Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will cut interest rates of mortgage loans and down-payment ratios for homebuyers to boost lacklustre property demand, according to three statements released by its central bank on Friday.

China will abolish the floor level of the interest rates for mortgages for the first and second homes at the national level, the central bank said.

Local branches of the central bank can decide the floor of commercial mortgages... (continue reading...)

LONDON (Reuters) - Investors poured money into stocks and bonds in the week to Wednesday, favouring laggards such as utilities, but pulling money from pricier parts of the market such as technology stocks, BofA research showed on Friday.

Equity funds saw $11.9 billion in inflows, while bond funds drew in $11.7 billion, BofA said citing data from EPFR.

Within fixed income, Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS) saw outflows of... (continue reading...)

PARIS (Reuters) - French police officers in Rouen 'neutralised' an armed individual who was intent on setting fire to the town's synagogue, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Friday.

The incident occurred early on Friday morning, Darmanin said in a post on social network X.

Regional French broadcaster France 3 said fire fighters were on the site.

Rouen mayor said in a post the Normandy town was 'battered and... (continue reading...)

By Leika Kihara

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's weak consumption may heighten, rather than tame, already growing political pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates to slow the yen's declines blamed for hurting households via higher import costs.

Such pressure will likely prod Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda to keep dropping hawkish signals on the policy outlook, but with plenty of caveats to hedge against the chance consumption... (continue reading...)

DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.S. Central Command said on Friday that trucks carrying humanitarian assistance began moving ashore via a temporary pier in Gaza at 9 a.m. local time (0600 GMT).

No U.S. troops went ashore in Gaza, it added.

"This is an ongoing, multinational effort to deliver additional aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza via a maritime corridor that is entirely humanitarian in nature, and will involve aid commodities donated by... (continue reading...)