Author: LoveWorld UK

MICROSOFT BEATS QUARTERLY REVENUE ESTIMATES – New AI features helped attract customers to its cloud and Windows services Microsoft Corp beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter revenue as new AI features helped attract customers to its cloud and Windows services. Microsoft shares fell 1% in after-hours trading. They climbed 57% last year. Along with a rally in other tech stocks, including Alphabet and Nvidia, Microsoft helped fuel a 24% surge in the S&P 500 in 2023. Revenue grew 18% to $62 billion in the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with the average analyst estimate of $61.12 billion, according to LSEG…

NEURALINK IMPLANTS BRAIN CHIP IN FIRST HUMAN –  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave Neuralink clearance to conduct its first trial Elon Musk, Neuralink’s billionaire founder, said the first human received an implant from the brain-chip startup. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had given the company clearance last year to conduct its first trial to test its implant on humans.”The first @Neuralink product is called Telepathy,” Musk added. The study will assess the functionality of the interface which enables people with quadriplegia, or paralysis of all four limbs, to control devices with their thoughts, according to the company’s…

IVORY COAST ERUPTS WITH JOY AFTER ADVANCING TO AFRICA NATIONS CUP QUARTER-FINALS – Team  secures 5-4 win in a shootout Days after facing elimination, Africa Nations Cup (AFCON) hosts Ivory Coast are advancing to the tournament’s quarter-finals, following their conquest of reigning champions Senegal in a penalty shootout. Tension was high in Abidjan, the commercial capital, after Franck Kessie scored a late penalty to tie the game, and pressure mounted as the match went to penalties. Relief and joy came when Senegal’s Moussa Niakhate missed his shot, securing Ivory Coast’s 5-4 win in the shootout. The city, previously quiet after…

HSBC FINED £57.4M – Bank accused of “serious failings” over its requirements to protect customer deposits HSBC has been fined £57.4m by the Bank of England for “serious failings” over its requirements to protect customer deposits. The bank failed to accurately identify deposits eligible for Britain’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme, the Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) said. Under the scheme, customer deposits are protected up to the value of £85,000. The Bank said the failings occurred between 2015 and 2022. The fine is the second highest ever applied by the regulator, reflecting the seriousness of the failings, the PRA said.…

FORMER PAKISTAN PRIME MINISTER IMRAN KHAN GETS 10-YEAR JAIL TERM Guilty of leaking state secrets A Pakistan court handed former Prime Minister Imran Khan a 10-year jail term for leaking state secrets, the former premier’s media team said. The case pertains to allegations that Khan had shared the contents of a secret cable sent by the country’s ambassador in Washington to the government in Islamabad. Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said both Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had been sentenced to 10 years each by a special court. It said the party would challenge the decision…

NORTHERN IRELAND’S DUP STRIKES DEAL TO RETURN TO POWER-SHARING GOVERNMENT It reached a deal with the British government on post-Brexit trade rules The leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Jeffrey Donaldson said it reached a deal with the British government on the operation of post-Brexit trade rules that would allow the party to return to the region’s power-sharing government. Northern Ireland has been without a devolved government for almost two years after the DUP walked out in protest over the trade rules, which it said created barriers with the rest of the United Kingdom and undermined Northern Ireland’s…

BRITISH ARMY ‘MAY HAVE NO CHOICE’ BUT TO ENLIST CITIZENS – Claimed the military’s recruiting system has “failed miserably”. British Army ‘may have no choice’ but to enlist citizens as country ‘not ready’ for Russian threat, says former colonel A former colonel in the British Army says the country may have to opt for conscription in the event of a conflict with Russia and claimed the military’s recruiting system has “failed miserably”. Britain “may have no choice” but to introduce conscription as the country remains “absolutely not ready” to defend Europe against the threat from Russia, a former colonel says.…

UK ministers will aim to stop firms from skirting around an upcoming ban on disposable vapes by eliminating ruses such as attaching charging points to them, the health secretary has said. The draft legislation, being introduced in parallel with an already announced ban on selling tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009, would be put together with the help of experts who would try to anticipate possible loopholes, Victoria Atkins said. “We will listen very carefully to suggestions that big tobacco and other vaping companies will somehow find a way around this,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live.…

Egypt’s goalkeeper Mohamed Abou Gabal missed his penalty in the shootout as the Democratic Republic of Congo claimed an epic 8-7 victory following a tense 1-1 draw in their Africa Cup of Nations last-16 clash in San Pedro on Sunday. As a result, Mohamed Salah will remain with Liverpool and not have to return to Ivory Coast as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury Abou Gabal clipped the crossbar with his effort and then his opposite number Lionel Mpasi scored against him as the record seven-times winners Egypt bowed out at the Laurent Pokou Stadium, sparking jubilant scenes for DRC, who now…

CHINA TIGHTENS STOCK MARKET RULES AFTER SELL-OFF – Informal measures introduced by the regulator did little to shore up financial markets China has tightened its financial industry rules as the government tries to halt a deepening sell-off in the world’s second largest economy. Nearly $6tn (£4.7tn) has been wiped off Chinese and Hong Kong stocks since their most recent peak three years ago. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) says the measures will create “a fairer market order”. Under the new rules limits will be put on so-called “short-selling” from Monday. Short selling is when a trader bets that a…