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By Frankie TAGGART WASHINGTON, March 21, 2024 (AFP) – US lawmakers released a $1.2 trillion package in the early hours of Thursday to complete the 2024 federal budget — teeing off a sprint to sign it into law before a government shutdown looming at the weekend. The six-bill, 1,012-page package represents the largest and most contentious section of federal funding, with cash running out at midnight on Friday night for three-quarters of the government, including […]
HANOI, March 22, 2024 (AFP) – Vietnam’s leading electric car manufacturer VinFast has recalled almost 6,000 vehicles after a fault in their indicator system was discovered, the government has confirmed, in a fresh blow to the firm. The communist state’s first homegrown auto maker is hoping to compete with electric vehicle (EV) giants such as Tesla, and is trying to crack the global market. But VinFast has struggled to convince international drivers its EVs are […]
By Jing Xuan Teng, with Peter Catterall in Beijing SHANGHAI, March 22, 2024 (AFP) – With jaw-droppingly low prices and a seemingly endless selection of trendy clothes, Shein has taken the world by storm — and found itself in the crosshairs of French lawmakers who want to curb the excesses of fast fashion. Customers love the Chinese-founded firm’s massive catalogue of ultra-cheap items, from $8 sundresses to 48-cent bracelets, at a time when inflation has […]
By Alex PIGMAN WASHINGTON, March 22, 2024 (AFP) – The US Department of Justice sued Apple on Thursday, accusing the tech giant of illegally maintaining a monopoly for its iPhone by stifling competition and imposing exorbitant costs on consumers. The lawsuit, also brought by multiple US states, said Apple raked in hundreds of billions of dollars by allegedly making it difficult for consumers to switch to cheaper smartphones and devices. The long anticipated case against […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 22, 2024 (AFP) – EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday Brussels was proposing raising tariffs on Russian and Belarusian grain to protect Europe’s farmers and punish Moscow over its war on Ukraine. The announcement came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky complained to EU leaders that it was not fair Russian grain continued to have “unrestricted” access to their markets, while Ukrainian imports were being limited. “It will prevent Russian […]
LISSE, Netherlands, March 22, 2024 (AFP) – The world’s biggest tulip garden opened to the public on Thursday for its 75th edition, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to enjoy a bewildering array of seven million bulbs in the western Dutch city of Lisse. Keukenhof park, southwest of Amsterdam in the heart of “bulb country”, contains millions of tulips of every colour as well as other flowers across 32 hectares (80 acres). The park […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 18, 2024 (AFP) – The European Union and the Philippines announced the resumption of negotiations for a free trade agreement on Monday, with Brussels saying the first round of talks should begin “later this year”. “The conditions are right to take our trade relations to the next level,” EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said at a press conference in Brussels. Talks began in 2015 under then-Philippine president Benigno Aquino but stalled […]
NEW DELHI, March 16, 2024 (AFP) – India’s navy recaptured a ship from Somali pirates off the Indian coast Saturday, the military said, rescuing the crew and ending a three-month takeover of the Maltese-flagged bulk carrier MV Ruen. The December hijacking of the ship was the first time since 2017 that any cargo vessel had been successfully boarded by Somali pirates. “#IndianNavy thwarts designs of Somali pirates to hijack ships plying through the region by […]
TOKYO, March 15, 2024 (AFP) – Hungry McDonald’s customers in parts of Asia had trouble ordering at stores, on phones and at electronic kiosks on Friday after a system outage. In Japan, it experienced “a system failure” and was “temporarily suspending operation at many outlets”, the US fast food giant wrote on X, formerly Twitter. China was also affected for several hours, with the outage a hot topic on social media platform Weibo. The company […]
By Louis GENOT RIO DE JANEIRO, March 13, 2024 (AFP) – Brazil is charging up for a hybrid revolution as global car manufacturers race to pump billions of dollars into the development of green vehicles in Latin America’s biggest economy. Globally, hybrid cars sales are booming, offering consumers fuel savings, sustainability, and the assurance that they won’t find themselves stranded far from a public charging station in a fully electric vehicle. Brazil, with its population […]
FRANKFURT, Germany, March 13, 2024 (AFP) – German sportswear giant Adidas reported an annual loss for 2023 on Wednesday, still weighed down by the fallout from the end of its tie-up with controversial rapper Kanye West. The loss of 75 million euros ($82 million) followed a profit of 612 million euros the previous year. Sales fell by five percent to 21.4 billion euros, and were hit particularly hard in the United States due to the […]
Bitcoin hit a fresh record above $71,000 on Monday as demand for the cryptocurrency picks up amid optimism that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year. The unit hit a peak of $71,432 in afternoon Asian business, according to Bloomberg data, meaning it has advanced almost 70 percent this year. The rally was helped by news that Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority had said it would allow the creation of crypto-related securities. That comes […]
