Apple attacks EU crackdown in digital law’s biggest court test

Apple Inc. lashed out at the European Union’s attempts to tame the power of Silicon Valley in the most far-reaching legal challenge of the bloc’s Big Tech antitrust rules. The iPhone maker’s lawyer Daniel Beard told the General Court in Luxembourg on Tuesday that the Digital Markets Act “imposes hugely onerous and intrusive burdens” at odds with Apple’s rights in the EU marketplace. The DMA came onto the EU’s books in 2023 and is designed to clip the wings of the world’s largest technology platf

Oct. 21, 2025

Trump, Australia's Albanese sign critical minerals agreement

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- US President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a critical minerals agreement aimed at countering China on Monday at a meeting marked by Trump's jab at Australia's envoy to the United States over past criticism. China loomed large at the first White House summit between Trump and Albanese, with the US president also backing a strategic nuclear-powered submarine deal with Australia to bolster security in the Indo-Pacific. While Trump and Alb

Oct. 21, 2025

[Graphic News] Huawei leads global wearables market, Apple slips to 3rd

Apple lagged behind Chinese companies Xiaomi and Huawei in the global wearable market in the second quater, according to industry data from IDC. Huawei increased its shipments from 8.9 million to 9.9 million units, while Xiaomi saw a sharper rise from 5.9 million to 9.5 million, marking growth of 61 percent. Apple shipped 7.4 million Apple Watches during the quarter, up 28.8 percent from 5.7 million a year earlier. In terms of market share, Huawei led with 20.2 percent, followed by Xiaomi at 19.

Oct. 21, 2025

US-China trade war clouds global outlook as 'new normal' emerges

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- International finance chiefs are returning home with a measure of relief over the surprising resilience of the global economy to the cascade of policy shocks through the first nine months of Donald Trump's second US presidency but also drained by seemingly never-ending uncertainty over what lies ahead. When finance ministers and central bankers gathered in Washington in April for the first of the twice-yearly meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the

Oct. 20, 2025

Beijing's rare earths move is 'China vs world': Bessent

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent slammed Beijing's rare earth export curbs Wednesday as "China versus the world," vowing that Washington and its allies would "neither be commanded nor controlled." "This should be a clear sign to our allies that we must work together, and work together we will," Bessent told reporters at a press conference. "We are not going to let a group of bureaucrats in Beijing try to manage the global supply chains." His comments came as global economi

Oct. 16, 2025

US judge halts shutdown layoffs

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from firing workers during the government shutdown, saying the cuts appeared to be politically motivated and were being carried out without much thought. US District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco repeatedly pressed the assistant US attorney to explain the administration’s rationale for the more than 4,100 layoff notices that started going out Friday even though furloughed workers

Oct. 16, 2025

Shutdown could be the longest ever, House Speaker Johnson warns

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted Monday the federal government shutdown may become the longest in history, saying he “won’t negotiate” with Democrats until they hit pause on their health care demands and reopen. Standing alone at the Capitol on the 13th day of the shutdown, the speaker said he was unaware of the details of the thousands of federal workers being fired by the Trump administration. It’s a highly unusual mass layoff widely seen as way to seize on the

Oct. 14, 2025

Inflation beaten, Fed cuts rates, but prices remain high: Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation has risen in three of the last four months and is slightly higher than it was a year ago, when it helped sink then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. Yet you wouldn’t know it from listening to President Donald Trump or even some of the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve. Trump told the United Nations General Assembly late last month, “Grocery prices are down, mortgage rates are down, and inflation has been defeated.” And at a high-profile spee

Oct. 13, 2025

Truce fizzles as US-China trade tensions return to full boil

NEW YORK (AP) — For months, bubbling trade tensions between China and the US seemed to calm to a simmer, with words like “thaw” and “truce” swapped in for warnings of economic “war.” Now, hostilities appear to be returning to full boil. A series of tit-for-tat moves last week by the two superpowers has thrust trade hostilities back in the global spotlight, roiling markets and raising alarms of what might come next. “Let’s poke the bear again,” economist Aleksandar Tomic, an associate dean at Bos

Oct. 12, 2025

Trump announces new 100% China tariff, threatens to scrap Xi talks

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump announced an additional 100 percent tariff on China Friday and threatened to cancel a summit with Xi Jinping, reigniting his trade war with Beijing in a row over export curbs on rare earth minerals. Trump said the extra levies, plus US export controls on "any and all critical software," would come into effect from Nov. 1 in retaliation for what he called Beijing's "extraordinarily aggressive" moves. "It is impossible to believe that China would have taken

Oct. 11, 2025

Staffing shortages cause more US flight delays

Staffing shortages led to more flight delays at airports across the US on Tuesday as the federal government shutdown stretched into a seventh day, while union leaders for air traffic controllers and airport security screeners warned the situation was likely to get worse. The Federal Aviation Administration reported staffing issues at airports in Nashville, Boston, Dallas, Chicago and Philadelphia, and at its air traffic control centers in Atlanta, Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The agen

Oct. 9, 2025

Supreme Court lets Lisa Cook remain as Fed governor for now

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Lisa Cook to remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now, declining to act on the Trump administration’s effort to immediately remove her from the central bank. In a brief unsigned order, the high court said it would hear arguments in January over Republican President Donald Trump’s effort to force Cook off the Fed board. The court will consider whether to block a lower-court ruling in Cook’s favor while her challenge to her firing by Tru

Oct. 2, 2025

US government shutdown takes hold with mass layoffs looming

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government was thrown into a shutdown Wednesday with no easy endgame in sight, as Democrats held firm to their demands to salvage health care subsidies that US President Donald Trump and Republican in Congress have dismissed as something to possibly discuss later. The White House threatened mass layoffs of federal workers, rather than simply the normal furloughs, in a matter of days, seizing the chance to slash government. Blame was being cast on all sides. No new t

Oct. 2, 2025

US shutdown begins as partisan division rules Washington

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The US government shut down much of its operations Wednesday as deep partisan divisions prevented Congress and the White House from reaching a funding deal, setting off what could be a long, grueling standoff that could lead to the loss of thousands of federal jobs. There was no clear path out of the impasse, while agencies warned that the 15th government shutdown since 1981 would halt the release of a closely watched September employment report, slow air travel, suspend

Oct. 1, 2025

Amazon refreshes device lineup to integrate AI-powered Alexa+

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -- Amazon on Tuesday unveiled a refreshed lineup of devices optimized for home security and its new artificial intelligence-infused Alexa+ voice assistant. At an event in New York, Amazon showed off Echo speakers, Fire TV streaming devices, a new Kindle reader and improved Ring and Blink cameras, which will be available later this year. Amazon is trying to drive interest in the new Alexa, after investing billions of dollars and years updating it with AI for better persona

Oct. 1, 2025