Video-conferencing platform Zoom Communications services were down for thousands of users on Wednesday, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com.Users reported interruptions accessing the Zoom web portal, as well as the application. Some users also reported login issues."We continue to investigate the domain name resolution issues on the zoom.us domain that is affecting multiple services," the company said.Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from a series of sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform, showed there were nearly 67,280 incidents of people reporting issues with Zoom as of 3:01 p.m. ET.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order directing his administration to prioritize the procurement of commercially available products and services rather than non-commercial, custom products or services, the White House said.The order directs agency contracting officers to review all pending contracts for non-commercial products or services within 60 days and submit waivers justifying their necessity, according to a White House fact sheet.

Former US president Joe Biden slammed President Donald Trump's social security policy in his first speech since leaving office on Tuesday."In fewer than 100 days, this administration has done so much damage and so much destruction," he said."People are now genuinely concerned for the first time in history, for the first and only time in history, that social security benefits may be delayed or interrupted," he added.

Global economic growth could slow to 2.3% as trade tensions and uncertainty drive a recessionary trend, the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) agency said on Wednesday."Global growth is projected to slow to 2.3% in 2025, placing the world economy on a recessionary path," UNCTAD said, citing a report it published on the trade and development outlook for this year. The global economy grew 2.8% in 2024, it said."This is a significant deceleration compared to the average annual growth rates registered in the pre-pandemic period, which itself was a period of subdued growth globally," the report said.UNCTAD said fears of recession in the US were growing as tariff concerns added to investor anxiety. The UN agency had urged Trump's administration on Monday to exclude the poorest and smallest economies from reciprocal tariffs because it "would have minimal impact on United States trade policy objectives."

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday its forces had taken control of the village of Kalynove in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield report.

White House envoy Steve Witkoff and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit France soon, French government spokesperson Sophie Primas told reporters on Wednesday.Primas added that they would broadly discuss issues in the Middle East with French officials, saying: "All subjects regarding the Middle East will be on the table."