DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, has temporarily paused downloads of its chatbot apps in South Korea while it works with local authorities to address privacy concerns, South Korean officials said Monday.

South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission said DeepSeek’s apps were removed from the local versions of Apple’s App Store and Google Play on Saturday evening and that the company agreed to work with the agency to strengthen privacy protections before relaunching the apps.

The action does not affect users who have already downloaded DeepSeek on their phones or use it on personal computers.

Fed waiting before next moves

After three cuts to its key interest rate last year, Federal Reserve officials, led by Chair Jerome Powell, have signaled that they are in a new phase of watching and waiting. They’d like to see inflation fall further and gauge what impact that new policies from President Donald Trump, particularly tariffs, will have on the economy before they reduce borrowing costs further.

Japan’s economy grows more than expected

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. For 2024, the Japanese economy eked out 0.1% growth in seasonally adjusted real GDP, or gross domestic product, which measures the value of a nation’s product and service.