SHANGHAI (AFP) -- He may now be China's richest man but Jack Ma, the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, has admitted in a US television interview that being so wealthy is actually causing him "great pain". Ma has seen his fortune balloon to $19.5 billion after Alibaba's record-breaking $25 billion initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in September, according to data compiled by Forbes magazine.On Tuesday, the company chalked up a new record -- $9.3 billion of sales conducted t

LONDON (AFP) -- YouTube has struck a deal with a group of independent record labels for a new subscription service to rival Spotify and Apple's Beats Music, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.The Google-owned online media service came to an agreement with rights agency Merlin following months of negotiations, the newspaper said, citing sources familiar with the matter.Contacted by AFP, Merlin declined to comment on the report.Record labels representing 95 percent of the music industry hav

Regulators in the U.S., Britain and Switzerland ordered five banks to pay about $3.3 billion in the first wave of penalties since authorities began a global probe into the rigging of key foreign-exchange benchmarks last year.Switzerland’s UBS AG was ordered to pay the most at $800 million, according to statements from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority. Citigroup Inc. will pay $668 million, fol

DARMSTADT, Germany (AP) -- The European Space Agency's unmanned Rosetta probe successfully released a lander toward the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on Wednesday, putting it on its final seven-hour journey to a historic rendezvous with the fast-moving lump of dust and ice.The audacious landing attempt is the climax of a decade-long mission to study the 4-kilometer wide comet, which is traveling at 41,000 mph (66,000 kph). It is also the end of a 6.4 billion-kilometer journey on whi

TOKYO (AP) -- A man died after setting himself on fire in a public park in apparent protest over Japan's military policies, media reports say.Responding to reports of a fire, a police officer found the man engulfed in flames in central Tokyo's Hibiya Park, Kyodo News Agency said. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.Notes addressed to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and legislative leaders were found near the burning body, the Asahi newspaper said, citing investigators. The notes cr

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) -- Malian authorities on Wednesday reported two new deaths from Ebola that are not believed to be linked to the nation's only other known case, an alarming setback as Mali tries to limit the epidemic ravaging other countries in the region.The announcement in this city of about 2 million came just a day after Malian health authorities said there had been no other reported cases -- let alone deaths -- after a 2-year-old girl who had traveled to Mali from Guinea succumbed to the v

ZHUHAI, China (AFP) - China's new stealth jet fighter rocketed skywards Wednesday as Beijing puts on an unprecedented display of openness -- and military force -- at the country's premier airshow.The black J-31 rose in a nearly vertical climb on take-off in Zhuhai before circling back and doing two rolls, in the aircraft's first announced public appearance.The plane's existence has been the subject of rumour and speculation for years, with photographs appearing increasingly frequently on militar

South Korea on Wednesday called for Japan to explain why it had barred entry to a Korean pop star who recently performed on a set of islets claimed by Seoul and Tokyo.Lee Seung-Chul, 47, was held at Japan's Haneda Airport for hours on Sunday before eventually being sent back to Seoul. According to Lee, a Tokyo immigration official initially told him the ban was related to a "recent event" reported in the media."Then I instantly knew it was about Dokdo ... and knew Japan was exacting its revenge,

North Korea's recent release of two American detainees will not affect the United States' push to denuclearize Pyongyang and improve the human rights situation in the communist nation, the U.S. special envoy on North Korean human rights issues said Wednesday."We are very happy that American citizens who had been detained in North Korea have been released when Director of National Intelligence (James) Clapper was there," Robert King said in a meeting with reporters.He said, however, that the rele

LA PAZ  (AFP) -- Bolivia's indigenous President Evo Morales was widely expected to win a third term in power in elections Sunday, along with a legislative majority that would permit him to push through his leftist reforms.Six million Bolivians were casting ballots in the presidential and congressional polls, which would likely expose the weakness of a fragmented opposition.Voting -- which is compulsory -- began on schedule at 8:00 am and was to end at 4:00 pm. Alcohol consumption was prohibited

ABU DHABI (AFP) -- Masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci and Vincent van Gogh will be among 300 works displayed at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Emirate said Sunday, as it aims to become a leader in fine art.The museum, built at a cost of 500 million euros ($630 million) and set to open in December 2015, will feature paintings and sculptures from 13 of France's most renowned collections spanning from pre-Bronze Age to Pop Art, it said in a statement."This will be the first time many of these works will

SHANGHAI (AFP) -- Roger Federer edged a resilient Gilles Simon of France 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/2) to win the Shanghai Masters and claim the 81st title of his career on Sunday.The 17-time Grand Slam winner had blown away world number one Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals but he found a stubborn opponent in Simon at Shanghai's QiZhong Tennis Centre.And the 33-year-old needed two tie-breaks before dousing Simon to making it back-to-back Masters victories following his win in Cincinnati in August.The Sw

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- A Texas health care worker who treated an Ebola victim has tested positive for the deadly tropical fever, dealing a blow to the worldwide battle to stem the outbreak.More than 4,000 people have died of Ebola in seven countries since the start of the year, according to the World Health Organization, and the epidemic appears to be outpacing efforts to fight it.If preliminary test results are confirmed, the Texas patient would be the second person diagnosed with the illness and

CAIRO (AFP) -- US Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday called for a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, saying both sides had to be helped to make "tough choices" for lasting stability."Ceasefire is not peace," Kerry told a donors' conference aimed at raising some $4 billion to help the war-torn Gaza Strip rebuild after a 50-day war with Israel in the summer."We got to get back to the table and help people make tough choices, real choices ... choices about more than just a ceasefire,"

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters have an "almost zero chance" of changing Beijing's stance and securing free elections despite more than two weeks of rallies, the city's embattled leader Leung Chun-ying said Sunday.Demonstrators calling for Beijing to grant full democracy to the former British colony have paralysed parts of Hong Kong, prompting clashes with elements who oppose the blockades and widespread disruption.Despite repeated orders to disperse, the rallies have tak

ANA Holdings Inc. and Japan Airlines Co., the nation's two largest carriers, canceled more flights today as typhoon winds disrupted travel for a second week.Typhoon Vongfong prompted ANA to cancel 101 flights, affecting about 16,600 passengers, the airline said in a faxed statement. Japan Airlines halted 49 flights today and five tomorrow, it said by fax. The storm weakened after crossing Okinawa, Japan's southernmost prefecture, with winds gusting to 70 knots (130 kilometers per hour), accordin

WASHINGTON (AP) -- World financial leaders are pledging to act boldly and ambitiously to give a weak and uneven global recovery some momentum, but they have often fallen short in the past when trying to follow through on their promises.The pledge from the International Monetary Fund's policy-setting committee comes after a week of volatile swings in the financial markets _ powered by concerns that parts of Europe may be sliding into another recession.The IMF called increasing economic growth an

CAIRO (AP) --  The United States promised $212 million in immediate assistance to the devastated Gaza Strip on Sunday yet urged Palestinians and Israelis to return to peace negotiations to break a cycle of violence that has yielded three wars in six years.People in Gaza "need our help desperately _ not tomorrow, not next week, but they need it now,'' U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said at an international donor conference. He said more than 20,000 homes need to be rebuilt and 100,000 people

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- A Texas health care worker who treated a man who later died of Ebola has tested positive for the disease in a preliminary test, doctors said Sunday, the second person to be diagnosed with the illness on US soil."We knew a second case could be a reality, and we've been preparing for this possibility," said Dr David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services."We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spr

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- The Dutch team investigating the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Eastern Ukraine says the crash was likely caused by the plane being hit by multiple ``high-energy objects from outside the aircraft.'' The preliminary report published Tuesday by the Dutch Safety Board stopped short of saying the Boeing 777 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile, but its findings appear to point to that conclusion.The Boeing 777 was blown out of the sky July 17 over reb