Author: admin

It’s now Japan’s turn for a burst of political instability as Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba heads for the exit. Make that global bond markets, too. Over the last two months, the so-called bond vigilantes reacted badly to Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party losing its outright majority 50 days ago. The reason: the LDP has had to turn to pro-tax-cut opposition parties to maintain power. The specter of budget-busting tax cuts sent Japanese yields to the highest levels in decades. That also led to a series of weak government bond auctions that spooked global debt markets. But the uncertainty of what comes…

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Fanuse Adete is among those Ethiopians looking forward to finally getting connected to the national electricity grid when the Grand Renaissance Dam, which will be inaugurated Tuesday, becomes fully operational.The 38-year-old widowed mother of seven, who lives in the Menabichu district just 10 kilometers (6 miles) outside the capital, Addis Ababa, currently survives on kerosene lamps and candles to light up her mud-walled hut at night.“Previously, our daily lives relied on kerosene lamps and charcoal, which posed significant challenges. We would transport firewood to the market, selling it to buy kerosene and bread for our…

The newest National Defense Strategy just delivered to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth calls for refocusing the Department of War on domestic and regional missions instead of global adversaries like China and Russia. The document – supposedly the work of Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby – overturns decades of received interventionist wisdom. This may surprise many given our boy Colby had been a principal advocate for a robust and muscular “Strategy of Denial” to counter China. But perhaps our Under Secretary of War for Policy actually is a realist and not, against all prior evidence, a low-watt…

Jeff KassoufSep 7, 2025, 11:19 PM ETCloseJeff Kassouf covers women’s soccer for ESPN, focusing on the USWNT and NWSL. In 2009, he founded The Equalizer, a women’s soccer news outlet, and he previously won a Sports Emmy at NBC Sports and Olympics.SAN DIEGO — Alex Morgan jerseys filled the concourses and seats of Snapdragon Stadium on Sunday, with the iconic No. 13 of every era — from the United States’ red, white and blue to the San Diego Wave’s navy and pink — on the backs of fans.But the No. 13 jersey that everyone was there to see wasn’t worn…

A cargo ship is loading and unloading foreign trade containers at Qingdao Port in Qingdao Port, Shandong Province, China on June 9, 2025. Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesChina’s shipments to the U.S. plunged 33% in August while overall exports growth slowed to its weakest level in six months, as President Donald Trump’s policy targeting transshipments weighed on exports and businesses’ frontloading activity lost momentum.Imports from the U.S. also dropped 16% from a year ago, customs data showed.China’s total exports climbed 4.4% in August in U.S. dollar terms from a year earlier, customs data showed Monday, marking their lowest…

OSLO, Norway (AP) — Norwegians headed to the polls Monday in the main day of voting for a new parliament, after a campaign in which the future of a wealth tax that dates to the late 19th century has been a central issue.About 4.3 million people in the Scandinavian nation are eligible to vote for the new 169-member parliament, or Storting. A close outcome is expected between a center-left bloc led by the Labor Party of Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and a right-wing bloc.Official results are expected Tuesday, and they are likely to be followed by weeks of negotiations…

Robots are on display at the Robot Mall, world’s first embodied intelligence robot 4S store, on August 6, 2025 in Beijing, China.Beijing Youth Daily | Visual China Group | Getty ImagesBEIJING — As the race for household robots heats up, Chinese humanoid startup X Square Robot announced Monday it had secured around $100 million in a funding round led by Alibaba Cloud.It’s the Shenzhen-based startup’s eighth round of financing since the company launched less than two years ago in December 2023, according to Chief Operating Officer Yang Qian. She told CNBC the latest deal brings total investment in X Square…

PARIS (AP) — France risks losing its third prime minister in 12 months on Monday, with incumbent François Bayrou facing a parliamentary confidence vote that he called but is widely expected to lose, heralding more instability for the European Union’s second-largest economy.The 74-year-old centrist prime minister, appointed by President Emmanuel Macron just under nine months ago, is gambling that the vote will unite lawmakers in the sharply divided National Assembly behind proposed public spending cuts that Bayrou argues are needed to rein in France’s spiraling state deficit and debts. But opposition lawmakers are vowing to instead use the opportunity to…

BUKAVU, Congo (AP) — In the city of Bukavu in eastern Congo, Alain Mukumiro argues in a small wooden hut with a shopkeeper who refuses to take his money.Like many in the rebel-controlled city, Mukumiro is using older, hole-punched banknotes that have been patched up and put back into circulation because of a shortage of new and intact bills.“All my money has serial numbers, but they refuse it,” Mukumiro said, upset about his ordeal.Mukumiro said his family faces yet another night with empty stomachs, like many in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province.The Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group captured Bukavu…

A “we’re hiring” sign is displayed outside a Target store, after U.S. employment growth slowed more than expected in July, in Encinitas, California, U.S. August 1, 2025. Mike Blake | Reuters At this moment in the U.S. economy — when interest rates are higher than usual and inflation still above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target — the jobs report is rather like an injury. You want it bad enough, like a gash, to elicit sympathy from others, but not so serious that it rends flesh and exposes bone.The August jobs report was more like the latter. New payrolls came in more than…