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FRANKFURT, Germany, Feb 21, 2024 (AFP) – Tesla said Wednesday it will have to rethink expansion plans for its German factory, the electric carmaker’s only European plant, after local residents opposed them in a vote. The vote, which was not legally binding, related to a project to expand the Gruenheide site, south of Berlin, by 170 hectares (420 acres), from a current size of 300 hectares. The US company hopes to increase production at the […]
MADRID, Feb 21, 2024 (AFP) – Hundreds of tractors rolled into Madrid Wednesday for fresh protests by Spanish farmers angered by what they say is unfair competition, with similar moves taking place in France, Poland and Greece. Spain’s Union of Unions syndicate rallied farmers at the crack of dawn, demanding fair product prices and competition with non-EU importers, AFP reporters said. “We have to protest in Madrid, because that’s where everyone is,” said Jose Angel […]
PARIS, Feb 21, 2024 (AFP) – Consumer watchdog Foodwatch said it was filing a legal complaint Wednesday against food giant Nestle and another group over them allegedly fraudulently treating water for their top mineral water brands. A government probe reported by media last month said about 30 percent of mineral water sold in France had undergone purification treatment only meant to be used on tap water. Foodwatch said it was lodging its complaint with a […]
SEOUL, Feb 21, 2024 (AFP) – Pregnant women had C-sections cancelled and cancer treatments were postponed Wednesday as the number of South Korean trainee doctors to walk off the job over proposed reforms swelled, officials and local reports said. More than 8,800 junior doctors — 71 percent of the trainee workforce — have now quit, said Seoul’s Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo, part of a spiralling protest against government plans to sharply increase medical […]
TOKYO, Feb 20, 2024 (AFP) – Hirotake Yano, the Japanese 100-yen shop pioneer and founder of the Daiso chain, has died, the company said. The billionaire “passed away due to heart failure at the age of 80 in Hiroshima” on February 12, Daiso said in a statement on Monday. After unsuccessful stints at his father-in-law’s fish business and peddling encyclopedias, Yano started selling goods from a street stall in 1972. Five years later, tired of […]
Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei index closed flat on Monday, as Nintendo shares tumbled after reports said its next console would be delayed. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index edged down 0.04 percent, or 16.86 points, to end at 38,470.38, while the broader Topix index climbed 0.57 percent, or 14.96 points, to 2,639.69. nf/kaf/smw
By Bhuvan BAGGA NEW DELHI, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – Thousands of Indian farmers on tractors are riding towards New Delhi in a revival of past protests that saw highways into the capital blockaded by agricultural machinery for more than a year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was pressed into a rare retreat in 2021 after a successful campaign by farmers demanding it repeal new laws deregulating agricultural markets. Farm union leaders say the […]
LONDON, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – Britain sank into recession at the end of last year on high inflation and a cost-of-living crisis, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak before this year’s election. Gross domestic product shrank 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 after contracting 0.1 percent in the prior three months, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement. That places the economy in recession, which is defined […]
By Kyoko HASEGAWA TOKYO, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – Once forecast to become the world’s biggest economy, Japan slipped below Germany last year to fourth place, official data showed Thursday, although India is projected to leapfrog both later this decade. Despite growing 1.9 percent, Japan’s nominal 2023 gross domestic product in dollar terms was $4.2 trillion, government data showed, compared with $4.5 trillion for Germany, according to figures released there last month. The change in […]
BUENOS AIRES, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – Argentina’s monthly inflation slowed slightly in January, but the prices of key goods and services rose 254 percent year-on-year, the statistics agency said Wednesday. President Javier Milei had warned that the country’s battle with inflation was far from over when he took office in December, riding a wave of fury over decades of economic mismanagement, and stood by his policies Wednesday. “If one takes the number alone, isolated, […]
SINGAPORE, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – Singapore’s economy grew less than expected last year, the government said Thursday as it warned geopolitical risks would continue to cause headwinds this year. The city-state’s economic performance is often seen as a barometer of the global environment because of its reliance on international trade. The 1.1 percent expansion last year, released by the trade ministry, was short of the 1.2 percent announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong […]
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – Cisco is cutting thousands of jobs as part of a restructuring plan, the computer networking giant announced Wednesday. About 5 percent of Cisco’s global workforce will be affected by the layoffs, the Silicon Valley-based company said while announcing its latest quarterly earnings figures. Cisco ended last year with nearly 85,000 employees, according to its website. Analysts say that tech layoffs could become a new normal for Silicon Valley […]
