ukraine could help Social Democrat Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson to secure another term in office if Swedes decide to vote for a safe pair of hands in Sunday's parliamentary election.

Sterling's slide against the dollar to a rate last seen in 1985 has sparked talk of a dramatic spiral downwards that ends in a collapse in confidence in British assets and a balance of payments crisis.

Mark Arcand's nephews woke to screams Sunday morning.

Albanian counter-terrorism police searched the empty Iranian embassy in Tirana on Thursday, hours after Iranian diplomats burned papers inside the premises following the severing of diplomatic ties over a cyberattack.

People were building barriers on Thursday in some parts of Pakistan to hold back rising waters that have engulfed nearly a third of the country after weeks of rain, while officials said 12 more deaths took the toll to 1,355.