Asian currencies and stocks tumble as Iran war drives oil toward $115
Asian currencies and equity markets came under heavy selling pressure on Monday as the U.S. and Israeli military campaign against Iran, now entering its fifth week, continued to push oil prices higher and deepen risk aversion across the region. South Korea's Kospi plunged 4.73 percent at the open in Seoul, falling to 5,181.80, while the......
Gold holds near $3,490 as oil surge dims hopes of Fed rate cuts
Gold prices held steady near $3,490 per ounce as the final week of March drew to a close, with the precious metal caught between safe-haven demand driven by escalating Middle East tensions and downward pressure from surging oil prices that have all but erased expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts this year. Brent crude surpassed $110......
Faouzia performs at Lollapalooza Chicago with new album Film noir
Faouzia, the 26-year-old Moroccan singer, takes the stage at Lollapalooza Chicago from July 30 to August 2, 2026. The festival draws hundreds of thousands to Grant Park each year. She brings her debut studio album, Film noir, released November 7, 2025. The record includes three singles that have gained millions of streams. Born in Oujda,......
Campaign drives women's political participation in Morocco ahead of elections
A new national campaign in Morocco seeks to double women's presence in decision-making bodies by 2028. Named "Femmes au pouvoir: ton vote, ta voix," the effort launched with support from feminist associations and the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform. Women hold just 21 percent of parliamentary seats, per......
Cambodia cuts electric vehicle import duties amid global fuel price surge
Cambodia will eliminate import duties on passenger electric vehicles, reducing the rate from 35% to zero effective April 1. The government also removed duties on electric vehicle battery chargers, electric motors, lithium batteries and solar energy devices to help consumers cope with rising energy costs. The country imports all its oil and......
Oil tops 116 dollars as Iran conflict fuels record electric‑vehicle demand
The war between the United States, Israel, and Iran, along with a de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has upended global energy markets, and the ripple effects are now reshaping how consumers around the world buy cars. With Brent crude surpassing 116 dollars a barrel this week, drivers from Seoul to Stockholm are shifting toward electric......
Morgan Stanley backs memory stocks after market selloff triggered by TurboQuant
Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, unveiled TurboQuant on Tuesday, March 24, an algorithm that compresses key‑value cache memory in large language models by a factor of six—and within hours memory and storage stocks were tumbling worldwide. The announcement reignited fears that advances in AI efficiency could erode demand for one of......
Gurman calls Apple’s upcoming foldable iPhone its “most important transformation” ever
Apple is preparing what Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman calls the “most important transformation in iPhone history”: a foldable iPhone expected to be unveiled in September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro family, though it may not reach customers for several weeks or even months after launch. In his Power On newsletter, Gurman described......
Tech CEOs increasingly cite AI to justify mass layoffs
An increasing number of technology executives are using artificial intelligence as a justification for sweeping job cuts, even as their companies report record revenues. In recent weeks, leaders at Google, Amazon, Meta, Pinterest, and Atlassian have announced or signaled workforce reductions, framing these layoffs as an inevitable consequence......
The Elder Scrolls: Blades shuts down permanently on June 30, Bethesda pulls it from all platforms
Bethesda has announced that The Elder Scrolls: Blades will shut down servers and become permanently unplayable on June 30, 2026. The free‑to‑play dungeon crawler, released in 2020 for iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch, has already been removed from all digital storefronts. Because the game offers no offline mode, the closure......
China tests hybrid engine aimed at stealthier combat drones
China has successfully conducted flight tests of a hybrid propulsion system designed to make small combat drones quieter, harder to detect and capable of flying longer distances, according to a report aired Friday by CCTV‑7, the country’s military television channel. The system, rated at 60 kilowatts and tested in December, combines......
Europe's energy crisis deepens as Iran war shockwaves spread across three continents
One month into the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, the economic shockwaves of the conflict are spreading well beyond the Middle East, pressing households and industries across three continents. Iran's effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas normally flows, has triggered......
Hormuz shipping paralysis blocks a third of global fertilizer trade as food crisis deepens
Four weeks into the war between the United States, Israel and Iran, the near-total paralysis of the Strait of Hormuz has blocked one third of global seaborne fertilizer trade, triggering a price surge and prompting the United Nations to warn of a "systemic shock" to global food systems as planting seasons begin across the Northern......
Xbox's new CEO personally ended the "This is an Xbox" campaign to rebuild brand identity
Asha Sharma, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, personally decided to end the "This is an Xbox" marketing campaign shortly after taking charge of the company's gaming division, according to a report published this week by The Information. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to media that "Asha ended 'This is an Xbox' because......
FAO warns Iran war is triggering one of the fastest global food disruptions in years
The war in Iran, now entering its second month, is sending cascading economic shockwaves across Southeast Asia, where surging energy costs are rapidly translating into food insecurity and social unrest. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization warned Thursday that the conflict in the Persian Gulf "has triggered one of the......