A fresh offering of shares in Saudi Aramco, the Gulf kingdom's largely state-owned oil behemoth, comes at a pivotal moment for sweeping economic reforms that have struggled to lure foreign investment.

The sale of 1.545 billion shares, expected to begin trading next week, could fetch nearly $12 billion –- a short-term boon for officials working to finance everything from luxury resorts to football stadiums and a planned desert megacity known as NEOM.

Global shares traded mixed Wednesday, as investors weighed recent data highlighting a slowing U.S. economy that offers both upsides and downsides for Wall Street.

France's CAC 40 rose 0.4% to 7,966.52, while Germany's DAX surged 0.6% to 18,516.05. Britain's FTSE 100 edged up 0.2% to 8,249.33. The future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2% and the S&P 500 future rose 0.1%.

People have been queuing Wednesday outside the Bank of England's headquarters in London and at post offices around the U.K. to get their hands on the first U.K. banknotes featuring the portrait of King Charles III.

The portrait of the king will appear on all four banknotes issued by the Bank of England — 5, 10, 20 and 50 pounds — with no other alterations to the existing designs. The notes will coexist alongside those featuring his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, whom he succeeded as monarch on her death in September 2022.

The far-right Flemish Interest party had set up the demonstration in the picture-pretty rolling fields south of Brussels, ahead of the four-day European Union election starting Thursday. The goal was clear: Decrying how farmers would lose fertile land to what they see as overbearing environmentalists trying to turn it into a chain of woods, killing off a traditional way of life.

It was also another show how agriculture has been instrumentalized by the populist and hard right groups throughout the 27-nation bloc.

U.S. markets drifted lower before the bell Tuesday as investors await a trove of labor market data this week.

Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell about 0.3% before the bell.

South Korea will expand development aid to Africa and pursue deeper cooperation with the region of 1.3 billion people on critical minerals and technology, President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday as he hosted dozens of African leaders in the inaugural Korea-Africa Summit.

In a speech, Yoon urged African countries to take firmer steps in an international pressure campaign against North Korea. The North recently accelerated its tests of nuclear-capable weapons systems and flew hundreds of balloons to drop tons of trash and manure on South Korea as relations between the war-divided Koreas worsen.

Brazil has hundreds of millions of cows, but one in particular is extraordinary. Her massive, snow-white body is watched over by security cameras, a veterinarian and an armed guard.

Worth $4 million, Viatina-19 FIV Mara Movéis is the most expensive cow ever sold at auction, according to Guinness World Records. That's three times more than the last recordholder's price. And — at 1,100 kilograms (more than 2,400 pounds) — she's twice as heavy as an average adult of her breed.

Dozens of men have attacked two restaurants in Baghdad including a KFC, security officials said, as calls grow to boycott U.S. brands over Israel's war in Gaza.

The incident is the latest in a series of attacks targeting Western-linked brands in Iraq that started last week.

The cost of your next flight is likely to go up.

That's the word from the International Air Transport Association, which held its annual meeting Monday in Dubai, home to the long-haul carrier Emirates.

Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda apologized Monday for massive cheating on certification tests for seven vehicle models as the automaker suspended production of three of them.

The wide-ranging faulty testing at Japan's top automaker involved the use of inadequate or outdated data in collision tests, and incorrect testing of airbag inflation and rear-seat damage in crashes. Engine power tests also were found to have been falsified.