China released statistics on Friday that suggested stronger industrial activity but weaker consumer growth. April retail sales up 2.3% over the same month last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. That was less than the 3.1% rate recorded in March and less than the 3.8% gain predicted by a Reuters poll. April’s industrial…
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority had earlier sought opinions on whether Microsoft’s AI relationship with Mistral qualified as a merger before finding no regulatory objections to the partnership. The transaction “does not qualify for investigation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002,” the CMA stated in a brief statement on Friday. Microsoft…
Microsoft has allegedly encouraged China-based cloud computing and artificial intelligence operations personnel to consider migrating out of the country, as Washington pushes down on Beijing’s access to the advanced technology. The Wall Street Journal published the story on Thursday, citing unidentified sources to claim that the employees, who were primarily Chinese engineers, had been given…
China’s Baidu exceeded analysts’ forecasts for first-quarter revenue on Thursday, thanks to increased demand for its AI-powered cloud solutions and a rebound in ad sales. The business, which operates the biggest search engine in China, reported revenue for the three months ended March 31 of 31.51 billion yuan ($4.37 billion), which was higher than the…
Citing “a profound effect on American life,” a group of TikTok producers filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court on Tuesday, attempting to thwart a bill signed by President Joe Biden that would require the divestment of the 170 million-user app or outright prohibit it. A Texas Marine Corps veteran who sells ranch products, a…
According to private work by UN sanctions monitors reviewed by Reuters on Tuesday, North Korea laundered $147.5 million through virtual currency platform Tornado Cash in March after obtaining it from a cryptocurrency exchange last year. In a paper sent in on Friday, the monitors informed the sanctions committee of the U.N. Security Council that they…
At a hearing examining a video of a bishop being stabbed, an attorney for the cyber regulator stated that while Elon Musk’s X has rules to remove dangerous content when it so chooses, it shouldn’t be able to disregard Australian law in determining what may be watched there. An eSafety Commissioner decision to erase 65…
As development slows and pressures from overcapacity mount, European businesses in China are finding it more difficult to turn a profit, according to a poll issued on Friday by the EU Chamber of Commerce in China. According to chapter director Carlo D’Andrea, company members in Shanghai even complained payment delays since it was harder to…
Shell revealed a $7.7 billion first-quarter profit, significantly above analysts’ projections following interruptions in the Red Sea and Russia that boosted oil trading and refining. The business said that it will repurchase an additional $3.5 billion of its shares at a rate comparable to that of the previous quarter over the course of the following…
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