NEW YORK -- Moody's Ratings on Friday slashed U.S. long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings to Aa1 from Aaa citing rising government debt and interest payment ratios.
Meanwhile, Moody's Ratings changed the outlook of U.S. sovereign rating from negative to stable.
"This one-notch downgrade on our 21-notch rating scale reflects the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns," said a release by Moody's Ratings.
Moody's Ratings changed the outlook of U.S. sovereign rating from stable to negative in November 2023.
"Successive U.S. administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs," the release said.(US-Moody's-U.S.-Rating)
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JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military said on Friday it had stepped up its operations in the Gaza Strip, launching a wave of airstrikes and deploying additional ground forces in an effort to establish operational control in parts of the enclave.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the intensified assault marked the start of a new operation codenamed "Gideon's Chariots," which aims to expand the scope of fighting and advance key war objectives, including the release of hostages and the dismantling of Hamas.
"IDF troops will continue to operate in order to protect Israeli civilians and achieve the objectives of the war," the military said in a statement.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces would enter Gaza "with full force" in the coming days as part of efforts to defeat Hamas. (Israel-Gaza-Conflict)
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FRANKFURT -- The majority of German large companies listed on Germany's benchmark DAX index suffered a sharp profit decline of 8 percent in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025, according to a report released by consulting firm Ernst & Young (EY) on Friday.
Henrik Ahlers, chairman of the executive board and country managing partner at EY Germany, warned that the U.S.-initiated trade disruptions pose serious challenges to Germany's export-oriented industries.
"Many firms built up inventories in the U.S. or accelerated sales to pre-empt tariff hikes," he said. "The full impact of these tariffs is likely to become apparent in the second half of the year."
The automotive sector alone experienced a dramatic 42 percent plunge in profits, with industry giants BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen struggling.
The overall situation of German industry is more challenging than ever, said Jan Brorhilker, managing partner for assurance at EY Germany.(Germany-companies)
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NAIROBI -- Chinese Telecom firm Huawei will be leveraging its competitive edge in emerging technologies such as cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) to contribute to digital revolution in Kenya, senior executives said Friday.
Speaking at the Huawei Cloud and Connect Summit Kenya 2025, held in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, the executives called for closer partnership between government and private sector to deploy technologies that are key to the growth of digital economy and efficient service delivery.
Washington Okoth, the secretary of ICT infrastructure in the Ministry of Information, Communication and Digital Economy, said the initiative will unlock the immense potential of AI and cloud to help foster innovation, economic growth and job creation.(Kenya-Huawei)
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WASHINGTON -- The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art on Friday officially returned the Zidanku Silk Manuscript volumes II and III: Wuxing Ling and Gongshou Zhan from the Warring States period to China's National Cultural Heritage Administration.
The handover ceremony took place at the Chinese Embassy in the United States in Washington, D.C.
The silk manuscripts were unearthed in 1942 from the Zidanku site in Changsha, Hunan Province, and were illegally taken to the United States in 1946. The silk manuscripts are currently the only known silk manuscripts from the Warring States period (475-221 BC).
The Zidanku Silk Manuscripts are divided into three volumes. The returning texts, Wuxing Ling and Gongshou Zhan, are the second and third volumes, respectively.(US-China-Silk Manuscript) ■
