Apple was fined €500 million (US$570 million or RM2.5 billion) on Wednesday and Meta €200 million, as European Union antitrust regulators handed out the first sanctions under landmark legislation aimed at curbing the power of Big Tech.

Apple, Meta fined as EU presses ahead with tech probes 

Turkey’s largest city of Istanbul was hit by a 6.2-magnitude earthquake, the US Geological Survey said, though no damage or injuries were immediately reported by authorities.

Turkey’s largest city Istanbul hit By 6.2 magnitude earthquake

Japan’s biggest financial firms are abolishing decades-old employment practices that kept women off the corporate ladder.

Top Japanese companies scrap job system that held women back

Boeing reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss on Wednesday, as the US planemaker produced and delivered more jets, after quality problems and a crippling strike shuttered most of its aircraft production late last year.

Boeing reports smaller than expected loss on higher jet deliveries

The US$1.7 trillion (RM7.46 trillion) fashion industry is a major polluter: By one estimate, it’s responsible for between 8% and 10% of annual greenhouse gas emissions, more than aviation and shipping combined.

Fashion is the next frontier for clean tech as textile waste mounts

Economic pressures from steep new US tariffs will push global public debt above pandemic-era levels to nearly 100% of global GDP by the end of the decade as slower growth and trade strain government budgets, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.

The IMF's latest Fiscal Monitor projected that global public debt will grow 2.8 percentage points to 95.1% of global GDP in 2025. It said the upward trend was likely to continue, reaching 99.6% of global GDP by 2030.

IMF says tariff pressures to push global public debt past pandemic levels

Bundesbank president Joachim Nagel said a strong US Treasuries market is good for everyone, even as investors have turned to German bunds.

Doubt over US Treasuries’ haven status is bad for world, Nagel says

Fifteen individuals have been fined between RM800 and RM3,500 by separate Magistrates’ Courts here after admitting to providing false information to the National Registration Department (JPN) in efforts to obtain birth certificates and identity cards.

Fifteen fined for giving false information in birth certificate, MyKad applications

The basic technology behind Ambient Photonics’s solar cells is so simple that it’s routinely assembled as a high school science experiment. In labs across the US, students sandwich blackberries’ potent pigment between glass to create dye-sensitised cells capable of harnessing energy from the sun.

High-powered solar cells are poised to replace batteries

Denmark's King Frederik will travel to Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, on April 28, Greenlandic daily Sermitsiaq reported on Wednesday, citing the island's own government.

Denmark's King Frederik to visit Greenland, daily Sermitsiaq reports

Sapura Holdings Sdn Bhd's founder Tan Sri Shamsuddin Abdul Kadir took the stand on Wednesday as the company's winding-up case continued, following a breakdown in settlement talks between his sons, feuding brothers Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin and Datuk Shahriman Shamsuddin.

Sapura Holdings founder Shamsuddin takes the stand as sons' settlement talks fail

KUALA LUMPUR (April 23): Johor Investment, Trade, Consumer Affairs and Human Resources Committee chairman Lee Ting Han announced that Forest City’s Special Financial Zone (SFZ) has welcomed its first family offices, CMY Capital Family Office and Yow Kee Family Office, and attracted interest from 30&nbsp;other companies to set up operations in Johor Bahru.

Forest City SFZ welcomes first two family offices, sees interest from 30 other companies

A longtime board member of City Developments Ltd, the property giant controlled by Singapore’s wealthiest family, lashed out at several other directors on Wednesday over a recent feud that rocked the developer and the billionaire Kwek clan.

Singapore Kwek clan’s CDL investor meeting turns acrimonious

US President Donald Trump said he plans to be “very nice” to China in any trade talks, and that tariffs will drop if the two countries can reach a deal, a sign he may be backing down from his tough stance on Beijing amid market volatility.

Trump floats 'substantial' China tariff cuts in trade deal

Several areas in Selangor were affected by flash floods following heavy rainfall since early Wednesday morning.

Selangor Fire and Rescue Department assistant director of operations&nbsp;Ahmad Mukhlis Mukhtar&nbsp;said the affected areas were&nbsp;Sungai Buloh, Petaling Jaya&nbsp;and Subang Jaya.

Flash floods hit several areas in Selangor, no evacuations reported

Malaysia lost billions in potential income — between 4.00% and 9.49% of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2025 — by excluding non-citizen children born in the country from formal education, according to a joint policy paper by the Social Wellbeing Research Centre (SWRC) and Unicef Malaysia.

Malaysia lost billions by not educating non-citizens — study

Malaysia’s headline inflation decelerated to its slowest in four years as price gains at restaurants and of other non-food items&nbsp;eased.

Malaysia's consumer inflation slowest in four years as non-food price gain eases

The Kedah government has been alerted to an&nbsp;encroachment along a section of Petronas’&nbsp;gas pipeline route in the Pendang district, believed to have been taking place for several years.

Encroachment detected on Petronas gas pipeline route in Kedah — exco

The imposition of US duties on solar panels from Southeast Asia&nbsp;will have far-reaching implications for&nbsp;the manufacturing base across the region, according to the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM).

US solar duties threaten Malaysia's role in global clean energy supply chain, says FMM

Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz and his team have arrived in the US to urge US officials to review tariffs on Malaysian imports.

Zafrul lands in US, to meet with US Trade Rep Jamieson Greer over tariffs

KUALA LUMPUR (April 23): Bank Rakyat has launched the eGold Account-I, a shariah-compliant digital gold investment accessible via its internet banking platform.

Bank Rakyat launches Islamic gold investment platform eGold Account-i

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has downgraded its real gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for Malaysia to 4.1% this year, from its January estimate of 4.7%, in line with a broader reduction in regional projections.

IMF cuts real GDP growth forecast for Malaysia to 4.1% in 2025

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a closed-door investor summit on Tuesday that the tariff stand-off with China cannot be sustained by both sides, and that the world’s two largest economies will have to find ways to de-escalate.

US Treasury Secretary Bessent expects tariff stand-off with China to de-escalate

KUALA LUMPUR (April 23): Bumi Armada Bhd (KL:ARMADA) is expected to report strong earnings in first quarter of 2025 (1QFY2025), but foresees a drop in the following quarters as its floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) Kraken vessel sees a steep cut in its daily charter rates.

Bumi Armada to post strong 1Q earnings, later quarters impacted by FPSO Kraken rate cut — Maybank IB

Ferrotec Holdings Corporation, a Japanese advanced materials and component company, will be investing RM1 billion for the construction of its second manufacturing facility in Kulim, Kedah.

Japan's Ferrotec to invest RM1 bil in second plant in Kedah

(April 23): Intel Corp is poised to announce plans this week to cut more than 20% of its staff, aiming to eliminate bureaucracy at the struggling chipmaker, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Intel to announce plans this week to cut more than 20% of staff — Bloomberg

foodpanda will cease its operations in Thailand next month after more than a decade of losses, local newspaper The Nation reported on Wednesday citing the food delivery platform social media post.

The Thai operations will cease on May 23, 2025, the newspaper reported citing the company’s Thai language post. foodpanda was reported as saying that Thailand’s current market conditions no longer align with the company’s long-term strategy.

foodpanda Thailand calls it quits after 13 years of losses — report

KUALA LUMPUR (April 23): Malaysia’s exports are likely to be impacted by the imposition of any direct tariffs, global growth slowdown or possible recession, but the longer-term outlook remains bright, as there is room for the country to benefit from supply chain diversification, said Franklin Templeton.

Direct tariffs may likely impact Malaysia’s exports; outlook bright on supply-chain diversification — Franklin Templeton

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp&nbsp;on Tuesday signed an agreement to establish a wholly owned electric vehicle (EV) plant in Shanghai, in a strategic move to bolster its presence in China, the world's largest automotive market, Xinhua reported.

Toyota signs deal for US$2b EV project in Shanghai

KUALA LUMPUR (April 23): Malaysia’s 30-stock benchmark FBM KLCI constituents will achieve modest earnings growth of 2% in 2025, even under a stressed scenario involving escalating tariff risks, according to Kenanga Research’s latest market strategy report.

Nivedita Bhattacharjee