Breaking News, Business, Financial and Economic News, World News from EconoTimes

Become a contributor

Bookmark Econotimes

Fri, Apr 18, 2025 06:14 PM All times are UTC

Follow Series

©Econometrics LLC 2025. All Rights Reserved.

Ben Egliston

PhD candidate in Media and Communications, University of Sydney
I am a PhD candidate and sessional lecturer at the University of Sydney in the Department of Media and Communications. I research and teach about games and new media. My current research is focused on user experience in games.

Sorry gamers, Nintendo’s hefty Switch 2 price tag signals the new normal – and it might still go up

Apr 12, 2025 09:56 am UTC| Insights & Views Business

Last week, Nintendo announced the June 5 release of its long anticipated Switch 2. But the biggest talking point wasnt the consoles launch titles or features. At US$449 in the United States, and A$699 in Australia, many...

Is the metaverse really the future of work?

Oct 24, 2022 17:22 pm UTC| Insights & Views Technology

According to Mark Zuckerberg, the metaverse which the Meta founder describes as an embodied internet, where instead of just viewing content you are in it will radically change our lives. So far, Metas main metaverse...

Facebook relaunches itself as 'Meta' in a clear bid to dominate the metaverse

Oct 31, 2021 23:36 pm UTC| Technology

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has announced the company will change its name to Meta, saying the move reflects the fact the company is now much broader than just the social media platform (which will still be...

Sure, video games want to get you hooked on spending. But there's no evidence they can manipulate you

May 09, 2021 09:10 am UTC| Health

The ABCs latest Four Corners report is an investigation into how videogames are deliberately designed to get people hooked. It describes the use of gambling-like loot boxes in games, the hotly debated notion of...

Gamers use machine learning to navigate complex video games – but it's not free

May 25, 2019 06:46 am UTC| Insights & Views Technology

Some of the worlds most popular video games track your activity as you play but theyre not just gathering data for business or marketing purposes. Theyre accumulating information about the way you and others play the...

Economy

Malaysia’s Q1 GDP Grows 4.4%, U.S. Exports Surge Amid Tariff Concerns

Malaysias economy expanded by 4.4% year-on-year in Q1 2025, according to official advance estimates released Friday. While slower than the 5% growth recorded in Q4 2024, the economy remained resilient amid global...

Japan’s Inflation Rises as U.S. Tariff Risks Weigh on BOJ Policy

Japans core inflation rose in March, driven by persistent food cost increases, complicating the Bank of Japans (BOJ) path toward further rate hikes amid growing concerns over U.S. trade tariffs. The core consumer price...

Gold Pulls Back from Record Highs After Fed's Hawkish Signals and Profit-Taking

Gold prices dipped on Thursday in Asian trading after briefly hitting another record high, as investors took profits and digested hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Spot gold fell 0.7% to...

Oil Prices Climb on Iran Sanctions, OPEC Output Cuts, and U.S. Inventory Data

Oil prices rose on Thursday amid growing concerns of supply tightening after the U.S. imposed new sanctions to restrict Iranian oil exports and several OPEC members pledged to cut output to address overproduction. Brent...

Dollar Set for Fourth Weekly Loss as Tariff Worries and Safe-Haven Demand Grow

The U.S. dollar is poised for its fourth straight weekly loss as investor concerns over tariffs and trade uncertainty drive a shift away from U.S. assets. Despite a slight rebound from a seven-month low against the yen,...

Politics

US and Ukraine Sign Memorandum to Boost Critical Mineral Partnership

Ukraine and the United States have signed a memorandum of intent to advance cooperation on mineral resource development, paving the way for a broader Economic Partnership Agreement. The deal, strongly backed by U.S....

Paris Talks Signal Stronger European Role in Ukraine Peace Efforts

Talks in Paris involving U.S. officials Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, Ukraine, and Europes key powersFrance, Britain, and Germanymarked a significant step toward a more united European approach to Ukraines future. A...

LA28 Olympic Visa Concerns Eased After USOPC Meets Trump Officials

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) received strong reassurances from the White House regarding visa support for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, USOPC Chair Gene Sykes said on Thursday. This follows...

Senator Murkowski Warns of Trump Retaliation, Voices Concern Over GOP Policies

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska expressed deep concern this week over the fear of political retaliation from President Donald Trump, revealing it makes her anxious to speak out against his policies. Speaking at...

Trump May Abandon Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks Without Swift Progress

U.S. President Donald Trump is prepared to withdraw from efforts to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal within days unless tangible progress is made, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday. Speaking in Paris...

Science

Kennedy Sets September Deadline to Uncover Autism Causes Amid Controversy

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a bold plan to identify the cause of autism by September 2025. Speaking at a cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump, Kennedy declared a global...

AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi Gets US Approval for Bladder Cancer Treatment

AstraZenecas drug Imfinzi (NASDAQ: AZN) has received U.S. approval to treat adult patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, a significant advancement in cancer therapy. The approval allows Imfinzi to be used in...

Sanofi’s New Hemophilia Drug Qfitlia Gains FDA Approval with Breakthrough Bimonthly Dosing

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Qfitlia, a groundbreaking hemophilia treatment by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY). Designed for patients aged 12 and older with hemophilia A or B,...

FDA Vaccine Chief Peter Marks Resigns Amid Controversy Over Transparency

Peter Marks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) top vaccine official, has resigned after reportedly being forced out by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to The Wall Street Journal....

Museums have tons of data, and AI could make it more accessible − but standardizing and organizing it across fields won’t be easy

Ice cores in freezers, dinosaurs on display, fish in jars, birds in boxes, human remains and ancient artifacts from long gone civilizations that few people ever see museum collections are filled with all this and more....

Technology

Nvidia Faces $5.5B Hit as U.S. Restricts H20 AI Chip Exports to China

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) announced it will incur $5.5 billion in charges after the U.S. government indefinitely restricted exports of its H20 AI chip to China, a critical market for its data center products. The H20 chip,...

Intel Restructures Leadership Under New CEO to Boost AI and Engineering Focus

Intels new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, has initiated a major leadership shakeup aimed at streamlining operations and reviving the chipmakers competitive edge. In a recent internal memo obtained by Reuters, Tan announced a flatter...

TSMC Q1 Profit Surges 60% on Booming AI Chip Demand

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the worlds largest contract chipmaker, reported a 60% year-over-year surge in first-quarter net profit, driven by skyrocketing demand for chips powering artificial intelligence...

Tencent, Douyin Launch Domestic Sales Initiatives Amid U.S.-China Trade Tensions

Chinese tech giants Tencent and Douyin, TikToks sister app in China, have launched new initiatives to support local exporters affected by the intensifying U.S.-China trade war. These efforts aim to help export-reliant...

Stargate AI Megaproject Eyes UK Expansion Backed by OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle

The $500 billion Stargate data center project, backed by OpenAI, SoftBank (TYO:9984), and Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), is exploring expansion opportunities in the UK as it seeks overseas sites for scaling artificial intelligence...