Switzerland's major luxury watch brands are cautiously optimistic that Chinese tourists will boost sales this year, if they return to Europe in large numbers after the easing of domestic Covid restrictions.. - Appetite for travel - That said, Chinese luxury consumers have become more accustomed to buying domestically during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Elon Musk on Friday defended his controversial pay model for Twitter, claiming that any social media platform that didn't follow suit would fail because they would be swarmed by bots.. "My prediction is that any so-called social media network that doesn't do this will fail," Musk added.
Fifteen people were injured, including at least one seriously hurt, in two separate train derailments that happened in quick succession Friday in stormy wind in northwestern Switzerland, police said.. Three people were injured in the first, including the driver, and 12 were injured in the second, with wind speeds of 136 kilometres per hour recorded nearby.
US Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated calls for a "speedy finalization" of Zambia's debt restructuring on Friday, as she visited the country in the last stop of a continental tour.. "We will continue to advocate for a speedy finalization of Zambia's debt treatment and restructuring," Harris told a press conference in Lusaka, after a meeting with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema.
US officials proposed Friday guidelines that widen access to electric vehicle subsidies, bringing relief to countries like Japan and potentially the EU amid their fears of being excluded from Washington's spending bonanza. . The EU and US are currently in talks for a similar pact as the transatlantic partners seek a way to end their spat over Washington's subsidy plans.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who last week had to cancel a visit to China after coming down with pneumonia, has rescheduled the trip to April 11-14, his office said Friday.. He canceled his original trip last Saturday, the day he was initially due to leave, after being diagnosed with what his office called "mild pneumonia."
Italy said on Friday it was temporarily blocking ChatGPT over data privacy concerns, the first western country to take such action against the popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot.. It also sparked a gold rush among other tech firms and venture capitalists, with Google rushing out its own chatbot and investors pouring cash into all manner of AI projects. ams-jxb/rl
The daughter of Huawei's billionaire founder, Meng Wanzhou will take over as rotating chairwoman as the Chinese tech giant enters choppy waters, with profits plummeting under US sanctions.. After Huawei's Friday announcement that its 2022 net profits had plunged 69 percent compared to the previous year, Meng struck a defiant tone at a press conference.
The UK economy performed slightly better than thought in the final quarter of last year, revised data showed Friday, but analysts warned of recession risks as inflation remains sky high.. - "The final quarter GDP data suggested the economy was even more resilient in 2022 than we previously thought, as the government absorbed some of the hit to households from high inflation," Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said following Friday's data.
Plans to build wind farms next to a South African national park have riled wildlife activists who worry the turbines will ruin the landscape and impact elephants.. More than 200 turbines are slated to be erected in the vicinity of the Addo Elephant National Park, in the country's south, after the Environment Ministry dismissed a legal bid to block the project last year.
