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SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court on Tuesday breathed new life into a lawsuit by Chrome users who say Google gathered data even though they did not "Sync" to their accounts.

A panel of judges in California ruled that a lower court was wrong to toss the case on the grounds that Chrome users had agreed to Google's privacy policy, and that the lawsuit should head for trial.

"We disagree with this ruling and are confident the facts of the case are on our side," Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in response to an AFP inquiry.

"Chrome Sync helps people use Chrome seamlessly across their different devices and has clear privacy controls."

Google launched Sync in 2009 with the aim of letting Chrome users access bookmarks, passwords, tabs and more across devices by linking to a Google account, the internet giant said in a blog post.

The appellate ruling said the district court should have looked at the privacy policy consent defense from the perspective of a typical Chrome user, instead of "attributing to that user the skill of an experienced business lawyer or someone who is able to easily ferret through a labyrinth of legal jargon to understand what he or she is consenting to."

"A determination of what a 'reasonable' user would have understood must take into account the level of sophistication attributable to the general public, which uses Google's services," the appellate court judges in California wrote.

The class action lawsuit filed by Chrome users accuses Google of violating their privacy and breaking the law by collecting data about them, even through they were "unsynced."

The suit represents people who browsed the web using Chrome without Sync from July 26, 2016 to the present, according to court documents.

The appeals court also pointed out that Google did not deny collecting the users' data; instead, the company only said the users had agreed to the company's privacy policy.

PARIS — Stock markets were mixed on Tuesday as investors treaded water ahead of a key speech by US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell that could provide more hints of an interest rate cut.

Gold broke to a fresh record above $2,520, a third successive day of new peaks, on Fed rate cut bets that would make the yellow metal more attractive to investors.

With recent data indicating that US inflation is slowing and labour market softening, there is widespread expectation the central bank will finally start next month to unwind its long-running tight monetary policy.

In New York, the Dow was slightly down in opening deals, while the wider S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq were barely higher.

In Europe, the main indexes were marginally lower, leaving them well up from the beginning of last week.

US shares rose strongly last week as economic data soothed fears of a recession, while still leaving the door open to interest rate cuts.

"Participants [are] once again embracing the soft landing scenario and the prospect of an imminent rate cut by the Federal Reserve. That consideration is effectively the best of both worlds," said Patrick O'Hare, an analyst at Briefing.com.

Earnings from US stores Target, Lowe's and TJX are also due this week, providing more insight into consumer confidence after reassuring retail sales figures last week.

But the main focus is Powell's remarks on Friday to the annual symposium of global central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he could give signals about the Fed's plans for borrowing costs.

Bets have surged that officials will cut rates by 25 basis points next month, with some even flagging 50 points, followed by two more before the end of the year.

Powell raised hopes for a move at the bank's most recent meeting when he said it could come "as soon as" September, having previously said the Fed did not need to wait for inflation to fall to its two-per cent target before reducing rates.

San Francisco Fed chief Mary Daly told the Financial Times she had "more confidence" inflation is being tamed following recent data.

Her Minneapolis Fed colleague Neel Kashkari said in the Wall Street Journal that the prospect of a weaker labour market made talk of a reduction appropriate.

Earlier in the day, Tokyo rallied 1.8 per cent, clawing back all Monday's losses, while Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Manila, Mumbai, Bangkok and Jakarta were also up.

However, Hong Kong and Shanghai retreated after recent advances, while Wellington also fell.

In company news, Tesla shares were up 1.3 per cent after the European Union said it would spare its China-produced cars the full brunt of anti-dumping tariffs it plans to impose on other Chinese EV imports.

Tokyo-listed 7-Eleven owner Seven&i Holdings dropped more than 10 per cent  a day after surging almost 23 per cent  on news it had received a takeover bid from Canadian retail giant Alimentation Couche-Tard, the operator of Circle K.

The deal, which could be worth as much as $38.6 billion, would mark one of the biggest foreign acquisitions of a Japanese firm.

The dollar continued to slip against the euro, yen and pound on expectations that the interest rate differential in favour of the greenback would narrow.

Crude prices steadied after plunging Monday over growing hopes for a Gaza ceasefire as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken continues talks with regional leaders.

TRIPOLI — Libya's central bank said on Monday it was resuming its operations following the release of a bank official who had been abducted earlier.

The Central Bank of Libya announced in a statement that it was "resuming operations" after the release of Musab Msallem, its head of information technology, "and his safe return".

Msallem was abducted from his house Sunday morning by an "unidentified group", the bank had said, adding it would "suspend all operations" until his release.

The bank had also called for an "end to these practices" and blamed "unlawful parties" that "threaten the safety of its employees and the continuity of the banking sector's work".

Msallem's abduction came a week after the central bank's headquarters in Tripoli was besieged by armed men, before they dispersed, according to reports.

Local media said they did so in an attempt to force the resignation of the bank's governor, Seddik Al Kabir.

In office since 2012, Kabir has faced criticism — including from figures close to Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah — over the management of Libya's oil resources and the state budget.

During a meeting last week in Tunisia with US Ambassador to Libya Richard Norland, Kabir said there were "growing threats to the security" of the bank and its employees.

Norland later said in a post on X that attempts to oust Kabir were "unacceptable" and warned that replacing him "by force can result in Libya losing access to international financial markets".

Norland said the confrontation in Tripoli "highlights the ongoing risks posed by the political stalemate in Libya".

Home to 6.8 million people, Libya has struggled to recover from years of conflict after the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that overthrew Muammar Qadhafi.

It remains divided between a UN-recognised government based in the capital Tripoli and led by Dbeibah and a rival administration in the east, backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.

Although relative calm has returned in recent years, clashes still periodically break out between Libya's myriad armed groups.

Msallem's abduction came as rising tensions between rival factions have stirred fears of a broader escalation in recent weeks.

PARIS — Fortnite-creator Epic Games launched its own app store Friday that allows users to bypass the stores run by Apple and Google after waging a years-long battle to directly offer its games to smartphone users.

The Epic Games Store is available to users of Android phones worldwide and for iPhone and iPad users in Europe.

The launch of the store comes after Epic waged legal battles and lobbied regulators to loosen the grip of Apple and Google on the sale of apps for phones running their operating systems.

"We're very happy to be on the verge of launching our games on iOS and Android, enabled by Europe's new DMA law," Epic's chief executive Tim Sweeney told journalists from the company's office in Sweden.

The EU's new law, known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), has forced Apple to make the opening to app developers in Europe but the US firm is not doing so elsewhere.

"The DMA required us to enable new capabilities for developers in the EU, and we have worked to make them as easy as possible for users while also trying to protect their privacy and security," Apple said Friday.

The EU's internal market commissioner Thierry Breton posted on X that "Yes, gamers, Europe means more #FREEDOM & choice!"

Fortnite is also making a return to iPhones and iPads after having been banned in 2020 for seeking to circumvent Apple's payment systems.

Epic in 2020 launched a case aimed at breaking Apple's grip on the App Store, accusing the iPhone maker of operating a monopoly in its shop for digital services.

But it lost its challenge to Apple taking a cut of as much as 30 per cent on all financial transactions in its app shop in a US federal court. In January the US Supreme Court declined to hear the case, effectively ending the legal saga.

Apple has justified the fees as helping ensure dangerous apps are weeded out and the operating system is secure.

'Friction'

Epic is the first major video game publisher to open its own app store for Android and Apple devices.

In order to attract app developers to its store Epic is offering them better revenue-sharing terms than Apple or Google.

But Epic said Apple wasn't making it easy, with a long and untransparent procedure to install their app store and disadvantageous conditions for developers to cooperate with them.

When announcing last week that it would comply with the new EU regulations Apple said it would implement a new fee structure for developers who send customers out of an app for offers and content.

Epic has set a goal of 100 million installs of its app store on Android and iOS devices by the end of the year.

"The only thing standing in our way is going to be the friction that Apple and Google put in front of us, and it's pretty significant," said Steve Allison, head of the Epic Games Store.

In addition to Fortnite, Rocket League Sideswipe is also available on the store, as is Fall Guys, which is making its first appearance on mobile.

"This is just the beginning of a long effort to bring our games back to all these platforms worldwide, and the fight's not over until Fortnite is back on iOS everywhere and free of Apple's taxes," said Sweeney.

LONDON — Stock markets mostly rose on Thursday, with strong retail sales data dispelling worries about the strength of the US economy.

Retail sales in the United States soared past analyst expectations in July, climbing by 1 per cent, data showed.

A weaker than expected labour market report recently sparked market turmoil as it raised fears that the world's biggest economy was in worse health than anticipated.

"Today's news has been like turning on the light in a dark bedroom to discover that there are no scary monsters under the bed after all," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

Wall Street's main stock indices opened sharply higher and the dollar rose more than one percent against the yen after the retail sales data was released.

Concerns that the US Federal Reserve had waited too long to begin cutting interest rates have seen speculation rise that it could cut even deeper than a quarter point reduction at its next meeting in September.

But economist Michael Pearce of Oxford Economics said the retail sales data "signal continued resilience" and would keep the Federal Reserve on a path of gradual rate cuts "because fears about the health of the economy that could justify a larger cut appear unfounded".

Wednesday's consumer price index data — the smallest 12-month increase since March 2021 at 2.9 per cent — solidified expectations that the Fed would cut in September.

Shares in retail giant Walmart rose 7.2 per cent after it reported a rise in revenues and raised its outlook for the year.

Given its vast size and presence across the United States, Walmart's earnings are closely scrutinized for signs of the broader health of US consumers.

London's FTSE 100 stocks index rose 1 per cent amid rising expectations that the Bank of England will cut interest rates further after the nation's economic output slowed slightly in the second quarter.

Britain's economy grew 0.6 per cent in the April-June period, down from 0.7 per cent in the first three months of the year, official data showed on Thursday.

Paris and Frankfurt stocks were also solidly higher in afternoon trading.

Asia's main indices rallied, taking their cue from Wall Street gains on Wednesday's slowing inflation data.

Markets were also digesting positive growth figures from Japan — with the world's fourth-largest economy reporting a better-than-expected GDP rise of 0.8 per cent for the second quarter.

Shares in Alibaba rose 1.6 per cent in New York trading despite the Chinese e-commerce giant reporting a 29 per cent fall in quarterly profit to $3.3 as it battles sluggish consumption during an economic slowdown.

Alibaba runs some of China's most popular e-commerce apps and its performance is widely considered an indicator of broader economic trends.

Data out of China showed the country's industrial production slowing and unemployment rising in July.