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WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Reusable cups are in vogue for reducing waste but are no longer welcome at Starbucks cafes over fears of the coronavirus, the coffee chain announced. “We are pausing the use of personal cups and ‘for here’ ware in our stores,” executive vice president Rossann Williams said in a statement Wednesday, adding that Starbucks would honor their 10-cent discounts for customers who arrive with their own cup even if they won’t […]
by Céline CORNU MILAN, Italy (AFP) — Italy’s economy performed woefully in 2019 and is set to do even worse this year due to the coronavirus, with the threat of recession looming large, experts said Monday. “In the best scenario for Italy, we expect zero growth (in 2020) with a negative first quarter followed by a slow recovery,” OECD chief economist Laurence Boone said. The economy expanded last year by just 0.3 percent — its […]
By Ben PERRY Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Having backed Britain’s proposed high-speed railway HS2, Boris Johnson is under pressure to keep his pledge to scrap plans for a third runway at London Heathrow airport as climate fears intensify. Prime Minister Johnson, who wants big infrastructure projects to help drive Britain’s post-Brexit economy, said earlier this month that the country would shortly begin full construction work on HS2, dismissing soaring costs. The project, while […]
by Miwa SUZUKI TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan has suffered its worst quarterly GDP contraction in more than five years, with a tax hike and a deadly typhoon taking a toll on the world’s third-largest economy. The nation’s gross domestic product in the three months to December shrank 1.6 percent from the previous quarter, even before the novel coronavirus outbreak in China hit Japan, according to official data published on Monday. The quarter was marked […]
(Eagle News) — In this interview on ASEAN in Focus weekend edition on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020, Joyce Alumno, president of Health Core, talks about the implications on the tourism industry in the Philippines of the current novel coronavirus problem that has affected business not only in Asia, but all over the world. Alumno, a medical tourism advocate, noted that the COVID-2019 scare, would have an impact on the country’s economy, considering that about 12.7 […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was set Tuesday to announce his plans for the HS2 high-speed railway, with reports suggesting he will stick with the long-running project despite soaring costs. HS2, which would quicken rail journeys between London in southeast England and cities to the north of the capital, has been dogged by controversy owing to projected spiraling costs and damage to wildlife. It is forecast that the project, aimed […]
by Sebastian Smith WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump said Monday the time has come to pursue trade negotiations with the European Union which he said imposes “incredible” barriers to US goods. “Europe has been treating us very badly,” Trump said at a White House event with US state governors. After reaching a series of trade deals with Canada, Mexico and Japan, and a phase-one agreement with China, Trump said, “The next thing […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Tropical cyclone Damien lashed Australia’s northwestern resource-rich region of Pilbara on Saturday as locals heeded a code red emergency warning and hunkered down indoors. The category three storm brought winds of 150 kilometres per hour (93 miles per hour) that were expected to strengthen to gusts of 220 kph as the cyclone further advanced toward the coast. The Bureau of Meteorology said Damien had brought “very destructive winds” and “very […]
by Dan Martin / LAN Lianchao Agence France Presse Chinese stocks collapsed Monday with Shanghai’s index posting its biggest single-day drop since 2015 — and hundreds of firms plunging the maximum 10 percent — as panic set in over China’s coronavirus epidemic. Monday was the first time in more than a week that Chinese investors were able to react to a viral outbreak that has now killed more people than the 2002-03 SARS outbreak, […]
HONG Kong, China (AFP) — Hong Kong confirmed Monday it plunged into recession in 2019, suffering its first annual contraction in a decade as the city buckled under the twin pressures of the US-China trade war and months of furious pro-democracy protests. The data was released as the semi-autonomous city begins the lunar new year facing another economic crisis — the outbreak of a deadly new coronavirus strain which began on the Chinese mainland and […]
by Heather SCOTT WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Recovery in a handful of countries will boost global growth slightly this year but the outlook is riddled with potential pitfalls that could derail this tepid upswing, the World Bank cautioned Wednesday. A renewal of trade tensions, which eased recently with announcement of an initial agreement between the United States and China, would erode the modest progress and could spread quickly beyond the two economic powers. In […]
by Ludovic EHRET HENGZHANG, China (AFP) — “Do you want a piece?” beekeeper Ma Gongzuo says, looking into the camera of a friend’s smartphone before biting into the dripping comb of amber-colored honey. The clip goes out to his 737,000 followers on Douyin, the Chinese version of popular video sharing app TikTok that has 400 million users in the country and has turned Ma into something of a celebrity. Creating videos has become a popular sales […]
