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By Huw GRIFFITH LOS ANGELES, Jan 23, 2024 (AFP) – The Los Angeles Times said Tuesday it laying off more than a fifth of its journalists, in another example of how news media in the United States and around the world are struggling to cope with the disruptions of the internet age. The announcement came as staff at the Conde Nast group, which publishes Vanity Fair and Vogue, took strike action over looming job cuts, […]
By Frankie TAGGART WASHINGTON, Jan 18, 2024 (AFP) – The US Congress green-lit temporary funding Thursday to thwart a partial government shutdown that threatened the functions of multiple key federal agencies and could have seen thousands of employees sent home without pay. With large sections of the government due to close at the end of Friday, the House of Representatives voted to keep the lights for at least another six weeks, approving a measure that […]
By Roland JACKSON LONDON, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – British annual inflation unexpectedly picked up in December, data showed Wednesday, dashing hopes of an early cut to UK interest rates and prolonging a cost-of-living squeeze before an election. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) accelerated slightly to 4.0 percent from 3.9 percent in November, the Office for National Statistics said, confounding expectations for a modest slowdown. The news dented hopes the Bank of England would cut […]
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – The World Trade Organization’s chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Wednesday said she was “less optimistic” about world trade in 2024, pointing to tensions in the Red Sea. The head of the international trade body said weaker global economic growth, “worsening geopolitical tensions, the new disruptions we see in the Red Sea, on the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal” meant “we are less optimistic”. She was speaking to journalists at […]
BEIJING, Jan 5, 2024 (AFP) – Tesla is recalling more than 1.6 million electric vehicles in China, the country’s market regulator said Friday, owing to software issues that could pose safety risks while driving. The recall — sparked by the discovery of problems with assisted driving functions and door-locking systems — will be conducted through remote ‘over-the-air’ (OTA) updates to the cars’ software. China is a vital component in US-based Tesla’s global layout, both as […]
BUENOS AIRES, Jan 4, 2024 (AFP) – Argentine judges on Wednesday suspended labor law changes that form part of a mega-decree of sweeping economic reforms and deregulation announced by the country’s libertarian new president, Javier Milei. The CGT trade union body had challenged the changes, which technically took effect last Friday, on grounds that they erode basic worker protections such as the right to strike and parental leave. The three judges of Argentina’s labor appeals […]
By Matthew WALSH, Oliver HOTHAM BEIJING, Dec 31, 2023 (AFP)– President Xi Jinping said Sunday the Chinese economy had grown “more resilient and dynamic” in 2023, despite financial figures continuing to disappoint as the post-Covid recovery stalls. He also promised in a bullish New Year’s address to the nation that China would “surely be reunified” — a reference to the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own and has pledged to seize. […]
TOKYO, Dec 23, 2023 (AFP) – Japan approved Friday a record defence budget worth $56 billion for the next fiscal year, as tensions rise with China and North Korea. The 7.95 trillion yen ($56 billion) draft budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year was approved by the cabinet, in line with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s pledge to raise defence spending over the next few years. Japan has a pacifist post-war constitution, which limits its military capacity […]
TOKYO, Dec 22, 2023 (AFP) – Japanese consumer inflation slowed to 2.5 percent year-on-year in November, down from 2.9 percent the previous month, as electricity and gas bills declined, government data showed Friday. The figure for the world’s third-largest economy, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, was in line with market expectations in a Bloomberg survey. It is the lowest increase in prices since July 2022, as electricity and gas bills declined while the cost […]
BUENOS AIRES, Dec 21, 2023 (AFP) – -Argentina’s new leader Javier Milei on Wednesday unveiled a series of measures to deregulate the country’s struggling economy, eliminating or changing more than 300 rules via presidential decree, including on rent and labor practices. “The goal is to start along the path to rebuilding the country… and start to undo the huge number of regulations that have held back and prevented economic growth,” Milei said in a televised […]
By Jing Xuan TENG SHANGHAI, Dec 15, 2023 (AFP) – Chinese social media users reported on Friday that they had been warned against posting “pessimistic” views about the economy, in a sign of growing political sensitivity as China struggles to boost growth. China’s economy is battling headwinds on multiple fronts and Beijing’s leadership said this month its recovery was confronting “difficulties and challenges”. Several people told AFP that social media platform Weibo had sent them […]
