U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer formally signed a tech partnership Thursday to strengthen cooperation in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and nuclear energy.

"It is the biggest investment package of its kind in British history," Starmer said at his country residence Chequers during Trump's UK state visit, calling the agreement "groundbreaking."

Protesters hit France with transport strikes, notably hobbling the Paris Metro, demonstrations and traffic slowdowns and blockades Thursday, pitting the power of the streets against President Emmanuel Macron 's government and its proposals to cut funding for public services that underpin the French way of life.

The first whiffs of police teargas came before daybreak, with scuffles between riot officers and protesters in Paris. Nationwide demonstrations, from France's biggest cities to small towns, were expected to mobilize hundreds of thousands of marchers, voicing anger about mounting poverty, sharpening inequality and struggles for low-paid workers and others to make ends meet.

ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show indefinitely beginning Wednesday after comments that he made about Charlie Kirk's killing led a group of ABC-affiliated stations to say it would not air the show and provoked some ominous comments from a top federal regulator.

The veteran late-night comic, made several remarks about the reaction to the conservative activist's assassination last week on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Monday and Tuesday nights, including that "many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk."

France announced Wednesday that it has selected the Iranian director Jafar Panahi's Palme d'Or-winning drama "It Was Just an Accident" as its submission to the Academy Awards.

Ben & Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield is leaving the ice cream brand after 47 years, saying that the independence it once had to speak up on social issues has been stifled by its parent company Unilever.

In a letter, which co-founder Ben Cohen posted on social media on Greenfield's behalf, Greenfield said he could not "in good conscience" remain at Ben & Jerry's — citing a loss of independence to Unilever, which he said had once agreed to give Ben & Jerry's autonomy around its social mission when it acquired the brand more than two decades ago.

Cristiano Ronaldo was rested Wednesday but Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr kicked off its Asian campaign with a 5-0 victory over Istiklol of Tajikistan.

Israeli fighter jets over the Red Sea launched ballistic missiles to target Hamas leaders in Qatar last week, a U.S. defense official said, in what was a novel method likely designed to overcome the energy-rich country's air defenses and avoid entering any Mideast nation's airspace.

The Sept. 9 attack, which killed six people in Qatar's capital, Doha, upended months of diplomacy mediated by the Arabian Peninsula nation to reach a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war that has devastated the Gaza Strip over nearly two years. About a week after the missile launch, Israel began a ground offensive targeting Gaza City. That has reignited anger in the region over the war, while the Doha attack has raised fears in other countries that they, too, could be struck.

European officials told Iran on Wednesday it had yet to take the actions needed to stop the return of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear program, warning time was running out.

Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan have signed a mutual defense pact that defines any attack on either nation as an attack on both — a key accord in the wake of Israel's strike on Qatar last week.

The kingdom has long had close economic, religious and security ties to Pakistan, including reportedly providing funding for Islamabad's nuclear weapons program as it developed. Analysts — and Pakistani diplomats in at least one case — have suggested over the years that Saudi Arabia could be included under Islamabad's nuclear umbrella, particularly as tensions have risen over Iran's atomic program.

After the pomp, it's time for the politics.

President Donald Trump will meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday, the final day of the U.S. leader's state visit to Britain, with tech investment, steel tariffs and potentially tricky topics on the agenda.