The 10-billion-euro ($11.4 billion) package of measures for low earners announced by President Emmanuel Macron to try end the "yellow vest" revolt has "weakened" France's finances, state auditors warned Wednesday. "The outlook for the public finances in 2019 is particularly risky," said the...

Spain's justice ministry said Wednesday it had ordered more than 600 municipalities across the country to remove symbols honouring the dictatorship of dictator Francisco Franco which are still on display in public spaces. A so-called "Historical Memory" law approved in 2007 requires the...

The woman suspected of setting fire to a Paris apartment building in which 10 people died had only just been released from a psychiatric ward, sources close to the investigation said Wednesday. The woman in her 40s, who lived in the building, is understood to have been treated a dozen times...

Qatar on Wednesday took delivery of the first of 36 Rafale multi-purpose jet fighters it has ordered from French manufacturer Dassault. The hand-over ceremony in Merignac, southwestern France, where the planes are built, was attended by Qatar Defence Minister Khalid bin Mohamed Al-Attiyah...

Both sides in the US-China trade negotiations are making a "big commitment" to reach an agreement by the March 1 deadline, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to a 90-day truce in the ongoing trade war, but US...

India crashed to their worst ever Twenty20 defeat as an aggressive 84 by Tim Seifert set New Zealand up for an 80-run win in Wellington on Wednesday. "It was one of those complete performances that you do search for," beamed New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, happy to see his side...

FIFA president Gianni Infantino is set to serve a second term after world football's governing body said on Wednesday he would be the only candidate for June's vote. The 48-year-old has been in charge of FIFA since February 2016, after succeeding the disgraced Sepp Blatter following the...

Google is releasing a new Chrome extension that could make account takeovers harder for hackers. The Password Checkup tool, which the tech giant released on Tuesday, warns you if the username and password that you're using were stolen in any data breaches. It then prompts you to change them...

The UK government has announced it’s working on a process to support so-called ‘advanced trials’ of autonomous vehicles — i.e. trials without human safety drivers. It also says it will be beefing up the existing Code of Practice for testing driverless cars to provide a framework to support...

Agence France-Presse is extending its fact-checking deal with Facebook to counter fake news in Arabic, it said Wednesday. The new contract means that AFP, one of the world's big three news agencies, will extend its worldwide network of fact-checkers -- which is already up and running across...

Manolo Jimenez has returned to manage AEK Athens for a third time, the Greek Super League club announced Wednesday saying the Spaniard had signed a one-and-a-half-year contract. The deal has an option for another year if both sides agree. "The champion has returned home. The AEK family...

Spotify continues to see growing uptake for its all-you-can-eat streaming music (and increasingly podcast) services, even as it fell short of analyst expectations on sales in its earnings. In Q4 results reported today alongside the blockbuster news that it was acquiring Gimlet and Anchor to...

The US Senate has passed legislation defining United States security policy in the Middle East, introducing a measure that would allow state and local governments to sanction those who support boycotts, divesture and sanctions against Israel. Tuesday's Senate vote, which was 77-23,...

French company Chauffeur-Privé is going to expand aggressively over the next couple of years. That’s why the company is changing its name to Kapten — a name that sounds less French. “We wanted to share with you a very important piece of news,” Kapten co-founder and CEO Yan Hascoet said...

Just last month, Google  showed off an “Interpreter mode” that would let Google Home devices act as an on-the-fly translator. One person speaks one language, the other person speaks another, and Google Assistant tries to be the middleman between the two. They were only testing it in...

The Iraqi Central Bank and its Iranian counterpart have signed an agreement to pay Baghdad's debts to Tehran.  Signing the agreement aims to "attain mutual consent for debt payment," an Iraqi Central Bank source told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity because he was not...

United Airlines will woo high-fare passengers by retrofitting more than 100 planes to add more premium seats on key routes. The airline also plans to start using a new 50-seat jet with mostly premium seats on some key business-travel routes. United announced the moves Wednesday....

Turkey Wednesday strongly condemned French President Emmanuel Macron’s declaration of April 24 as a national day marking the so-called Armenian genocide. “Allegations of a so-called Armenian genocide are political lies lacking any legal basis, contrary to historical facts. They are null and...

In the religious capital of Iran, the Islamic revolution still holds a powerful sway even as once-unthinkable signs of modernity creep into the city of Qom to challenge the faithful. Qom, a couple of hours drive south of Tehran, is one of Shiite Islam's holiest sites, home to dozens of...

Israeli defense officials have warned that the health system in the blockaded Gaza Strip was close to collapse, according to Israeli daily Haaretz on Wednesday.  In an assessment to Israel’s security cabinet, the officials warned that the deteriorating health conditions in the...