Bitcoin spiked above $50,000 Tuesday for the first time in more than two years as investors grow optimistic that US approval of broader trading in the unit will ramp up demand. The cryptocurrency has enjoyed a strong run in recent months, fuelled by expectations US lawmakers would allow the creation of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track the price and let the public invest in crypto without directly purchasing it. After initially dropping in reaction to […]
Business
Jeff Bezos sells off $2 bn in Amazon shares
WASHINGTON, Feb 10, 2024 (AFP) – Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has sold off about $2 billion in shares of the online distribution giant, according to recent stock market filings. Bezos sold on Wednesday and Thursday some 12 million Amazon shares, at between $168-171 per share, according to documents sent to stock market regulatory authorities Friday. A previous stock market document, out Wednesday, reported his intention to sell, next July, 50 million shares of the group […]
Shipping giant Maersk’s profit sinks, warns of Red Sea risk
COPENHAGEN, Feb 8, 2024 (AFP) – Shipping giant Maersk reported on Thursday a massive drop in net profit in 2023 and warned of “uncertainty” in 2024 due to Yemeni rebel attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. An oversupply of container shipping last year caused prices to drop after they had soared in 2022 due to capacity shortages amid high demand following the end fo Covid pandemic restrictions, the Danish group said. “The high demand […]
China consumer prices show quickest drop in 14 years
BEIJING, Feb 8, 2024 (AFP) – Chinese consumer prices fell in January at their quickest rate in more than 14 years, data showed Thursday, as the country’s leaders struggle to revive buying sentiment in the world’s second-biggest economy. The reading will likely add to calls for officials to do more to breathe life into the economy, with central bank interest rate cuts and measures to boost lending having little impact so far. The 0.8 percent […]
Taiwan chip giant TSMC announces second Japan plant
TAIPEI, Feb 6, 2024 (AFP) – TSMC will build a second foundry in Japan, the semiconductor giant and its local partners announced Tuesday, weeks before its first in the country officially opens. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company — which counts Apple and Nvidia as clients — controls more than half the world’s output of silicon wafers, used in everything from smartphones to cars and missiles. In recent years, it has had to navigate geopolitical tussles between […]
Lufthansa says strike to axe up to 90% of flights
FRANKFURT, Germany, Feb 6, 2024 (AFP) – Up to 90 percent of Lufthansa’s flight schedule will be cancelled Wednesday due to a walkout by ground staff, the carrier warned, the latest strike-related travel chaos to hit Germany. Some 25,000 staff will take part in the walkout over pay, which will last for around 27 hours from 4:00 am (0300 GMT), the union Verdi announced this week. The strike will affect Germany’s biggest airport in Frankfurt […]
Canada ice fishing season gets off to late start due to warm weather
By Anne-Sophie THILL SAINTE-ANNE-DE-LA-PÉRADE, Canada, Feb 6, 2024 (AFP) – On a frozen river in Canada, a cluster of brightly coloured cabins stand out against the white snow as vehicles crawl to and fro. Tired of waiting for cold-enough winter weather, ice fishing enthusiasts in Quebec province can finally cast their lines. The season here usually starts on December 26 and lasts until February 18, but it depends heavily on the onset of cold weather, […]
US defies hiring slowdown expectations, adds 353,000 jobs in January: govt
By Beiyi SEOW WASHINGTON, Feb 2, 2024 (AFP) – The US labor market smashed expectations last month in a surprise hiring pick-up, government data showed Friday, with a resilient jobs market likely good news for President Joe Biden in election year. The world’s biggest economy added 353,000 jobs in January, after December’s figure was significantly revised upwards to 333,000, said the Department of Labor. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7 percent for a third […]
Japan’s Aozora Bank shares plunge over bad loans
TOKYO, Feb 2, 2024 (AFP) – Shares in Japan’s Aozora Bank plunged for a second straight day Friday — wiping hundreds of millions of dollars off its market value — after the lender forecast a full-year net loss because of bad property loans in the United States. Prices in the US commercial real estate market have fallen sharply on the back of rising borrowing costs and lower demand as more people work from home following […]
Russia has created 520,000 new defence jobs, Putin says
MOSCOW, Feb 2, 2024 (AFP) – Russia has created more than half a million new jobs in its defence sector to meet soaring demand on the battlefield, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday. The Kremlin has thrown massive resources at its full-scale assault on Ukraine, with the defence sector accounting for much of the sanction-hit economy’s growth. “In the last year and a half alone, 520,000 new jobs have been created in defence,” Putin told […]
France offers cash and support to protesting farmers
By Myriam LEMETAYER, Tom BARFIELD PARIS, Feb 1, 2024 (AFP) – France’s government offered a slew of new concessions Thursday to farmers, hoping to calm anger behind tractor blockades of major roads nationwide. Farmers have been out in force for more than a week in protests triggered by an agricultural fuel duty hike, complaining their pay is squeezed, taxes are too high and regulations too onerous. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said he wanted to “better […]
Japanese airliners ‘clip wings’, no injuries
TOKYO, Feb 1, 2024 (AFP) – The wing tips of two passenger jets “scratched” each other at a Japanese airport Thursday, an airport operator said, the latest in a string of aviation mishaps in the country. Reports said no one was injured in the incident involving the two All Nippon Airways aircraft at Osaka’s Itami airport for domestic flights. “We’ve been told wing tips of two ANA planes scratched each other” shortly after 10:00 am […]
