BUSINESS

The $8.6-billion facility in the southern Kumamoto region showcases TSMC's efforts to make some of its strategically crucial chips elsewhere than hotspot Taiwan, as well as Japan's push to revive its once-dominant semiconductor sector.

Output is now seen expanding by a mere 0.2 percent this year, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said at a Berlin press conference. Last autumn, the government was still expecting 1.3 percent growth.

A government probe reported by media last month said about 30 percent of mineral water sold in France had undergone purification treatment only meant to be used on tap water.

The Asia-focused lender and its peers have been buoyed by rising interest rates for more than a year, but are bracing for greater economic uncertainties in 2024.

It is the second probe into a major online platform since Brussels introduced the Digital Services Act (DSA), after targeting tech billionaire Elon Musk's X in December.

China has struggled to kickstart growth as it battles a prolonged property sector downturn, soaring youth unemployment and a global slowdown that has hammered demand for goods from the world's second-largest economy.

Acquisition of Discover will help "build a payments network that can compete with the largest payments networks and payments companies," said Capital One founder and CEO Richard Fairbank in a statement.

With its C919 aircraft, Beijing wants to challenge the decades-long dominance of top plane-makers Airbus and Boeing while reducing its reliance on foreign technology.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has vowed to bar US petroleum giant ExxonMobil from the waters off the oil-rich region of Essequibo, which Caracas claims from Guyana as its own.

Domestic spending on entertainment, dining and travel soared during this year's "Golden Week", which officially ended on Saturday, according to a statement from Beijing's Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Sunday.

JPMorgan Asset Management, which manages $3.1 trillion in assets, has not renewed its membership in Climate Action 100+, saying through a spokesperson that it will oversee its stewardship on climate change with companies with its bank staff.

The Fed swiftly raised and then held its benchmark lending rate in a largely successful bid to bring inflation down from multi-decade highs towards its long-term target of two percent.

The group, which delivered 735 aircraft last year despite supply chain problems, said it plans to deliver about 800 in 2024. It reached the mark in 2018 before the pandemic battered the aviation industry.

Once forecast to become the world's biggest economy, Japan slipped below Germany last year to fourth place, official data showed Thursday, although India is projected to leapfrog both later this decade.

Although the Frankfurt-based ECB has held rates steady so far in 2024, it is widely expected to begin cutting rates later this year in the face of slowing consumer prices and a weakening eurozone economy.

While economists predicted that the recession could be short-lived, the data is a big setback for Sunak, who has placed economic growth as a key priority.

Since Elon Musk's turbulent 2022 acquisition of X, formerly Twitter, the site has restored thousands of once-banned accounts and introduced a paid verification system that critics say has boosted conspiracy theorists.

Beer volume overall dipped by 4.7 percent, with 60 percent of that decline driven by sharp falls in Nigeria and Vietnam, the firm said.

Higher gas and electricity bills were the main upward contributor to the rate, but this was offset by falling prices for furniture, food and non-alcoholic beverages.

One reason for the more ambitious outlook is net gains on investments at Sony's life insurance business, the company said, announcing a plan to take its financial services division public in October 2025.

The commission announced in September that 22 "core" services provided by the designated gatekeepers -- Google's Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, TikTok parent ByteDance, Facebook owner Meta and Microsoft -- met the thresholds for mandatory compliance.

Several issues remain stuck in the weeds ahead of the World Trade Organization's biennial ministerial meeting, as anxiety swells over the impact that geopolitical tensions and the looming US elections could have on global trade.

The cryptocurrency has enjoyed a strong run in recent months, fueled by expectations US lawmakers would allow the creation of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track the price and let the public invest in crypto without directly purchasing it.

The mystery vessel capsized Wednesday in waters off the Caribbean island, having made no emergency calls, with no sign of crew, and no clear sign of ownership.

The Israel-Hamas war raging since October has already hit the Middle East and North Africa region's economy, said the International Monetary Fund's managing director Kristalina Georgieva.

The group said its 22,000 employees worldwide would get a 4,000-euro bonus early this year as part of "its policy of sharing the fruits of growth with all those who contribute to it on a daily basis".

An Australian man went on trial in London this week over his claims of inventing bitcoin -- not the first time someone has been linked to being the cryptocurrency's enigmatic creator.

After much wrangling between Berlin and Paris, the 27 member states struck a deal in December and then began talks with negotiators from the European Parliament.

Officials have struggled for months to kickstart economic growth as they battle a range of headwinds, including a prolonged property-sector crisis, soaring youth unemployment and a global slowdown that is hammering demand for Chinese goods.