Author: admin@primenews

Paul Pogba’s career could be over after his four-year ban for doping with the feeling that the 30-year-old Juventus midfielder never fulfilled his potential. The former Manchester United player, who won the World Cup with France, was supremely talented and in bursts looked an absolute world-beater – but he never really showed it on a consistent basis. He has already said he will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), but if that fails, by the time he will be eligible to play again – August 2027 – he will be 34 and without a club. So it will…

America’s Nasdaq index, home to many tech companies, has hit a new high, which analysts attributed to optimism over artificial intelligence (AI). The Nasdaq rose 0.9% on Thursday, to 16,091.92, formally rebounding from the slump that hit shares in 2021. Investors expect AI to unleash a new wave of growth and have been snapping up shares of companies poised to benefit, like chipmaker Nvidia. They are also increasingly optimistic about the path for the US economy. The Dow Jones recovered late last year from losses that hit shares in 2022 as fears of inflation and higher borrowing costs prompted selling.…

Voting is under way in Iran as the country holds its first elections since the 2022 anti-government protests. Friday’s elections are seen as a crucial test of legitimacy and national support for Iran’s leadership – but a low turnout is expected. Voter apathy remains high following a period of unrest after the death of a young woman detained by morality police for wearing “improper” hijab. More than 61.2 million people are eligible to vote. Two separate polls are taking place on Friday: one to elect the next members of parliament, and another to elect members of the Assembly of Experts.…

Some of the world’s most influential people have arrived in India’s Gujarat state to attend a wedding party thrown by Asia’s richest man. Mark Zuckerberg, Rihanna and Bill Gates are among the guests at the pre-wedding gala hosted by Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani for his son. Anant Ambani, 28, is set to marry Radhika Merchant in July. Bollywood stars including Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan are also at the three-day event in Jamnagar city. Mukesh Ambani, 66, is currently the world’s 10th richest man with a net worth of $115b according to Forbes. Reliance Industries, founded by his…

With hours to go until Alexei Navalny’s funeral, his team has said they continue to face difficulties in organising the farewell ceremony. His spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said they had been unable to find a hearse to drive the body to church. “Unknown people are calling mortuaries and threatening them if they accept to take Alexei’s body,” Ms Yarmysh said. The funeral is to be held on Friday on the outskirts of Moscow – two weeks after he died in an Arctic prison. On Wednesday, the team announced the memorial service would be held at 14:00 Moscow time (11:00 GMT) at…

India has reported surprisingly robust economic growth numbers, ending 2023 on a high note and giving a major boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi just weeks before a nationwide election. Gross domestic product (GDP) in the world’s fastest growing major economy surged 8.4% in the final three months of 2023 compared with a year prior, up from growth of 7.6% in the June-to-September period, the country’s statistics office said Thursday. The latest increase is much stronger than analysts expected and means India’s economy “ended last year with a bang,” Thamashi De Silva, assistant India economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note. “That pace…

Electronic Arts (EA) is cancelling an upcoming Star Wars game and will lay off 5% of its employees globally- approximately 670 people. The game, which was in early development, would have been a first-person shooter set in the Star Wars universe. The firm said the “streamlining” would “deliver deeper, more connected experiences for fans”. It is the latest example of the job cuts sweeping the gaming industry. “With it being an extremely difficult time to obtain funding to start a new game studio, and thousands being laid off by the month, video games run a significant risk of losing top…

The Body Shop will close 75 shops in the UK over the coming weeks and cut 489 jobs, according to the firm overseeing its restructuring. It means that, combined with cost-cutting at the company’s head office, between 750 and 800 people will be made redundant. However, The Body Shop will keep 116 UK stores open. The UK arm of the global beauty chain was put into administration earlier this month. Shops will be closed over the next four to six weeks. FRP Advisory, which is managing the restructuring, said it would “support all impacted staff with claims to the Redundancy…

Mohsin Issa, one half of the so-called “billionaire brothers” who own Asda, says he plans to hand over the running of the UK’s third biggest supermarket. In his first ever interview, the entrepreneur told the BBC he was carrying out a “reset” at the grocer before appointing a chief executive. Despite Asda’s £5bn debt pile, Mr Issa said he was “here for the long haul”. He also dismissed rumours of a rift with his brother Zuber, saying the pair “get on exceptionally well”. “We talk to each other probably two or three times a day. We’ve been very, very privileged.…

The steep drop in trade with China could be a positive development, the United States’ top trade official has told the BBC. Katherine Tai said it “isn’t necessarily negative. It could be a positive indication of diversification on both sides.” The amount of goods the world’s two biggest economies sold to each other fell 17% last year. It comes amid deepening divisions in the global economy. Those differences were exposed again with the US announcing an investigation in to what it said was a potential national security risk from cars made in China, citing fears that tech-connected cars could collect…