The UN's trade body on Thursday said African economies were vulnerable to a triple shock as it urged governments to pave the way for tech startups that would ease dependence on commodities.. The report recommended diversifying away from both commodities exports, on which many African economies continue to depend, and traditional service sectors -- such as travel and transport -- towards more knowledge-intensive services.
Twitter experienced a widespread but seemingly brief outage in the United States and parts of Europe on Thursday -- fresh turbulence for the firm locked in a buyout battle with Elon Musk.. The Downdetector website showed that outage reports spiked in the United States around 8:00 am (1200 GMT), while users reported service interruptions in France and elsewhere.
JPMorgan Chase reported a drop in second-quarter profits on Thursday, reflecting the impact of a weakening macroeconomic outlook that led it to set aside funds in case of bad loans.. In the year-ago period, JPMorgan's profits were boosted by a $3 billion release in reserves.
Russia's war in Ukraine poses the greatest threat to the global economy, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday as G20 ministers prepare to start talks in Indonesia.. "Our greatest challenge today comes from Russia's illegal and unprovoked war against Ukraine," she said on the resort island of Bali ahead of a meeting between finance ministers from the world's top economies and central bank governors on Friday and Saturday.
Libya's Tripoli-based government has named a new head of the state oil company to replace veteran technocrat Mustafa Sanalla, who refused to give up his post.. Sanalla said late Wednesday he would not give up his post.
Chinese homebuyers in dozens of cities have stopped making mortgage payments for unfinished projects, according to data from industry groups, worsening fears of financial contagion in the country's troubled real estate sector.. As of Wednesday, homebuyers had halted payments for units in at least 100 residential property projects in 50 cities, according to data from research firm China Real Estate Information Corporation (CRIC).
Asian markets fluctuated Thursday as another forecast-busting US inflation print ramped up bets on a quick series of sharp interest rate hikes that traders hope can be quickly walked back once prices are brought under control.. "But early signs of easing inflation pressure give some hope of an end to dramatic interest rate hikes and stronger financial markets by Christmas."
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Thursday it had agreed with Pakistan to resume a suspended loan programme that will inject $1.17 billion into the struggling economy.. "It became essential to resume the IMF programme to save the country from default," finance minister Miftah Ismail told the national assembly last month.
Job vacancies seem to come ten-a-penny in Keswick, a tourist town in England's picturesque Lake District, as the hospitality sector cries out for staff -- shortages which are a direct result, critics say, of the coronavirus pandemic and of Brexit.. In other sectors, airlines such as British Airways and EasyJet are struggling to re-hire the staff they laid off in their thousands at the start of the pandemic.
Netflix will work with Microsoft to launch a cheaper subscription plan that includes advertisements, the firms said Wednesday, as the streaming giant fights to attract customers.. The streaming giant reacted by announcing the arrival of advertising on the service, with the aim to finance the investments necessary to maintain its position as leader in the industry that it launched.
