For millions of school children they are the must have fashion accessory of the moment. Footballer David Beckham and Britain's Prince William have sported them. Even Pope Francis has been photographed wearing a few.

Loom bands -- colorful rubber bands woven together into bracelets and other items -- are the latest craze to sweep playgrounds everywhere from New York to Singapore.

No one doubts the latest EU and US economic sanctions on Russia will inflict significant costs, but whether they can force Moscow to reverse course in Ukraine is a completely different question.

Argentina blamed the United States on Thursday for the legal battle that forced it to miss a debt payment and, despite ratings agencies' declarations to the contrary, denied being in default.

Ratings agency Fitch declared Argentina in "restrictive default" Thursday after 11th-hour talks failed to resolve the country's dispute with two U.S. hedge funds that refuse to accept a write-down on their Argentine bonds.

U.S. electric automaker Tesla Motors reported Thursday a widening loss in the past quarter amid record revenues as it ramped up plans for a giant battery plant for future vehicles.

The loss in the quarter ending June 30 was $61.9 million, compared with $30.5 million in the same period a year ago, while revenues jumped more than 90 percent to $769 million.

German sportswear and equipment maker Adidas issued a profit warning for 2014 on Thursday due to geopolitical tensions and troubles in its golf division, sending its shares tumbling more than 11 percent.

The company said net profit for the year would only reach about 650 million euros ($870 million), much lower than the 830-930 million euros originally forecast.

Toshiba said Thursday its first-quarter net profit climbed 68.7 percent due to brisk sales in infrastructure business and PCs in Japan.

In the three-month period to June, Toshiba posted a net profit of 8.9 billion yen ($87 million), a 68.7 percent jump from a year earlier.

Sony said on Thursday it saw a $261 million first-quarter net profit thanks to brisk sales of its PlayStation 4 console and a weak yen, but said it still expects a full-year loss.

The company's net profit came to 26.8 billion yen ($261 million) for the three months through June, up from 3.1 billion yen a year earlier, with sales rising 5.8 percent to 1.8 trillion yen.

Shares in Nintendo fell more than six percent in early trade Thursday after the Japanese videogame giant announced it was still mired in the red.

Nintendo shares dropped 6.29 percent to 11,550.0 yen soon after the Tokyo stock market opened.

Samsung said Thursday net profit plunged almost 20 percent in the second quarter as competition from cheap Chinese phones and the strong won saw sales slump in its key mobile business.

The South Korean electronics giant said net profit came in at 6.25 trillion won ($6.1 billion), down 19.6 percent in the first on-year decline for nearly three years.

Airbus on Thursday said its decision to cancel a $2.2 billion jet order from Skymark Airlines was final, rejecting the Japanese carrier's suggestion that talks were still ongoing.