First after-quake baby born in Xigaze of Xizang

A newborn baby was safely delivered on Wednesday at the Xigaze People's Hospital in Xigaze City of southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region after the mother was transfered from the quake-hit Dingri County earlier on that day.

According to the doctors from the hospital, the newborn is a baby boy, and was given birth to at around 07:40 Wednesday morning.

"The baby is a boy and weighs 2,900 grams. He suffered from mild asphyxia, so we immediately transferred him to the neonatology department for treatment. After the delivery, the mother of the newborn returned to her ward, and her vital signs stays at normal ranges. Both mother and baby are doing well. The baby is currently under treatment in the neonatology department," said Butri, director of the gynaecology and obstetrics department, Xigaze People's Hospital.

Kunga Drolma, an attending physician of the neonatology department of the hospital, said the condition of the newborn is stable.

"We took measures to keep the baby warm and administered oxygen after he was transferred to our department. His vital signs are currently stable," she said.

Doctors said the mother of the newborn went for a prenatal checkup on Tuesday, the day of the earthquake, in quake's epicenter in Dingri County.

Due to the earthquake and her abnormal blood pressure, she was transferred more than 300 kilometers to Xigaze People's Hospital in the early hours of Wednesday.

"We gave the pregnant woman acute antihypertensive drugs after admission. The patient was a 38-week pregnant woman with extremely high blood pressure, and we discovered she also has congenital heart disease, so continuing the pregnancy posed a risk of complications at any moment. Therefore, with the consent of the family, we urgently performed a cesarean section," Butri said.

The 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted Dingri County of Xigaze on Tuesday morning, with at least 126 people confirmed to have lost their lives and 188 others injured, while over 3,600 homes collapsed.

First after-quake baby born in Xigaze of Xizang

The European Central Bank (ECB) announced on Thursday that it would slash key interest rates by 25 basis points in a bid to wind down the restrictive monetary policy.

Effective from March 12, the interest rates on the deposit facility, the main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility will be decreased to 2.50 percent, 2.65 percent and 2.90 percent respectively, said the central bank in a statement.

The disinflation process is well on track, with headline inflation averaging 2.3 percent in 2025, 1.9 percent in 2026 and 2.0 percent in 2027, the ECB said.

The decision to keep on cutting rates came at a time when the economy in the eurozone is facing increasing uncertainties.

In its latest edition of the staff projections on Thursday, the ECB lowered its forecast for economic growth in the eurozone to 0.9 percent for 2025, 1.2 percent for 2026 and 1.3 percent for 2027.

This marks a downward revision from the ECB's forecast in December last year, which had projected 1.1 percent growth in 2025 and 1.4 percent in 2026, while the 2027 outlook remains unchanged.

The ECB attributed the weaker growth outlook for 2025 and 2026 to declining exports and sluggish investment, citing high trade policy uncertainty and broader economic instability as key factors.

ECB cuts interest rates by 25 basis points