Reuters

(Reuters) - Airbnb shares tumbled more than 8% premarket on Thursday after weak forecasts for the second quarter stoked investor fears about slowing growth at the vacation rental firm and took the shine off a strong quarterly profit beat.

The Easter holiday occurring in the first quarter rather than the second and currency-exchange impacts were partly to blame for Airbnb projecting current-quarter revenue below lofty Wall Street estimates.

(Reuters) - Here are some milestones in Israel's ties with the United States, now strained by Israeli government plans for a major assault on Rafah in southern Gaza and a warning by President Joe Biden that U.S. weapons sales will be withheld if it goes ahead:

1948

President Harry Truman becomes the first world leader to recognize the newly-established Israel.

1956

Furious with Israel's capture of the Sinai... (continue reading...)

LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England on Thursday took another step towards lowering interest rates, as a second official backed a cut and Governor Andrew Bailey said he was "optimistic that things are moving in the right direction".

The BoE said on its Monetary Policy Committee voted 7-2 to keep rates at a 16-year high of 5.25%.

MARKET REACTION:

FOREX:

Sterling fell to $1.245 from $1.2486 just before... (continue reading...)

By Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey and Dan Peleschuk

TORETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Anzhelika Sharonova and her 86-year-old mother held out in their battered eastern Ukrainian town for as long as they could before finally fleeing this week with just a few bags between them.

Russian forces are steadily advancing north and south of Toretsk as they press on multiple parts of the eastern front, threatening to eventually envelop the former coal-mining town... (continue reading...)

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A U.S. treasury official warned of environmental risks from illicit transfers of Iranian oil off Malaysia, news portal Malaysiakini reported on Thursday, as the United States narrows its focus on financing for militant groups routed through Southeast Asia.

The United States sees Iran's capacity to move its oil as being reliant on service providers based in Malaysia, a senior U.S. treasury official said this week.