BUSINESS

Eurozone growth slowed to a halt in the fourth quarter last year, dragged by contractions in major powers Germany and France which were held back by economic headwinds and political instability.

The French economy grew 1.1 percent in 2024 but shrank in the fourth quarter as a political crisis gripped the country after a boost from the Paris Olympic Games, official data showed Thursday.

Fed up with paying ever increasing prices at grocery stores and shopping outlets, Croatians have begun channeling their anger into a nascent boycott movement targeting retailers that shows signs of spreading across the Balkans.

Britain's vehicle production slid below one million units last year as the sector transitions to electric cars, an industry body said Thursday as it warned over US President Donald Trump's tariff threats.

Despite US President Donald Trump's sabre-rattling, the European Central Bank is set to press on with interest rate cuts Thursday as officials increasingly voice confidence that the fight against inflation is on track.

Israel will cut ties with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Thursday following accusations it provided cover for Hamas militants, a move likely to hamper delivery of its vital services after 15 months of war in Gaza.

A regional passenger plane from Kansas crashed into Washington's chilly Potomac River after colliding mid-air with a military helicopter near Reagan National Airport on Wednesday, officials said, prompting a major emergency response and grounding of all flights.

Israel and Hamas were set to carry out their third hostage-prisoner exchange on Thursday, with three Israelis and five Thai captives slated for release as part of a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the Gaza war.

Asian equities were mixed in another holiday-thinned trading day Thursday, with investors digesting broadly positive tech earnings that came days after the upheaval caused by China's DeepSeek explosion onto the global AI scene.

Social media giant Meta on Wednesday reported surging profits and revenue for 2024, announcing ambitious plans to expand its artificial intelligence infrastructure in the year ahead.

Tesla reported lower than expected profits Wednesday, citing declining vehicle prices as a factor as it projected a return to volume growth in 2025.

Microsoft on Wednesday reported profits of $24.1 billion in the recently ended quarter, but shares slid on worries over its vital cloud computing business.

Syria's new authorities announced Wednesday that Ahmed al-Sharaa, who took the helm after Bashar al-Assad's ouster last month, has been appointed interim president and tasked with forming a transitional legislature, state media reported.

Alibaba has launched Qwen 2.5-Max, an upgraded AI model it claims outperforms OpenAI's GPT-40, DeepSeek-V3, and Meta's Llama-3.1-405B, reported Yahoo! Finance.

Truth.Fi, is a new investment brand focused on investment products and decentralized finance including cryptocurrency.

The emergence of the DeepSeek chatbot has sent Silicon Valley into a frenzy, with calls to go faster on advancing artificial intelligence and beat communist-led China before it is too late.

Dozens of Romanian security contractors in the eastern DR Congo crossed the border into neighbouring Rwanda on Wednesday to surrender to authorities following days of deadly fighting, according to Kigali.

Donald Trump's commerce secretary nominee said Wednesday that he favors "across-the-board" tariffs and a country-based approach rather than targeting products, signaling a hawkish China stance as he addressed US lawmakers on the president's punishing trade agenda.

Spain's top prosecutor on Wednesday denied leaking legal documents about the partner of the Madrid region's influential conservative leader, legal sources said, a case embarrassing Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Japanese electronics and entertainment giant Sony Group said Wednesday that it has promoted Hiroki Totoki to chief executive officer as part of a wider management reorganization.

19 state attorneys general have called on Costco to eliminate its DEI policies, claiming they constitute unlawful discrimination.

The Spanish economy expanded 3.2 percent last year thanks to buoyant exports and consumption that have made it one of the fastest-growing developed countries, official data showed on Wednesday.

With around six million dollars and a stockpile of chips acquired before Washington banned their export to China, startup DeepSeek has produced what Chinese tech titans couldn't -- a world-class AI chatbot.

Tesla is set to report earnings Wednesday for the first time since President Donald Trump -- a close ally of CEO Elon Musk -- returned to the White House.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr faces a pivotal Senate hearing Wednesday where he will be grilled on his history of promoting vaccine misinformation and plans to upend US science agencies as he bids to become President Donald Trump's health secretary.

After three interest rate cuts in a row, the US Federal Reserve is expected to take a breather on Wednesday and signal it will remain on pause until the data changes, despite pressure to cut from President Donald Trump.

Hollywood star Renee Zellweger on Wednesday will mark the return of Bridget Jones -- the Chardonnay-swigging, calorie-counting hapless 1990s singleton -- at the world premiere of the franchise's upcoming film "Mad About the Boy".

Taiwan will consider supporting its domestic industry the government said Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump warned he will soon place tariffs on overseas-made semiconductor chips.

US export controls on high-tech chips may have inadvertently fuelled the success of start-up DeepSeek's AI chatbot, sparking fears in Washington there could be little it can do to stop China in the push for global dominance in AI. The firm, based in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, has stunned investors and industry insiders with its R1 programme, which can match its American competitors seemingly at a fraction of the cost.