Sorted by date Results 1 - 16 of 16
NEW YORK (AP) — A faulty software update caused technological havoc worldwide on Friday, grounding flights, knocking down some financial companies and news outlets, and disrupting hospitals, small businesses and government offices. The breadth of the outages highlighted the fragility of a digitized world dependent on just a few providers for key computing services. The trouble was sparked by an update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and only affected its customers running Microsoft Windows, the world's most popular operating system f...
NEW YORK (AP) — Tin Tin Wei used to toil 11 hours a day, six days week sewing jackets at a factory in Myanmar. But she hasn't stitched a single garment since a coup in February. Instead, the 26-year-old union organizer has been protesting in the streets — and trying to bring international pressure to bear on the newly installed junta. Her union, the Federation of Garment Workers in Myanmar, and others have been staging general strikes to protest the coup and are urging major international brands like H&M and Mango, which source some of the...
BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar's military-controlled government is cracking down on coverage of mass protests, raiding media companies and detaining dozens of journalists since its Feb. 1 coup, including Thein Zaw of The Associated Press. The crackdown comes as the military has escalated violence against mass protests and as independent media continue to cover the arrests and shootings by troops in cities across Myanmar. In some instances, journalists are using social media to get the information out. How has the media landscape in Myanmar changed sinc...
Asian shares declined Thursday and U.S. futures turned higher after the S&P 500 slid 3.5% overnight for its biggest drop since June. The selling in U.S. markets followed broad declines in Europe, where the French president announced tough measures to slow the virus' spread and German officials agreed to impose a four-week partial lockdown. So far, the measures are not as stringent as shutdown orders that swept the world early this year, but the worry is they could still hit the already weakened global economy. In Asia, some countries appear to...
BANGKOK (AP) — Hong Kong has been living on borrowed time ever since the British made it a colony nearly 180 years ago, and all the more so after Beijing took control in 1997 and granted it autonomous status. China's passage of a national security law for the city is the latest sign that the 50-year "one country, two systems" arrangement that allowed Hong Kong to keep its own legal, financial and trade regimes is perishable. China's communist leaders have been preparing for decades to take full control of the glittering capitalist oasis, w...
The world's economic pain was on full display Thursday as Europe and the United States were releasing more figures showing the devastating impact on jobs and companies of lockdown measures designed to battle the coronavirus pandemic. In Europe, where over 132,000 people with the virus have died, the fear of renewed infection spikes that could again overwhelm hospital emergency wards was tempering hopes that economies on life-support will regain their vigor as workers return to factories, shops and offices. Figures released Thursday showed that...
Business around the world that have grown increasingly reliant on big-spending tourists from China are taking a heavy hit, with tens of millions of Chinese residents restricted from leaving their country as the coronavirus spreads. Hotels, airlines, casinos and cruise operators were among the industries suffering the most immediate repercussions, especially with the outbreak occurring during the Lunar New Year, one of the biggest travel season in Asia. What happens in China means a lot more to the world economy than it did when the SARS...
BANGKOK (AP) — News that a new virus that has afflicted hundreds of people in central China can spread between humans has rattled financial markets and raised concern it might wallop the economy just as it might be regaining momentum. Health authorities across Asia have been stepping up surveillance and other precautions to prevent a repeat of the disruptions and deaths during the 2003 SARS crisis, which caused $40 billion to $50 billion in losses from reduced travel and spending. The first cases of what has been identified as a novel coronavir...
BEIJING (AP) — Stock markets mostly fell Friday as investors gauged whether renewed China-U.S. tensions might lead to a "Black Friday" sell-off, and with U.S. traders largely out for a long weekend. U.S. financial markets were closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and will have a half-day session on Friday. After Asian indexes closed lower, Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 0.2% to 7,402 and the CAC 40 in Paris edged up 0.1% to 5,920. Germany's DAX recovered from losses on the open to trade 0.2% higher at 13,266. U.S. futures were lower, w...
BANGKOK (AP) — Feeding a hungry planet is growing increasingly difficult as climate change and depletion of land and other resources undermine food systems, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization said Wednesday as it renewed appeals for better policies and technologies to reach "zero hunger." Population growth requires supplies of more nutritious food at affordable prices, but increasing farm output is hard given the "fragility of the natural resource base" since humans have outstripped Earth's carrying capacity in terms of land, water a...
BANGKOK (AP) — All the usual rituals of international summits were there: the group photos, the gala dinners, the noticeably vibrant shirts leaders force themselves into. But eclipsing all of that at Asia's two big meetings was some unusually forthright criticism that exposed deepening divisions rattling the region. Front and center was the rivalry between the U.S. and China. The two countries are locked in a widening trade war and their representatives used the summits to exchange barbs and maneuver to expand their influence. Competition b...
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AP) — Global financial leaders wrapped up an annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank on Saturday by urging countries to brace for potential risks from trade disputes and other tensions. The meetings in Bali, Indonesia, this week were overshadowed by a spate of financial market turmoil and by the threat to global growth from the trade clash between the U.S. and China over Beijing's technology policies. The International Monetary and Financial Committee, which advises the IMF's board of governors, i...
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — In the face of global condemnation, Myanmar's leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday said that the handling of Rohingya Muslims, 700,000 of whom have fled to Bangladesh amid a brutal military campaign, could have been better, but still defended security forces from charges of civilian atrocities. Myanmar's army is accused of mass rape, killings and setting fire to thousands of homes in the aftermath of an August 2017 attack by Rohingya militants on security outposts. A report issued two weeks ag...
DANANG, Vietnam (AP) — In a major breakthrough, trade ministers from 11 Pacific Rim countries said they reached a deal Saturday to proceed with the free-trade Trans-Pacific Partnership deal that was in doubt after President Donald Trump abandoned it. A statement issued in the early hours Saturday said an accord was reached on "core elements" of the 11-member pact. The compromise was delayed by last-minute disagreements that prevented the TPP leaders from meeting to endorse a plan on Friday. "Ministers are pleased to announce that they have a...
TOKYO (AP) — In unwelcome news for American farmers, Japan said Friday that it was imposing emergency tariffs of 50 percent on imports of frozen beef, mainly from the U.S. Finance Minister Taro Aso announced the move Friday, saying he was prepared to explain the decision to the U.S. side. "The tariff will take effect automatically as the volume of the imported US frozen beef exceeded the quota set by law," Aso said, "So this is what has to be done." Japan's beef farmers are famed for their luscious marbled Kobe beef and other delicacies, and t...
TOKYO (AP) — Global stocks fell Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate and the Bank of England revealed it was unexpectedly close to hiking its own benchmark rate at its policy meeting. KEEPING SCORE: Germany's DAX fell 0.9 percent to 12,690 while the CAC40 of France sank 1.1 percent to 5,188. The FTSE 100 of Britain dropped 1.1 percent to 7,393. U.S. shares looked set to open lower, with Dow futures down 0.4 percent and S&P futures off 0.6 percent. INTEREST RATES: The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for t...
