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A farmer looks at soybean plants in a dry, cracked field at a farm in Rosario, Argentina, on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. A La Nina weather pattern that wreaked havoc on Argentina’s farms just two years ago was expected to be kinder this time around, but as the growing season gets under way, a long bout of dry weather is emerging again. Photographer: Sebastian Lopez Brach/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Dry spell worries farmers as Britain suffers its driest spring since 1852

By Clara Lalanne and AFP

Japan’s Agriculture Minister Taku Eto (C) responds to a question about his own statement that he has never purchased rice, at the House of Councillors Budget Committee meeting inside the parliament in Tokyo on May 19, 2025. Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on May 20 criticised the farm minister for claiming he never buys rice because he gets it free, provoking the ire of consumers facing soaring prices. (Photo by JIJI Press / AFP) / Japan OUT (Photo by STR/JIJI Press/AFP via Getty Images)

Japan’s farm minister is in trouble after boasting that he never buys rice after getting so much of it for free

By AFP

Robin Zeng, founder and chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), during the company’s listing ceremony at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. CATL rose in its Hong Kong trading debut after the Chinese battery giant wrapped up the world’s biggest listing this year by raising HK$35.7 billion ($4.6 billion) despite being blacklisted by the Pentagon and grinding through geopolitical storms. Photographer: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg via Getty Images

CATL shares jump over 18% in Hong Kong debut, as battery giant shrugs off U.S. scrutiny and China’s EV price war

By AFP

Michael O'Leary, chief executive officer of Ryanair Holdings Plc, during a Bloomberg Television interview in London, UK, on Monday, May 19, 2025. Ryanair said profit growth this year will depend on working through the risk of tariff wars, geopolitical conflicts and macro-economic blows.

Ryanair fares set to rise by nearly 20% as airline plots profit rebound

By Ryan Hogg, Alexandra Bacon, and others

TIRANA, ALBANIA – MAY 16:(L-R) Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission and Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom greet each other, ahead of their bilateral meeting at the 6th European Political Community summit on May 16, 2025 at Skanderbeg Square in Tirana, Albania. The EPC brings together heads of state and government from the 27 European Union countries and 20 others. The items on today’s agenda are security and democratic resilience, competitiveness and economic security, and mobility challenges and youth empowerment. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

U.K. and EU set to reveal new deal—opening up a new chapter after Brexit after ‘late breakthrough’

By Peter Hutchison, Jerome Cartillier, and others

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 18: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers the keynote address during the Nvidia GTC 2025 at SAP Center on March 18, 2025 in San Jose, California. The annual Nvidia GTC conference runs through March 20th. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Global chip giants gather as the sector grapples with tariffs and approaches critical juncture on AI

By AFP

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer (L) greets European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen outside of 10 Downing Street, in central London, on April 24, 2025, ahead of their meeting. (Photo by Niklas HALLE’N / AFP) (Photo by NIKLAS HALLE’N/AFP via Getty Images)

U.K. and EU squabble over defense partnership: ‘They want everything and they’re giving nothing’ says EU diplomat

By Max Delany, Peter Hutchison, and others

SHANGHAI, CHINA – APRIL 24: BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu is seen during the 21st Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition (Auto Shanghai 2025) at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) on April 24, 2025 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

Hungary continues to woo China as BYD opens up European centre, creating 2,000 new jobs in the region

By AFP

A man visits the Kibitsujinja shrine in Okayama city on May 15, 2025. Japan’s economy contracted 0.2 percent in the three months to March, registering the first quarterly drop in a year, according to cabinet office data released on May 16. (Photo by Philip FONG / AFP) (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)

Japan’s economy shrinks by more than expected as Trump tariffs spark recession fears

By AFP

DUISBURG, GERMANY – APRIL 09: A worker registers coils of finished steel at the Thyssenkrupp steel plant on April 9, 2025 in Duisburg, Germany. The European steel sector is facing uncertainty due to global tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Germany’s Thyssenkrupp returns to profit on India sale, but Europe’s steel woes persist

By AFP

Cambridge, MA – May 2: Tour groups walk past the statue of John Harvard in Harvard Yard on May 2, 2025. (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Harvard says it will put $250 million into funding ‘critical research’ as Trump administration grants slash reaches $2.6 billion

By AFP

LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 27: Mike Lynch, former chief executive officer of Autonomy Corp departs the Rolls Building on June 27, 2019 in London, England. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. has accused Mr Lynch of being accounting fraud at ‘Autonomy’, once the UK’s second-biggest software company. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Fatal design flaws left Mike Lynch’s superyacht ‘vulnerable’ to high winds, U.K. investigators confirm

By AFP

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – MAY 8: The Mediterranean Blue Diamond (Est. USD 20 million) is being displayed as the Sotheby’s unveiled this morning a selection of its top lots, representative of its Luxury Sales week in Geneva which officially opens tomorrow with an exhibition of all the lots going under the hammer staged at the Mandarin Oriental hotel running until Monday 12th May. The unveiling showcased pieces from Sotheby’s four main Geneva Luxury Sales this season, namely the Important Watches live auction taking place on Sunday 11th May and the High Jewellery live auction which will take place on Tuesday 13th May, headlined by the famous Mediterranean Blue diamond. Sotheby’s Luxury Sales also include two further online only auctions closing next week, one of luxury handbags, mostly collectible Birkin and Kelly pieces by Hermès, and another of special Fabergé artifacts including very rare miniature animals carved from hardstones. Among the outstanding lots, apart from the Mediterranean Blue diamond which estimate is around 20 million USD, are several other significant white and rare coloured diamonds of exceptional quality and iconic pieces of jewellery from the most famous jewellers in the world including Van Cleef and Arpels and Bulgari. (Photo by Robert Hradil/Getty Images for Sotheby’s)

Bidding war sends rare ‘Mediterranean Blue’ diamond to $21.5 million at Sotheby’s auction, but not everyone’s dazzled

By AFP

Chinese President Xi Jinping (front 2nd R), Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (front R), Chile President President Gabriel Boric (front L) and Colombia President Gustavo Petro (front 2nd L) attend a group photo session before the opening ceremony of the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the Forum of China and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Beijing on May 13, 2025.

Colombia joins Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative as China and U.S. fight for control in Latin America

By Peter Catterall and AFP

CHONGQING, CHINA – MAY 5, 2025 – Tencent Southwest Headquarters Building in Chongqing, China on May 5, 2025. (Photo credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Gaming gives Tencent a 13% quarterly revenue jump as the WeChat operator dives into AI

By AFP