Predictions of imminent AI-driven mass unemployment are likely overblown, but employers will seek workers with different skills as the technology matures, a top executive at global recruiter ManpowerGroup told AFP at Paris's Vivatech trade fair.

Indonesian investment platform Pluang became the first to expand to the Philippines and to offer access to United States regulated fractional stocks.

Finance minister Rachel Reeves is set to address parliament around midday, outlining her spending review in the hopes of boosting the country's sluggish growth, which risks added pressure from US President Donald Trump's tariffs onslaught.

Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom and state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation have been tapped to lead separate consortiums to build the first nuclear power plants in Kazakhstan, the country's atomic energy agency said on Saturday.

US President Donald Trump approved Nippon Steel's US$14.9 billion bid for US Steel on Friday, capping a tumultuous 18-month effort by the companies that survived union opposition and two national security reviews.

Airbus revised up its forecast for airplane demand over the next 20 years on Thursday, telling investors and suppliers the air transportation industry was expected to ride out the current wave of trade tensions.

The US central bank is expected to keep interest rates unchanged for a fourth straight policy meeting this week, despite President Donald Trump's push for rate cuts, as officials contend with uncertainty sparked by the Republican's tariffs.

Stocks dived in early Asian trade on Friday, led by a selloff in US futures, while oil prices jumped after Israel conducted a military strike on Iran, sending investors scurrying to safe havens such as gold and the Swiss franc.

Global stocks and the dollar slipped on Thursday as investors sized up a benign US inflation report and the fragile trade truce between Washington and Beijing, while rising tensions in the Middle East and lingering tariff anxiety dented risk sentiment.