The "create image" tool, unveiled Thursday, had integrated Google's Nano Banana 2 image-generation technology into Google Earth, letting users zoom into locations and build pictures in seconds based on the program's satellite, aerial and 3D-mapping data.

AI safety experts say the new disclosures paint a portrait of a group of cutting-edge labs whose ability to develop dangerous autonomous hacking agents outstrips their ability to keep them under control.

The announcement was made as President Lee Jae Myung visited San Francisco for talks with the heads of major US technology companies, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Nvidia's Jensen Huang.

Ukraine has hit the warehouses of Russia's largest online retailer Wildberries around a dozen times since mid-July, killing at least eight people and knocking out a large chunk of the company's storage capacity.

US petroleum giants ExxonMobil and Chevron released blowout profits Friday due to the Middle East war, as executives cautioned that elevated gasoline prices will probably continue to strain consumers.

Despite an annual tobacco production shortfall of just 75,000 to 100,000 tonnes, Indonesia imports more than twice that volume from abroad.

South Korea's Kospi swung between gains and losses, with chip giants SK hynix and Samsung, which have been the poster boys of a month-long AI-themed rout, center of attention again.

The yen leapt on Monday, keeping traders on alert for further intervention from authorities to shore up Japan's historically weak currency, days after Tokyo and Washington jointly intervened in the foreign exchange market.

Asian markets rallied hard with Wall Street on Friday as South Korea's battered market made a record comeback, stirring hopes that the recent selloff in AI-linked assets may be near an end.

Brent futures slipped below US$90 per barrel, after jumping over 7 percent a day earlier as fighting in the Middle East escalated, although data showed tankers continued to make their way out of the region despite the continued strikes.