Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding posted its fastest revenue growth in more than a year, beating analyst expectations as it capitalizes on the artificial intelligence boom in China.

Alibaba said Thursday that its revenue for the quarter ended December grew 8% to 280.2 billion yuan ($38.38 billion) compared to the same period last year.

A visiting EU official said Friday that disbursing half a billion euros in funding to Lebanon was conditional on a banking sector restructure and reaching an agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

In May last year, the European Union announced one billion euros ($1 billion) in aid for Lebanon to help stem irregular migration to the bloc, with the assistance designed to strengthen basic services including education and health amid a severe economic crisis.

Lithium and other elements that the U.S. needs for vital defense, energy and other applications could become harder to obtain if the Trump administration goes ahead with tariffs and other protectionist policies aimed at China.

China refines more than 90% of the global supply of so-called "rare earth elements," which include neodymium and dysprosium. Not actually rare, these 17 elements are difficult to mine and refine because they're not often found in concentrated deposits. Some elements, like Lithium, are usually mentioned along with rare earth elements, because they are also critical for the tech sector.

Global shares traded mixed Thursday, with French and German shares gaining, while falling in Britain. Earlier in Asia, major benchmarks finished lower.

Worries about U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policies remain high on global investors' minds.

President Donald Trump's restrictions on foreign aid and targeting of a key agency funding programs around the world may be offering an opening to America's biggest adversary — China.

From the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development to quitting international groups, Trump's drastic "America First" moves have raised concerns among some lawmakers and experts about whether the U.S. is ceding global influence to its rivals, especially at a time when Washington is fretting over Beijing's growing clout at the cost to American interests.

Winson Lau has always had contingency plans. But he wasn't prepared for data centers.

Lau relies on water and electricity to operate his thriving export business in Malaysia's Johor province. His contingency plans in the event of an outage involve an intricate system of purifying wastewater through friendly bacteria and an alarm system to quickly switch to backup power.

The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday it is open to a new loan agreement with Lebanon following discussions with its recently-appointed finance minister.

Wall Street is flirting with a record again as U.S. stock indexes creep higher on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 was up 0.1% in early trading and just above its all-time closing high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 59 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.

Japan's economy grew at a better-than-expected annual rate of 2.8% in October-December, underlined by steady exports and moderate consumption.

On a quarter-to-quarter basis, the world's fourth largest economy grew 0.7% for its third straight quarter of growth, the Cabinet Office reported Monday in its preliminary data.

The mineral ilmenite is extracted from mounds of sand deep in the earth and refined using a method that summons the force of gravity, resulting in a substance that glimmers like a moonlit sky.

Ukraine boasts vast reserves of ilmenite — a key element used to produce titanium — in the heavy mineral sands that stretch for miles along the country's embattled east.