Bloomberg

Sovereign wealth funds push into tech as assets swell to $15 trillion

Middle East continues to be a hotspot for sovereign wealth fund riches. The main seven Gulf wealth funds accounted for 43 per cent of all capital invested by state owned investors globally at $126 bn

Taiwan's President Lai pledges robust defence after China military drills

Since Lai took office in May 2024, China has escalated pressure on archipelago of 23 million people it regards as its territory

UN clears 7% reduced budget for 2026 as US arrears strain finances

The US usually contributes 22% of the UN's regular budget, but the Trump administration has not paid the $826 million bill for 2025 and it still owes some $660 million in arrears

Foreign investors dump record Indian bonds as weak rupee erodes returns

The selling comes as the rupee tested a series of record lows against the dollar this month, eroding returns for foreigners

UAE to withdraw troops from Yemen following clash with Saudi Arabia

Abu Dhabi had earlier denied allegations by Riyadh that it's been directing a separatist group in the south of Yemen in a way that threatened the kingdom's border

China's factory activity rises in December, ending record 8-month slump

The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to 50.1 from 49.2 last month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics

Trump's covert Venezuela strike raises new questions on next steps

The attack is likely to inject additional energy into heated discussions in US Congress about the strategy toward Venezuela, and the debate about how far Trump can go without seeking authorisation

Elon Musk's xAI buys third building to expand 'Colossus' data centre

Musk has already built one data center in Memphis, known as Colossus, and is currently constructing a second nearby site dubbed Colossus 2

Why Russian oil shipments to India are set to plunge in Dec and what's next

Overall Russian oil deliveries to India had slowed to as little as 712,000 barrels a day in the second week of December, before rising, according to Kpler

Trump might still fire Jerome Powell as decision to pick Fed chair nears

Trump did not specify who is his leading chair candidate and said an announcement would be made in "January sometime"

Meta to acquire Singapore startup Manus in bid to bolster AI push

Meta is spending aggressively to compete in the AI race against rivals like OpenAI, Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Microsoft Corp

Fight over Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee heads to US appeals court

The H-1B visa program is a cornerstone of employment-based immigration, allowing companies in the US to hire college-educated foreign workers for specialized occupations

Blinkit, Zomato tailor quick-commerce for India's tier-2, tier-3 cities

Rising incomes, cheap smartphones and data, and improved roads have begun knitting smaller cities and industrial hubs into the national economy

Tough job market has people using dating apps to get interviews

The overall US unemployment rate continued to climb throughout 2025, reaching 4.6 per cent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics

China takes swipe at Trump's mediation bid in Thailand-Cambodia conflict

China promotes peace without imposing on others, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during talks with Thai counterpart in Yunnan, holding separate discussions the same day with Cambodia's Sokhonn

North Korea's Kim Jong Un tests long-range cruise missile over West Sea

The results of the exercise provided a practical verification and a clear demonstration of the reliability and combat power of North Korea's strategic counterattack capabilities, Kim Jong Un said

Americans watch fewer new TV shows, turn more to free streaming platforms

As streaming penetrated almost every corner of US society, it attracted many more price-sensitive viewers - people who are dropping cable or trading broadcast TV for other free options

Brigitte Bardot, French screen icon and animal rights activist, dies at 91

The archetype of beauty to millions of men, Bardot spawned an era of curvy, pouting, insouciant actresses with her role as a self-assured small-town sexpot in And God Created Woman (1956)

7.0-magnitude earthquake jolts Taiwan, strong tremors felt in Taipei

The epicenter was off Taiwan's northeastern coast, some 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) east of Yilan County, according to the agency's preliminary reading based on the Richter scale

FBI to 'permanently close' headquarters, shift staff to new building: Patel

Built in the brutalist architectural style and opened on Pennsylvania Avenue in 1975, the J Edgar Hoover building has long had detractors who said it was decrepit and no longer suited for the FBI