Consumer confidence tumbles ahead of Budget

France's Macron vows order, calls foreign criticism of unrest 'stupid'

PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron vowed on Wednesday to prevent a repeat of last weekend's violence at protests planned in the coming days, and dismissed as "stupid" and "unacceptable" comments from some foreign leaders about the unrest. France's main student union, UNEF, has called for further rallies on Saturday, while the Yellow Vest group, which emerged as a potent anti-establishment movement in 2018, has filed plans for a march through central Paris the same day. Efforts to ease social tensions showed little sign of progress, as unions pledged to press ahead with a general strike on November 5 to denounce the high cost of living and cuts to public services after government talks ended inconclusively. France was hit by some of the worst urban tumult in years on October 17 on the fringe of nationwide protests, shocking the nation both because of its scale and the apparent inability of police to contain it. Macron said he would meet intelligence officials and senior ministers on Thursday to discuss the crisis. "Those who want to cause disorder in city centres next Saturday will be pre

OpenAI says its AI agents disabled their own safety monitors

WASHINGTON — OpenAI has revealed that two of its artificial intelligence agents disabled or weakened systems built to catch them misbehaving, with one later denying it had done so. The cases are the latest in a string of safety scares at the world's top AI developers involving agents, AI programs that carry out tasks without human involvement. In a report released Tuesday, the ChatGPT maker said that during two internal coding jobs, its agents switched off or undermined tools for detecting incidents of AI models acting against human wishes. On October 3, an agent running on OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol model, which had been told not to send any messages on the workplace chat app, took that as license to switch off safety alerts meant for the company's security team while fixing a testing system. Three days later, a GPT-6 Astra agent stripped out its own monitor while copying code from another project, then told the human programmer it had done no such thing. The company said it had also seen several cases of agents launching software with monitoring switched off, exposing a gap in its oversight

Lee meets with WHO chief to discuss cooperation in healthcare

President Lee Jae Myung met with World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday to discuss ways to enhance cooperation in healthcare, Lee's office said. The meeting at Cheong Wa Dae came as Tedros is visiting Seoul to attend the World Bio Summit 2026, which WHO is hosting in partnership with South Korea on Wednesday and Thursday. During the meeting, Lee stressed the need for South Korea to expand its role and contributions to the international community, presidential spokesperson Kim Sung-wan said in a written briefing. Lee also expressed hope that Seoul would continue to expand its cooperation with WHO in health security. The president asked Tedros to help ensure that more highly skilled South Koreans could contribute to the WHO, noting that South Korea has transformed itself from a recipient of international assistance into a major contributor. Tedros thanked South Korea for its efforts to strengthen cooperation with WHO and promote global health, saying he was well aware of the country's development experience. Stressing the importance of equita

1 person killed in attack on eastern Saudi airport, authorities say

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority announced that one Saudi resident was killed in attacks Wednesday evening on King Fahad International airport in Dammam in Saudi Arabia on the Persian Gulf near Bahrain and Qatar. The Civil Aviation authority also said eight people were injured and have been transferred to a hospital. The airport also suffered some material damages. Global flight-tracking service Flightradar24 said overnight Thursday on X that flights have been diverted away from the airport. King Fahad airport has been attacked previously amid a wider wave of Houthi missile and projectile strikes targeting major airports in Saudi Arabia. The Iranian-backed Houthis have not commented on this attack. The Saudi Coalition announced that it intercepted 4 drone attacks in the Eastern region. This comes as two people were killed in attack on a Saudi oil facility earlier Wednesday. The ministry said the two people killed were Nepali and Filipino nationals, while the injured were Pakistani and Indian nationals. The falling debris also sparked a fire in a contractor’s

Real Madrid thrash RB Leipzig as Mbappe scores in Champions League win

Real Madrid thrashed RB Leipzig 4-1 on Wednesday to secure their third consecutive Champions League victory. Bernardo Silva, Arda Guler, Kylian Mbappe and Yan Diomande scored for Jose Mourinho’s side, while Tidiam Gomis replied for Leipzig. Mbappe has scored in all three European matches this season, taking his tally to 12 goals.

Putin agrees 'in principle' to revive trilateral talks with US and Ukraine

Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cautioned that Russia has repeatedly agreed to talks before changing its tune.

1 killed, 8 wounded in Saudi Arabia airport attack

An attack on an airport in Saudi Arabia by the Iranian-backed Houthis killed one person and injured eight others, officials confirmed Wednesday. Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said in a statement that the rebel group targeted the King Fahd International Airport in the eastern city of Dammam on Wednesday evening. Eight people were...

Apple iPhone Duo hands-on: So what do you get for S$3,099?

Apple's first foldable iPhone Duo starts at S$3,099, featuring a 7.6-inch OLED display, the A20 Pro chip and cool multitasking capabilities. But is it worth buying?

‘You are a humanitarian,’ US envoy tells Putin after deal to secure teacher’s release

The deal to free Stephen Hubbard, who was imprisoned after being captured in Ukraine during Russia’s 2022 invasion, comes as the Kremlin says Moscow is ready to resume talks on ending the war.

Costa Rica appoint former captain Ruiz as head coach

The real reasons US politicians are getting older

No country for young men and women: why do older politicians seem to have such a tight grip on the US political system?

Walmart launches AI tools to let agents shop and complete purchases

The retailer is expanding its AI commerce strategy with new tools designed to connect digital assistants directly to its shopping systems.