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The World Trade Organization's ministerial conference opened Thursday against a backdrop of heightened trade tensions and global economic turmoil linked to the Middle East war.

US trade policy is a "corrective response" to the unbalanced rules of the World Trade Organization, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said as the WTO's ministerial conference opened Thursday.

The German government and the country's chemical industry on Thursday presented a sweeping plan to help the ailing sector as it faces new headwinds from the Middle East war energy shock.

UK leader Keir Starmer said Thursday he was "very keen" to tackle addictive features on social media following a landmark US ruling that found Meta and YouTube liable for harming a young woman.

The United States put pressure on France to disinvite the South African president to the G7 summit in the French town of Evian in June, the South Africsan presidency told AFP Thursday.

The European Parliament on Thursday approved a ban on artificial intelligence systems generating sexualised deepfakes, following global outrage over non-consensual nudes produced by Elon Musk's chatbot Grok.

France on Thursday bid farewell to former prime minister Lionel Jospin, with President Emmanuel Macron leading a national tribute to the influential left‑wing statesman credited with major welfare reforms.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko gifted Kim Jong Un an automatic rifle during his maiden visit to Pyongyang, joking that the North Korean leader may need it "in case enemies appear", state media said Thursday.

Germany's collective strength will be key to their World Cup chances later this year, coach Julian Nagelsmann said ahead of the four-time world champions' international friendlies in the coming week.

Ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro will appear Thursday in a New York court for the second time since his capture by US forces in an extraordinary nighttime raid.

A Paris court has ordered a former Catholic bishop to pay more than $200,000 in damages to a man who accused him of rape and sexual assault in the 1970s, a ruling seen by AFP on Thursday showed.

Paris Saint-Germain's crucial Ligue 1 clash with Lens scheduled for April 11 has been postponed until mid-May in order to give them extra rest in between the two legs of their Champions League quarter-final tie against Liverpool, the French league (LFP) announced Thursday.

Iran's decision to rebuff a 15-point peace proposal from US President Donald Trump and outline its own conditions for a ceasefire reflects growing confidence in its negotiating position after nearly four weeks of war, analysts say.

"Forever chemicals" pose a growing risk to health and the environment and should be broadly banned across the European Union, with some exceptions, EU experts said in findings published on Thursday.

Italian authorities said Thursday they had seized 20 million euros of assets in Tuscany, including property, vineyards and olive groves, allegedly bought with money embezzled from Bond Girl actress Ursula Andress.

US President Donald Trump warned Iran Thursday to engage in talks to end the Middle East war "before it is too late", after Tehran publicly spurned US overtures to resolve the nearly four-week conflict.

The global trading system is experiencing the "worst disruptions in the past 80 years", World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala warned as the WTO ministerial conference opened Thursday.

Oil prices jumped and equities slid Thursday as hopes for a peace deal between the US and Iran wavered after Tehran rejected Washington's bid to wind down the nearly four-week war.

The European Union accused four pornographic platforms on Thursday of allowing children to access adult content in breach of digital rules, putting the companies at risk of large fines.

Hong Kong aviation giant Cathay Pacific announced Thursday it was raising fuel surcharges on all flights by 34 percent as a result of increasing oil costs due to the Middle East war.

The European Union launched an investigation on Thursday into Snapchat over suspicions the platform is not doing enough to protect children using the app.

European Union lawmakers on Thursday gave a green light -- with conditions -- to the bloc's tariff deal with US President Donald Trump, which Europe hopes to salvage while also racing to diversify its trade ties around the globe.

European lawmakers cleared the way Thursday for tougher penalties for irregular migrants and their potential deportation to so-called "return hubs" outside the bloc.

The body created by Facebook to review content moderation decisions warned Thursday that user-generated fact-checks could harm people living under repression or conflict if they are introduced worldwide.

Foreign ministers from the G7 meet outside Paris from Thursday, with European nations and allies seeking to narrow differences with the US on the Middle East war while keeping other crises such as Ukraine and Gaza high on the agenda.

Chinese artificial intelligence powerhouse and TikTok creator ByteDance has quietly rolled out its latest video generator SeeDance 2.0 worldwide, while its US rival OpenAI called time on a similar product.

Israel struck new targets across Iran on Thursday, after Tehran rejected US overtures to wind down the nearly four-week Middle East war and vowed to keep up its "resistance".

Kimi Antonelli said Thursday that his maiden Formula One win had given him more "awareness" of his potential as he and Mercedes look to ram home their early season advantage in Japan.

Spanish singer Rosalia was forced to interrupt a concert in Italy half way through due to food poisoning, according to fan footage posted on social media.

Oil prices jumped and equities fell Thursday as investors tracked developments in the Middle East amid hopes that US and Iranian officials will bring an end to a conflict that has ramped up fears of an unprecedented global energy crisis.

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen was involved in a flashpoint ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix on Thursday when he refused to start his press conference until an English journalist had left the room.

A Nepal commission has recommended the prosecution of ex-prime minister KP Sharma Oli in connection to the deadly September 2025 uprising that toppled his government, according to a leaked report.