A high-tech cat-and-mouse game is playing out with increasing frequency as record gold prices, now sitting above US$3,300 per ounce, draw more unofficial activity – intensifying sometimes deadly confrontations between corporate concessions and artisanal miners in West Africa

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.

Online retail giant Amazon will invest 40 billion pounds (US$54 billion) in the United Kingdom over the next three years, the government said Tuesday, a boost for Prime Minister Keir Starmer as he struggles to kickstart the economy.

Airlines on Monday were weighing how long to suspend Middle East flights as a conflict which has already cut off major flight routes entered a new phase after the US attacked key Iranian nuclear sites and Tehran vowed to defend itself.

The US Department of Commerce is considering revoking authorizations granted in recent years to global chipmakers Samsung, SK Hynix and TSMC, making it more difficult for them to receive US goods and technology at their plants in China, according to people familiar with the matter.

Global shares rallied and the dollar extended declines on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump said Iran and Israel had agreed to a ceasefire, sending oil prices into a deep dive as concerns over supply disruptions ebbed.

Shares slipped in Asia on Monday and oil prices briefly hit five-month highs as investors anxiously waited to see if Iran would retaliate against US attacks on its nuclear sites, with resulting risks to global activity and inflation.

A US attack on Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday could lead to a knee-jerk reaction in global markets when they reopen, sending oil prices higher and triggering a rush to safety, investors said, as they assessed how the latest escalation of tensions would ripple through the global economy.

Oil prices retreated Friday while US and European stock markets gained ground as concerns over a war escalation in Iran eased.