Asian markets mostly headed into the weekend on a negative note Friday following a sell-off on Wall Street, US jobs data coming in below par and a dive in oil prices fueling losses across the energy sector.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and top EU officials agreed Thursday to the broad outline of a landmark trade deal, presented as a direct challenge to the protectionism championed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

In a formerly rebel-held district of Syria's Aleppo, factory owner Karam allows himself a small smile as he watches his machines back in action, churning out plastic goods.

A 6.5-magnitude earthquake killed at least one person in the central Philippines on Thursday, with at least five more people trapped inside a collapsed commercial building, officials said.

The EU and Japan broadly agreed on a massive free trade deal Wednesday in a clear challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump days before he takes his "America First" stance to a key summit.

Eurozone finance ministers delayed the latest bailout disbursement to Greece on Wednesday awaiting clarification on a legal case against European experts who had worked on the Greek privatization program.

Airbus said Wednesday it had won a major order from China of 140 planes for $22.8 billion, during a visit by President Xi Jinping to Berlin.

European stock markets wobbled Wednesday on investor jitters over North Korea's latest sabre-rattling.

Samsung Electronics will invest nearly $18 billion in its chip business, the South Korean firm said Tuesday, as it seeks to expand its lead in the global memory chip and smartphone markets. 

Russia will start supplying gas to China through a new pipeline by the end of 2019, state gas giant Gazprom said Tuesday, as part of a mammoth $400-billion deal.