Belarus on Friday handed long jail terms to senior staff at the country's largest independent news site, which was forced to shutter after historic demonstrations against strongman Alexander Lukashenko.. Belarus also jailed two other perceived government critics on Friday.
The NATO and EU chiefs visited a North Sea gas platform on Friday as Norway's prime minister vowed to keep up deliveries after his country supplanted Russia as Europe's main supplier.. In a show of unity, Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the Troll platform.
Microsoft said on Friday that it has offered formal commitments to the EU in its bid to persuade the bloc to approve its $69-billion takeover of video game giant Activision Blizzard.. Company executive Brad Smith was in Brussels last month for talks with EU officials, after which he said he was "more optimistic" about the deal's approval but he dismissed calls for Microsoft to sell hit games like "Call Of Duty".
French President Emmanuel Macron might be on the verge of securing his cherished reform of the pension system, but analysts see it as a Pyrrhic victory that will leave him politically weakened.. "Assuming that opposition parties do not bring down the government, it's a Pyrrhic victory for Emmanuel Macron," warned Stephane Zumsteeg, head of polling in France for the Ipsos public opinion group.
The OECD raised its global economic growth forecast on Friday as inflation eases and China emerges from Covid restrictions, but warned of vulnerabilities as seen in the US bank sector turmoil.. - China upgraded - The OECD also upgraded its economic outlook for 2024, with growth of 2.9 percent compared to 2.7 percent in the previous forecast.
Protesters blocked a key highway around the French capital and escalated strikes at refineries Friday in a new show of anger after President Emmanuel Macron pushed through a contentious pension reform without a parliamentary vote.. On Friday morning, some 200 protesters briefly blocked traffic on the ring road outside the capital.
The global cryptocurrency industry has been slammed by setbacks, scandals and high-profile failures in recent months, sparking a regulatory rush to protect consumers from fraud and scams.. The global crypto market stands at more than $1 trillion and has risen sharply in recent months, although it remains far below its 2021 peak of $3 trillion.
Asian markets rose Friday, tracking New York and European equities, as traders welcomed multi-billion-dollar shows of support for troubled banks aimed at soothing concerns about contagion in the sector.. Earlier, European giant Credit Suisse said it would borrow nearly $54 billion made available by the Swiss central bank to "support" the group.
French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi announced on Thursday it would cut the US price of its most prescribed insulin by 78 percent, falling in line with two other major drug makers.. Sanofi said it would cut the list price of Lantus, its most widely prescribed insulin in the United States, by 78 percent from January 1, 2024.
Canadian private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners announced Thursday its purchase of beleaguered MindGeek which operates Pornhub, the world's biggest pornography site.. Founded in 2004, MindGeek operates a large portfolio of adult entertainment sites, including Pornhub, YouPorn, Redtube and Men.com.
