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Europe’s top central bankers warned that the escalating war in the Middle East would drive up inflation and knock growth.

The conflict is threatening the global economy, but Europe is seen as particularly vulnerable because of its dependence on imported energy. European-natural gas prices have nearly doubled since the conflict began.

“The war in the Middle East has made the outlook significantly more uncertain, creating upside risks for inflation and downside risks for economic growth,” ECB President Christine Lagarde said Thursday.

The European Central Bank and its counterparts in the U.K., Switzerland and Sweden all left rates unchanged Thursday. That follows the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep rates steady a day earlier. The Bank of Canada and the Bank of Japan have made the same call this week. 

Amazon is reportedly developing a new smartphone more than a decade after scrapping its Fire Phone, with plans for an AI-driven device integrated with Alexa and its broader services ecosystem.

The tech giant’s new effort is called “Transformer” and is being developed within the company’s devices and services unit, according to Reuters, citing four people familiar with the project.

The outlet said the new phone could be a mobile personalization device able to sync with the voice assistant platform Alexa.

Details about the anticipated price of the phone, along with Amazon’s financial commitment to the project and revenue projections, were not immediately clear.

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The Amazon logo is displayed on the façade of Amazon Germany’s headquarters in Parkstadt Schwabing, Munich, Bavaria, Jan. 27, 2026. (Matthias Balk/picture alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Sources told Reuters the project’s timeline is also unclear, noting it could still be scrapped.

An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment to Reuters. Fox Business has reached out to Amazon for comment.

Amazon introduced the Fire Phone in 2014, packaging the product with a free year of Amazon Prime.

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Amazon is reportedly developing a new AI-driven smartphone integrated with Alexa, marking a potential return to the highly competitive mobile market. (fizkes/iStock/Getty Images Plus / Getty Images)

While the smartphone was launched with a lot of hype, it received mixed reviews with complaints ranging from a lackluster operating system to its high price, which was initially $649.

The company canceled the smartphone after just 14 months, taking a $170 million charge for unsold inventory, Reuters reported.

Apple and Samsung together commanded about 40% of global smartphone sales last year, according to Counterpoint Research, a market Amazon would now be reentering with its reported new device.

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The logo of Amazon’s Alexa+ is displayed on a screen during an Amazon Devices launch event in New York City Feb. 26, 2025. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid / Reuters)

According to Reuters, the new smartphone would include personalization features that would allow users to easily access Amazon.com, Prime Video and food delivery apps like Grubhub.

The project is focused on integrating artificial intelligence into the device, which could eliminate the need for traditional app stores, the outlet added.

Reuters contributed to this report.

By Jennifer Nash

Zillow, the real estate listing and brokerage website, provides a wealth of publicly available real estate data. Among these, the Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) offers a seasonally adjusted measure of home values