The EU anti-trust chief on Thursday defended the bloc's decision to approve Microsoft's $69-billion takeover bid for US video game giant Activision Blizzard despite the UK's block on it.. Xbox-owner Microsoft launched a bid for Activision Blizzard early last year, seeking to establish the world's third biggest gaming firm by revenue after China's Tencent and Japan's PlayStation maker Sony.
South Korea said Thursday it had successfully launched its homegrown Nuri rocket and placed working satellites into orbit, hailing a key step forward for the country's burgeoning space programme.. It was the third launch of the Nuri, which successfully put test satellites into orbit last year after a failed 2021 attempt saw the rocket's third-stage engine burn out too early.
South Korea said Thursday it had successfully launched its homegrown Nuri rocket and placed working satellites into orbit, hailing a key step forward for the country's burgeoning space programme.. It was the third launch of the Nuri, which successfully put test satellites into orbit last year after a failed 2021 attempt saw the rocket's third-stage engine burn out too early.
South Korea launched its homegrown Nuri rocket on Thursday, officials said, a day after it was forced to postpone due to a technical glitch just hours before lift-off.. "With the success of the third launch, it signals that South Korea has a homegrown launch vehicle.
At least a dozen Armenian journalists, NGO workers and officials had their phones hacked with the notorious Pegasus spyware while the country fought with Azerbaijan, a rights group said Thursday.. Among them were Armenia's human rights chief, journalists for Radio Free Europe and a United Nations official.
Germany fell into a recession around the turn of the year, official figures published Thursday showed, as inflation and higher interest rates curbed demand in Europe's largest economy.. "A drop in purchasing power, thinned-out industrial order books as well as the impact of the most aggressive monetary policy tightening in decades" were likely to drag on the economy further, he said, referring to the European Central Bank's interest rate hikes against inflation.
Italy's nationalist government is leading the revolt against EU plans to tighten vehicle emissions limits, vowing to defend the automotive industry in a country still attached to the combustion engine.. But this week the government took the fight to planned "Euro 7" standards on pollutants, joining with seven other EU member states -- including France and Poland -- to demand Brussels scrap limits due to come into force in July 2025.
Beijing's restrictions on American chipmaker Micron in retaliation to sweeping US chip curbs marks a major step up in its response to Washington's pressure and could open the door for further measures in the geopolitical standoff, analysts say.. - 'Fuel to this fire' - China began an investigation into Micron in late March, five months after the US unveiled sweeping curbs aimed at cutting off Beijing's access to high-end chips, chipmaking equipment and software used to design semiconductors.
Brazil's congress could strip the ministries of environment and Indigenous peoples of key functions, their heads warned Wednesday.. The initiative to create a Ministry of Indigenous Peoples was welcomed by environmentalists, who consider Indigenous reserves an important tool against deforestation and climate change.
Most Asian equities sank Thursday on fears of a US default as the struggle to hammer out a debt deal led Fitch to warn the country's gold-plated credit rating was at risk.. On Wednesday, the uncertainty led Fitch to put the country's AAA-ranked credit on "rating watch negative".
