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By Danny KEMP SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 17, 2023 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping made rival bids to win over Asia-Pacific allies at a summit in San Francisco Thursday, just a day after the two leaders met in a bid to reduce tensions between the superpowers. “We’re not going anywhere,” Biden told business leaders attending the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit in San Francisco as he tried to reassure […]
SHANGHAI, Nov 16, 2023 (AFP) – Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said Thursday it was cancelling a planned cloud service spinoff announced this year over US chip restrictions, as it reported results for the third quarter of 2023 that were in line with market expectations. The company saw a 9 percent year-on-year increase in Q3 revenue, it said Thursday, following several difficult years and despite a broader economic slowdown. “Alibaba Group delivered a solid quarter, marked […]
SEOUL, Nov 16, 2023 (AFP) – Nearly four million jobs in South Korea are at risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence technology over the next two decades, a central bank study released on Thursday said. Rapidly advancing artificial intelligence (AI) technology has triggered global concern over everything from job losses and cyber attacks to humans losing control of the systems they have designed. The new study by the Bank of Korea said some 3.9 […]
By Tomohiro OSAKI TOKYO, Nov 15, 2023 (AFP) – Japan’s economy contracted by a worse-than-expected 0.5 percent in the third quarter, government data showed Wednesday, in a further blow to struggling Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The shrinking of the world’s number three economy, following two consecutive quarters of growth, was worse than the market consensus of a 0.1 percent contraction. Private demand, including private residential and corporate investment, was down 0.6 percent. Exports grew just […]
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 14, 2023 (AFP) – President Joe Biden’s administration signaled Monday it would postpone a draft of an Asia trade pact that had been set to be unveiled at a summit in San Francisco, after facing domestic criticism. Biden, welcoming 20 other members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to San Francisco where he will meet on the sidelines with Chinese President Xi Jinping, had been expected to announce substantial progress on […]
By Huw GRIFFITH SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 13, 2023 (AFP) – Like a housework-shy couple who suddenly discover the neighbors are dropping round, San Francisco is in tidying panic mode as it readies for thousands of influential APEC visitors. There are palpable efforts to spruce up the decaying downtown that in recent years has earned itself a reputation for open-air drug use, homelessness, litter and crime. Major streets have been swept clean, potholes newly repaired and […]
By Andrew MARSZAL LOS ANGELES, Nov 11, 2023 (AFP) – From computer-generated “extras” to AI “zombies,” new restrictions against the use of artificial intelligence in Hollywood were set out by the actors’ union Friday. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) reached a deal with studios like Disney and Netflix this week to end its nearly four-month strike. Its board members on Friday voted 86 percent in favor of ratifying the agreement. Besides a seven percent minimum […]
MOSCOW, Nov 10, 2023 (AFP) – Russia’s annual inflation rate accelerated to 6.7 percent in October, the country’s federal statistics agency said Friday, as a weak currency and surging military spending push prices higher across the economy. Rising prices have caused concern for the Kremlin and Russia’s Central Bank, which has raised interest rates to 15 percent in a bid to battle inflation. Earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin urged his government to “reduce” inflation […]
BEIJING, Nov 11, 2023 (AFP) – China’s annual “Singles Day” sales bonanza wraps up at midnight on Saturday, but consumers this year appear largely unswayed by its flashy deals and discounts as the world’s second-largest economy slows. Conceived by tech giant Alibaba, “Singles Day” — which this year spanned well over a week — was launched in 2009 and has since ballooned into a yearly blockbuster retail period. Sales for last year’s Singles Day reached […]
TOKYO, Nov 10, 2023 (AFP) – Japan’s government said on Friday that it plans to spend 2 trillion yen ($13 billion) to boost domestic production of strategically important semiconductors and generative AI technology. The planned outlays will include 700 billion yen ($4.6 billion) to support the construction of a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) plant in Kumamoto, the firm’s second plant in the southern Japanese region, trade ministry official Motoki Kurita told AFP. TSMC controls […]
By Roland JACKSON LONDON, Nov 10, 2023 (AFP) – Britain’s economy stagnated in the third quarter, official data showed Friday, weighed down by elevated inflation and interest-rate hikes. Gross domestic product showed no growth in the July-September period, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement. That beat market expectations for a contraction of 0.2 percent, but followed 0.2-percent expansion in the second quarter. The data comes one week after the Bank of […]
SANTIAGO, Nov 9, 2023 (AFP) – Hunger affected some 43.2 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2022, about 6.5 percent of the region’s population, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said Thursday. While an improvement from 2021, the figure was higher than pre-Covid — representing some six million extra hungry people from 2019, the agency said in a regional overview of food security and nutrition. The FAO cited the pandemic, the climate […]
