Month: January 2024

LONDON — An estimated 3.5 million Britons living overseas will from Tuesday be eligible to vote in United Kingdom general elections, in one of the biggest increases in the country’s electoral franchise in a century. The expansion in the electorate follows a change in the law, approved by parliament in 2022, scrapping a previous curb on U.K. citizens voting if they had lived overseas for over 15 years. Implemented ahead of an election set for later this year, it is the most significant change to the voter rolls since a 1928 law granted women equal voting rights, and a 1969 move …

READ MORE

…

READ MORE

Geneva, Switzerland — China and Switzerland agreed Monday to speed up talks to upgrade their free trade agreement and to simplify visa procedures for travel between the two countries, Chinese state media reported.   Bern and Beijing agreed to an early launch of formal negotiations to expand a free trade agreement in place since 2013, state news agency Xinhua reported.   China also agreed to provide visa-free entry for Swiss citizens, it said.   The agreements were reached during the first high-level meeting between the two countries since the COVID-19 pandemic.   Heading the Chinese delegation was Premier Li Qiang, who …

READ MORE

GENEVA — The United Nations is appealing for $4.2 billion to support war-affected communities in Ukraine, as well as Ukrainian refugees and host communities in the wider region, as Russia steps up its bombing campaign in the blistering cold weather to inflict maximum pressure on the Ukrainian government and its people. “Next month we are entering a third year of full-blown war and occupation,” said Martin Griffiths, undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator. He noted that while the war started 10 years ago in eastern Ukraine, “the escalation in 2022 rushed in a whole new level of death, destruction …

READ MORE

Madrid — Spain will host Brazil in an international football friendly at Real Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium on March 26 to raise awareness of racism, the Spanish football federation said Monday. The Spanish and Brazilian football federations announced plans for the match last June, a month after Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior, who is Black, was racially abused by Valencia fans in an incident which provoked worldwide outrage. The match will serve “to strengthen the commitment against violence and racism in football” with “a great celebration of football between two of the most powerful teams on the international scene,” the Spanish …

READ MORE

Davos, Switzerland — The world’s wealthiest five men have more than doubled their fortune since 2020, the charity Oxfam said on Monday, calling on nations to resist the ultra-rich’s influence over tax policy. A report from the charity, published as the global elite hobnob at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, said their wealth rose from $405 billion in 2020 to $869 billion last year. Yet since 2020, nearly five billion people worldwide have grown poorer, Oxfam said. Billionaires are today $3.3 trillion richer than they were in 2020, despite many crises devastating the world’s economy since this decade …

READ MORE

Frankfurt — The German economy shrank slightly in 2023, official data showed Monday, as costly energy, high interest rates and cooling foreign demand took their toll on Europe’s export giant. Output contracted by 0.3 percent year-on-year, federal statistics agency Destatis said in preliminary figures. “Overall economic development faltered in Germany in 2023 in an environment that continues to be marked by multiple crises,” the agency’s Ruth Brand told a Berlin press conference. Europe’s largest economy likely saw a 0.3-percent drop in gross domestic output in the final quarter of the year, the agency calculated, again in preliminary figures. It also revised …

READ MORE

WASHINGTON — The year ahead will be “very tough” for fiscal policy — especially for countries holding elections — the IMF chief told AFP before departing for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “This is going to be a very tough year, because fiscal policy has to rebuild buffers and deal with the debt that was accumulated in many countries,” International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in an interview in Washington. “About 80 countries are going to have elections, and we know what happens with pressure on spending during election cycles,” she continued. Billions of people in dozens …

READ MORE

…

READ MORE

Bucharest, Romania — Romanian truck drivers and farmers on Sunday slowed traffic around several cities, including the capital Bucharest, voicing a string of grievances from high tax rates to slow compensation payouts. In their fifth day of action, protesters also gathered at border areas, temporarily blocking the northeastern border with Ukraine.   The truck drivers are complaining over high insurance and tax rates and long waiting times at the borders. At the same time, the farmers are seeking speedier payment of subsidies and compensation for those affected by drought or by disruptions caused by the import of Ukrainian cereals. Farmers complained …

READ MORE