BUSINESS

Slovak Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova has sparked protests by sacking the heads of top cultural institutions

Nationalist Minister Tests Slovak Culture, LGBT Limits

Slovakia's Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova has sparked uproar by dismissing several heads of major cultural institutions and halting projects steered by LGBT+ associations under the pretext of promoting "Slovak culture".

Australia To Force Tech Titans To Pay For News

Facebook parent Meta can avoid the new tax if it voluntarily enters into commercial pacts with Australian media companies
Australia will force Meta and Google to pay for news shared on their platforms under a new scheme unveiled Thursday, threatening to tax them if they refuse to strike deals with local media.

Asian Markets Fluctuate After Wall St Record; Eyes On China

Shares in Seoul have risen for three straight days, paring the losses suffered after President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived martial law declaration
Equities swung in Asian trade Thursday following another record day on Wall Street fuelled by inflation data that reinforced expectations for a US interest rate cut next week, while traders also remained hopeful for more measures to stimulate China's economy.
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The Bank of Canada has lowered its key lending rate in a bid to help a slowing economy

Canada Central Bank Makes Half Point Rate Cut To 3.25%

Canada's central bank on Wednesday lowered its key lending rate by 50 basis points to 3.25 percent, seeking to aid a slowing economy facing uncertainty following a tariff threat from US President-elect Donald Trump.
Albertsons announced it was terminating its proposed $25 billion deal with Kroger and suing its former partner for breach of contract

Food Fight: $25 Bn US Grocery Deal Falls Apart

A proposed $25 billion supermarket mega-merger disintegrated Wednesday in bitter recriminations between Albertsons and would-be suitor Kroger following US court rulings blocking the deal.
Most AI training has been monopolized by chip juggernaut Nvidia, which has been catapulted by the AI explosion to become one of the world's most valuable companies

Google Unveils Latest AI Model, Gemini 2.0

Google on Wednesday announced the launch of Gemini 2.0, its most advanced artificial intelligence model to date, as the world's tech giants race to take the lead in the fast developing technology.
The Onion

Court Rejects The Onion's Bid To Buy Infowars

A federal judge rejected The Onion's $1.75 million bid to buy Alex Jones' Infowars, citing shortcomings in the bankruptcy auction process and concerns about insufficient funds for Sandy Hook families.
French parliament: political groups

France's Macron Races To Choose New PM

French President Emmanuel Macron raced Wednesday to meet a self-imposed 48-hour deadline to name a new prime minister after he hosted party bosses in a bid to hammer out a consensus and avoid a protracted political crisis.
An Israeli jeep returns from a foray into the UN-patrolled buffer zone along the 1974 armistice line with Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.

Israel Assuming 'Worst-case Scenario' With Syria Bombing: Analysts

Israel's bombing of Syrian military assets and its entry into the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights show it fears the worst from the end of the Assad clan's rule, analysts told AFP. "The Israeli government... is operating on a worst-case scenario with little to no nuance," said Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East specialist at Chatham House in London.
Government subsidies have been important in Germany and elsewhere in helping consumers make the switch to electric vehicles

Germany's Scholz Calls For Europe EV Subsidy Plan

Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Tuesday for a European subsidy programme for electric vehicles, as the country's flagship auto industry struggles with the transition to battery-powered cars.
The US government's Micron investment aims to bring development and production of advanced memory semiconductor technology to US shores

US Firms Up $6.2 Bn Micron Funding To Boost Chipmaking

US President Joe Biden's administration finalized nearly $6.2 billion in funding for Micron Technology on Tuesday, firming up a deal to boost domestic semiconductor production before Donald Trump returns to the White House.
A former prisoner hut at the Langenstein-Zwieberge Concentration Camp Memorial

Anger At Plan To Turn Nazi Tunnels Into Bunker For Super-rich

A German property developer has sparked outrage with a plan to turn a World War II tunnel system into a luxury bunker for rich survivalists who fear the outbreak of World War III. Relatives of the prison labourers who built it under the Nazis are aghast at the business venture that is offering a crypto-currency called "BunkerCoin" as entry tokens to the promised apocalypse shelter.

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