Photo taken on June 22, 2022 shows the US Federal Reserve building in Washington, DC, the United States. (PHOTO / XINHUA) A bunch of US tech companies that have led the tech stocks boom over the past 10 years are announcing workforce cuts one after another. Twitter has reportedly decided to fire about 4,400 contract […]
This handout satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies on Jan 8, 2020 shows an overview of Iran's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), northeast of the Iranian city of Qom. (SATELLITE IMAGE ©2021 MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES / AFP) DUBAI/VIENNA – Iran has begun enriching uranium to 60 percent purity at its Fordow nuclear plant and plans a […]
A tea vendor makes his way as it rains in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Oct 12, 2022. (ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP) COLOMBO – Sri Lanka unveils a budget on Monday attempting to put the South Asian government's finances in order, with reforms to advance a $2.9 global billion bailout from the island's worst financial […]
This handout photograph taken in 2019 and released by Amalia Bastos Photography on March 3, 2020 shows a Key, a species of large parrot native to New Zealand, during a series of experiments to test the statistical understanding of the birds, a variation of those already performed with apes and human infants at the Willowbank […]
Laborers work at a construction site of a new expressway in Manila, Philippines Nov 17, 2016. (CZAR DANCEL / REUTERS) MANILA – The Philippine economy grew at a faster-than-expected clip in the third quarter, but the government said the recovery is not without risks given rising interest rates and soaring inflation that could crimp consumer […]
A man uses a three-wheel motorbike along the West Lake in Hanoi on Oct 10, 2022. (NHAC NGUYEN / AFP) HANOI – Vietnam targets to become a developing, upper middle-income country with per capita GDP reaching $7,500 by 2030, according to a recent national master plan. Vietnam aims to have the service sector contribute to […]
A worker works at a factory of Harbin Electric Machinery Company Ltd of Harbin Electric Corporation in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, Sept 3, 2022. (PHOTO / XINHUA) In stark contrast to the volatile economic situation in some major economies, the data bode well for the world's second-largest economy maintaining its recovery curve in the […]
Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen speaks at the Sydney Energy Forum on July 12, 2022, in Sydney. (BROOK MITCHELL / POOL / AFP) CANBERRA – The Australian government has decided to sign the Global Methane Pledge to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 percent below 2020 levels by 2030. […]
Although she has only been in office for less than two months, UK Prime Minister Liz Truss is already mired in a trust crisis. Instead of seeing her as a new "Iron Lady", the people in the United Kingdom have witnessed a bumbling caricature that evokes Mr Bean more than Margaret Thatcher. Always calling for […]
With her party, Brothers of Italy, winning the most votes in the country's national election, Giorgia Meloni is set to become Italy's first female prime minister. That has aroused widespread worries in Europe, as the Brothers of Italy is a euroskeptic, far-right, populist party, and the only major political party that refused to join outgoing […]
The European Union as a whole will prove to be the biggest loser no matter how the conflict between Russia and Ukraine plays out. The consequences for European countries are not just economic and well-being shocks but the geopolitical implications as well. That the share of EU enterprises losing money has risen from the normal […]
Growing the membership is inevitable; developing nations need greater say in global governance (MA XUEJING / CHINA DAILY) Although BRICS has engaged several other nations under the rubric of “BRICS Plus” and “BRICS Outreach” summits, the group has remained cautious about adding new members. Lately, however, expanding its membership has become a subject of discussion […]
People crowd a street filled with stores as they shop in Manila on Feb 4, 2022. (TED ALJIBE / AFP) HANOI / MANILA / YANGON – Philippine Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Friday that Metro Manila "is again back to moderate risk classification" amid surging COVID-19 cases in the capital region. The Philippines reported […]
Containers on ships are unloaded at Bangkok Port in Bangkok, Thailand, Oct 15, 2021. (SAKCHAI LALIT / AP) SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA – The economic ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Thursday reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to regional economic integration amid continued COVID-19 pandemic-related challenges and rising geopolitical tensions, according to a […]
In this file photo dated march 1, 2019, Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki (center) talks to reporters following a meeting with Japan's then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to report the result of a local referendum at the prime minister's official residence after a vote on the relocation of a US base on the island. (KIMIMASA MAYAMA / […]
Internally displaced people wade through floodwaters to return home after heavy monsoon rains in Dadu district, Sindh province on Sept 7, 2022. (AAMIR QURESHI / AFP) BHAN SYEDABAD, Pakistan – People were building barriers on Thursday in some parts of Pakistan to hold back rising waters that have engulfed nearly a third of the country […]
Sri Lanka's debt crisis, which led to political upheaval and change of government, is the result of debt accumulation, domestic policy dysfunction and external shocks. Sri Lanka has long relied on external borrowing to bail itself out of financial crises. It has entered into 15 loan agreements with the International Monetary Fund in 52 years, […]
Republic of Korea's army soldiers arrest a mock terrorist during an anti-terror drill as part of the joint military exercises with the US on Aug 23, 2022. (AHN YOUNG-JOON / AP) SEOUL – The Republic of Korea's defense ministry said Tuesday that the proposed defense budget for next year will be 4.6 percent higher than […]
An attendant works a petrol pump at a mini gas station in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, Indonesian on Aug 18, 2022. (ADEK BERRY / AFP) JAKARTA – Indonesia will reallocate 24.17 trillion rupiah ($1.62 billion), or nearly 5 percent, of its fuel subsidy budget to social spending, including cash handouts to 20.65 million households, its finance […]
(LI MIN / CHINA DAILY) Intense heat waves have hit many parts of the world, including the United States, many European countries, East and Central Africa, India, Pakistan, Chile, the Republic of Korea and southern China. Very high temperatures combined with rain shortfall have caused severe droughts, lowered water levels in rivers and reservoirs, and […]
People wearing face masks cross a road in the rain near a subway station in Seoul, South Korea on July 13, 2022. (AHN YOUNG-JOON / AP) SEOUL – South Korea's registered population fell for the second consecutive year in 2021 due to a chronically low birth rate and higher deaths, statistical office data showed Tuesday. […]
The economy in the next 20 years will be driven by innovation and technology (I&T). I would like to put forward four recommendations for Hong Kong’s I&T development. First, we should increase the research and development (R&D) investment from 0.99 percent to 1.5 percent of GDP. One of the achievements of Mrs Carrie Lam Cheng […]
(LUO JIE / CHINA DAILY) In the face of the soaring inflation, the US Federal Reserve has no choice but to raise its benchmark interest rate to control commodity prices. The consumer price index in the United States rose 1.3 percent in June, or aggregately 9.1 percent over the last 12 months to hit a […]
A passenger ferry sails out of the Sydney Harbour during sunset on July 11, 2022. (SAEED KHAN / AFP) Australia’s Labor government is facing the country’s worst economic crisis in decades although in office for less than half a year. Inflation, currently standing at a 21-year high of 6.1 percent, is forecast to peak at […]
China achieved a small positive year-on-year growth in the second quarter of this year thanks to a sharp rebound of economic activity in June. The second quarter GDP growth of 0.4 percent year-on-year is broadly in line with our expectations. Growth in the second quarter, however, was slower than in the first quarter (4.8 percent […]
As ratings slide, president urged to act to improve governance, lift economy South Korea's President Yoon Suk-Yeol looks on during a tri-lateral meeting with the US President and Japan's Prime Minister on the sidelines of the NATO summit at the Ifema congress centre in Madrid on June 29, 2022. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP) South Korean […]
People are seen at the parking lot of a grocery store in the Brooklyn borough of New York, the United States, on June 10, 2022. (PHOTO / XINHUA) The annual inflation rate in the United States surged to 9.1 percent in June, the highest since November 1981, from 8.6 percent in May and above market […]
This file photo taken on Nov 10, 2019 shows an Iranian flag in Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, during an official ceremony to kick-start works on a second reactor at the facility. (ATTA KENARE / AFP) TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Wednesday that Iran does not seek nuclear weapons and […]
(LI MIN / CHINA DAILY) GDP growth slowed to 0.4 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2022, from 4.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter. Yet the economy managed to avoid a contraction, despite the strict anti-pandemic measures, including lockdowns, to contain the sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks in many places in the country in April […]
(MA XUEJING / CHINA DAILY) The world economy is navigating uncharted waters as it continues to suffer from a series of destabilizing shocks. After more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and its global effects have steepened the slowdown in global growth. A decisive and wide-ranging policy response will be […]