BUSINESS

Councillors in the UK's second-largest city Birmingham were poised Tuesday to approve tax hikes and deep cuts to public services that could include axed arts funding and reduced rubbish collection, as the city fights to avoid bankruptcy.

The price of gold on Tuesday struck an all-time pinnacle, boosted by its haven status ahead of expected cuts to US interest rates amid growing economic gloom.

Catherine, Princess of Wales, is set to attend her father-in-law King Charles III's birthday celebrations in June, the army said on Tuesday, her first official duty to be announced since undergoing surgery.

Germany sought Tuesday to downplay an audio leak of senior military personnel discussing the war in Ukraine, blaming "individual error" and stressing that Berlin still had the trust of allies.

In her quest for "fair skin", an Ivorian YouTuber recently visited a market stall in Abidjan to receive several injections promoted as containing whitening agents.

Beijing's leadership on Tuesday laid out an objective of "around five percent" gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year -- a dream of many developed Western nations but for China a far cry from the breakneck expansion that powered its rise.

CEO Bill Anderson, hired last year to help steer the troubled group in a new direction, ruled out any imminent break-up of the company -- despite mounting pressure from activist investors.

Starting Wednesday, robot deliveries will be offered in a small area of the city by the US-based food app, which hopes to eventually roll out the service more widely in Japan.

The world's biggest digital companies will be forced to comply from Thursday with strict EU rules that Brussels hopes will make the online market fairer for all.

Clamping down harder and faster on abuses of power by the world's biggest digital companies: such is the promise of the European Union's new legal arsenal, which comes into full force from Thursday.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos took back his spot as the world's richest man on Monday, dethroning Elon Musk on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

More women are taking top management jobs but inequality persists, with men still dominating business leadership roles, research showed ahead of International Women's Day on March 8.

Australia unveiled plans to ramp up investment in Southeast Asia on Tuesday, setting aside US$1.3 billion to bolster trade in a region of rising economic might.

The Philippine Coast Guard said one of its ships was damaged Tuesday in a collision with a China Coast Guard vessel during a resupply mission to Filipino troops on a remote outpost in the South China Sea.

Asian markets largely fell on Tuesday after China set a five percent annual growth target and Wall Street shares dropped ahead of the release of key US economic indicators.

International mediators and Hamas delegates were in Cairo Tuesday for talks to try to secure a pause in the war in Gaza ahead of the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

A top Vietnamese property tycoon went on trial Tuesday along with dozens of others, accused of embezzling $12.5 billion in the country's biggest ever fraud case.

American Airlines unveiled a large order on Monday of narrow-body planes from European giant Airbus, Brazil's Embraer and Boeing, including a model from the US giant that has yet to be certified.

Anthropic, a major player in generative artificial intelligence, announced new models to fuel its Claude chatbot, the company said on Monday, as ChatGPT faces more rivals.

US Vice President Kamala Harris meets Monday with a key member of Israel's war cabinet and rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a day after she delivered Washington's sharpest rebuke yet over the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Germany braced for more travel misery after unions on Monday called for renewed walkouts at Lufthansa and rail operator Deutsche Bahn, amid escalating rows over inflation-busting pay rises.

The EU on Monday hit Apple with a 1.8 billion-euro-fine ($1.9 billion) for violating the bloc's laws by preventing music streaming services from informing users about subscription options outside of its App Store.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stocks index closed above 40,000 points for the first time Monday, while oil prices dipped after major crude producers agreed to cut output for a while longer, as expected.

The Kremlin on Monday said the content of leaked conversations between German officials discussing potential strikes on Crimea proved Western countries were participating in the conflict in Ukraine.

Britain's Conservative government unveils a pre-election budget Wednesday that could feature voter-friendly measures as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's party badly trails main opposition Labour in polls.

The European Central Bank is expected to freeze interest rates again this week, with officials wary of starting to cut before they see more evidence that recent falls in inflation will be sustained.

Asian markets mostly rose Monday following US gains and ahead of a Chinese legislative session where Beijing's annual growth target and other key policies will be announced.

In this week's "Super Tuesday" primaries, security guards will monitor the back door at one Shasta County polling precinct -- a sign of the high political tensions in rural northern California.

An investor group that offered to buy the struggling US department store chain Macy's in December and was turned down said Sunday it has sweetened its bid.