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ROME, Italy (AFP) — The global cost of cybercrime topped $6 trillion last year, as the coronavirus pandemic caused online activity to soar, the head of Italian defence, security and aerospace giant Leonardo said Tuesday. “New cybersecurity threats over the last two years have been a ‘collateral damage’ of the Covid-19 pandemic and the acceleration of digitalisation it induced,” Alessandro Profumo said at the opening of the Cybertech Europe 2022 conference in Rome. “Cyberattacks have […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Bitcoin slumped below $30,000 for the first time since July 2021 on Tuesday as cryptocurrencies track sinking markets with investors spooked by aggressive US monetary tightening and surging inflation. The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value fell as low as $29,764 in Tuesday trade, before recovering above $30,000, extending a recent collapse in price as investors desert assets viewed as risky. Bitcoin’s value has more than halved since a November surge […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Stock markets and oil prices fell in holiday-thinned trade Monday as traders digested weak Chinese economic data and a looming US interest rate hike. Equities kicked off the month of May on the wrong foot after Wall Street finished a tough April by closing sharply down on Friday following disappointing results from tech giant Amazon. Paris and Frankfurt were down in midday trading while London was closed for a bank […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics posted a 58.57 percent rise in first-quarter net profits on Thursday, largely driven by steady memory chip demand and brisk smartphone sales. The world’s biggest memory-chip maker is the flagship subsidiary of the giant Samsung group, by far the largest of the family-controlled empires known as chaebols that dominate business in South Korea, Asia’s fourth largest economy. The conglomerate is crucial to the South’s […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia’s energy giant Gazprom said Wednesday it had stopped all gas supplies to Poland and highly dependent Bulgaria after not receiving payment in rubles from the two EU members. President Vladimir Putin last month said Russia will only accept payment for deliveries in its national currency, with buyers required to set up ruble accounts or have their taps turned off. Gazprom said in a statement it notified Bulgaria’s state-owned gas […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, struck a deal Monday to buy Twitter for $44 billion, capping a saga complete with hostile takeover threats before delivering him personal control of one of the most influential social media platforms on the planet. Twitter famously served as a megaphone for former US president Donald Trump before the platform banned him, and Musk — a self-proclaimed “free-speech absolutist” — has […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — World oil prices sank more than five percent Monday on fears that China’s worsening Covid outbreak could slam demand from the major energy consumer. Europe’s benchmark contract Brent North Sea crude fell as low as $101.20 per barrel and US WTI oil dropped to $96.85. China is struggling to get a grip on a renewed Covid outbreak that has forced Shanghai — the country’s biggest city — into lockdown […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Oil began inching upward on Thursday after a day of losses over demand concerns linked to the Covid-19 lockdown in China. Ongoing restrictions in the country, including in the economic hub of Shanghai where tens of millions are confined to their homes, have hit transport networks but traders are balancing the demand shock alongside threats to supply caused by the war in Ukraine with European Union countries mulling bans […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Asian markets were flat on Wednesday as oil began clawing its way back up from a big drop after the International Monetary Fund downgraded its global growth forecast for 2022. The IMF lowered its outlook to 3.6 percent — a 0.8 percentage point slash from its previous estimate released in January — prompting a five-percent dive in oil prices on Tuesday. The Fund pointed to surging energy prices, rising […]
by Beiyi SEOW Agence France Presse China’s economic growth accelerated in the first quarter of the year to 4.8 percent, official data showed Monday, but the government warned of “significant challenges” ahead while massive Covid-19 lockdowns started to bite. The world’s second-biggest economy had lost steam in the latter half of last year with a property slump and regulatory crackdowns, pulling down growth. But it exceeded expectations in the first three months of 2022, […]
by Beiyi SEOW Agence France Presse Several electronics companies, including iPhone and Macbook makers, have halted production in the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Kunshan, adding to supply chain woes under Beijing’s strict zero-Covid measures. The business hub of Shanghai has become the heart of China’s biggest Covid-19 outbreak since the virus surfaced more than two years ago. The city of 25 million has remained almost entirely locked down since the start of the […]
by Robin MILLARD Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Russia’s war in Ukraine could almost halve world trade growth this year and drag down global GDP growth too, the World Trade Organization projected Monday. The WTO said that the Russian invasion had not only created a humanitarian crisis of “immense proportions” but had also dealt a “severe blow” to the global economy. It also said that in the longer term, the conflict could […]
