Kenyan athletes’ deaths expose mental health strugglesTue, 05 Nov 2024 10:26:19 GMT

The mental health struggles of Kenyan athletes and a lack of support have come under the spotlight in the East African running powerhouse following a spate of deaths in the past few weeks.The country is home to some of the world’s top long-distance runners, but the athletics community has struggled with deadly domestic violence and …

Kenyan athletes’ deaths expose mental health strugglesTue, 05 Nov 2024 10:26:19 GMT Read More »

China’s premier ‘fully confident’ of hitting growth targets

Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Tuesday he was “fully confident” the country would hit its economic goals this year, lauding recent stimulus measures and suggesting there was still room for more.Beijing has set a growth target of around five percent for 2024, but in the third quarter the country saw its slowest expansion in a year and a half.The government has announced a raft of measures aimed at boosting activity, including rate cuts and the easing of some home purchasing restrictions, but analysts have bemoaned the lack of detail so far.  Observers hope a specific figure for the stimulus could emerge from this week’s meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the top body of China’s rubber stamp parliament, in Beijing.Speaking Tuesday at the opening ceremony of a major international trade show in Shanghai, Li said: “We are fully confident in the realisation of this year’s goals and the development of China’s economy in the future.”The premier, who has official responsibility for economic policy, suggested that authorities still had room to manoeuvre when it came to further measures.”There is a relatively large space for financial and monetary policies, and the policy tools are even more abundant,” he said.An initial market rally when the measures were announced has since fizzled out, with investors put out by the lack of detail.But there have been glimmers of hope for the economy recently, including China’s manufacturing output expanding for the first time in six months in October.Activity in China’s services sector also accelerated in October, according to an independent index published Tuesday.- ‘China is very, very open’ -On Monday lawmakers on the NPC standing committee meeting reviewed a bill that would raise local government debt ceilings to replace existing hidden debts, according to state news agency Xinhua. Another challenge facing the economy is escalating trade rows with several key trading partners — most notably the European Union and the United States. Speaking at the China International Import Expo (CIIE), an annual showcase trade show in financial hub Shanghai, Li insisted China was committed to opening up further to foreign investment.China has railed against tariffs on its electric vehicles imposed by the EU and Washington among others.Beijing last month announced provisional tariffs on EU brandy imports, and has initiated anti-dumping probes into some EU pork and dairy imports.French trade minister Sophie Primas, who is attending the CIIE, told AFP on Monday that the window for negotiation over those tariffs remained “open” but warned Paris could take all possible measures in response.Asked at that expo on Tuesday whether she thought China was opening up more to foreign companies, she replied that in general, “China is very, very open to all countries, especially France”.”There are obviously a few disputes at the moment over certain industries… For us, in France, the cognac industry has been hit hard,” she added. “But the relations we’ve had here suggest that we’ll be able to continue to negotiate and we’ll be able to continue to have these relations, which are long-standing.”

Narcotrafic: le ministre de la Justice promet à son tour une “réponse très ferme de l’Etat”

Le narcotrafic est une menace “grandissante et gravissime” et nécessite une “réponse très ferme de l’Etat”, a déclaré mardi le ministre de la Justice Didier Migaud, qui doit annoncer vendredi avec Bruno Retailleau des mesures contre ce “fléau”.”C’est une menace grandissante et gravissime avec le recours aux méthodes ultra-violentes des cartels sud-américains”, a-t-il souligné sur Franceinfo. “Les méthodes, c’est le meurtre, c’est la corruption”, qui est “un vrai sujet qu’on ne peut pas sous-estimer”, a-t-il détaillé.Vendredi prochain, le garde des Sceaux doit se rendre avec le ministre de l’Intérieur à Marseille, où les règlements de comptes entre narcotrafiquants sont particulièrement meurtriers et sordides, avec l’implication de jeunes de 14-15 ans comme tueurs à gages. Les deux ministres doivent y annoncer ensemble plusieurs mesures.”Nous sommes totalement en phase”, a assuré M. Migaud.A la question de savoir s’il fallait une loi sur le sujet, il a répondu “bien sûr”.”Vous avez un travail considérable fait par une commission d’enquête qui formule un certain nombre de propositions”, a-t-il observé, en référence à la commission d’enquête sénatoriale sur le narcotrafic.”Nous sommes tout à fait ouverts à ces propositions”, a indiqué M. Migaud. Une proposition de loi est sur le bureau du Sénat depuis juillet, et M. Retailleau a déjà dit qu’il souhaitait qu’elle soit examinée “le plus vite possible”, “au plus tard en début d’année”.Interrogé sur la question de créer un nouveau parquet national consacré à la lutte contre le narcotrafic et la criminalité organisée comme l’avait envisagé son prédécesseur , Eric Dupond-Moretti, M. Migaud s’est dit “favorable à une organisation qui permette de lutter contre ce fléau”.”Le parquet national peut tout à fait être une solution”, a-t-il jugé, tout en indiquant que c’était “au parlement d’en décider”.Sur la question des consommateurs de drogue, il a estimé qu’il fallait s’attaquer au “sujet du recouvrement des amendes”, mais s’est dit aussi “favorable à des campagnes d’informations pour montrer tous les dangers de la drogue sur la santé”.

Prince William plays rugby on S.Africa climate prize visitTue, 05 Nov 2024 08:33:21 GMT

Britain’s Prince William played rugby with students and met young environmentalists Monday at the start of a visit to South Africa for the awards of his Earthshot Prize for solutions to climate change.The heir to the British throne took to the field at a school in Cape Town’s underprivileged township of Ocean View, established under …

Prince William plays rugby on S.Africa climate prize visitTue, 05 Nov 2024 08:33:21 GMT Read More »

Most Asian markets rise as US heads to polls in toss-up vote

Asian markets mostly rose Tuesday, a day before results from the US presidential election rolled in, with opinion polls showing a knife-edge vote, while Chinese equities were boosted by hopes over the country’s economy.Uncertainty about the outcome and worries that the winner might not be known for days has led to warnings that investors could be in for a period of volatility.Eyes will also be on the Federal Reserve’s policy decision on Thursday, with expectations for another cut, while the post-meeting statement from bank boss Jerome Powell will be pored over for an idea about its plans for 2025.A win for Republican Donald Trump is expected to boost the dollar, restoke inflation, and send Treasury yields higher owing to his pledges to slash taxes and impose tariffs on imports.Analysts see less upheaval from a win by Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.”Some view a second Trump term as a potential ticket to higher deficits and a dash of inflation, courtesy of his tax-and-tariff playbook,” said Stephen Innes at STI Asset Management.”A Trump victory with a Republican Congress would likely mean a green light for these pro-growth, deficit-stirring policies.”With Harris and a divided Congress, radical Democratic policies would face a wall, keeping fiscal volatility in check compared to Trump’s economic flamethrower.”He added that a Trump win and Republican sweep of both houses of Congress could cause headaches for Powell as he continues his battle to bring inflation to heel.National Australia Bank’s head of market economics, Tapas Strickland, said that after Thursday’s decision: “Harder discussions come in December and beyond, especially on the pace of potential cuts, where rates are likely to go, and any policy impacts by the next president and Congress.”Wall Street’s three main indexes ended in the red, and Asian traders mostly managed to build on Monday’s performance with markets swinging in and out of positive territory.Hong Kong and Shanghai each climbed more than two percent after data showed China’s services sector expanded last month at its fastest pace since July.The news came as traders await the end of a government meeting this week to hammer out an economic stimulus.Officials are expected to give the go-ahead to about $140 billion in extra budget spending, mostly for indebted local governments, and a similar one-off payment for banks.Adding to the risk-on mood were comments by Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who said he was “fully confident” the economy would hit its growth targets this year and indicated that there was room to do more. Tokyo rallied more than one percent as investors returned from an extended weekend, while Singapore, Wellington, Taipei, Mumbai, Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila also advanced. Sydney and Seoul edged down.London, Paris and Frankfurt all dipped at the open.Oil prices inched up after surging almost three percent Monday after top producers agreed to extend output cuts through to the end of December and on worries about the Middle East crisis.- Key figures around 0810 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.1 percent at 38,474.90 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 2.1 percent at 21,006.97 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 2.3 percent at 3,386.99 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 8,179.18Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0888 from $1.0878 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2976 from $1.2954Dollar/yen: UP at 152.25 yen from 152.17 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 83.91 from 83.94 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $71.59 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.1 percent at $75.18 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 41,794.60 (close)

Nintendo lowers sales forecast as first-half profits plunge

Nintendo downgraded its annual sales forecast on Tuesday as net profit plunged 60 percent year-on-year in the first half, with fans awaiting the announcement of a new console.Last year, the Japanese video game giant scored with the smash-hit “Super Mario Bros” film and the release of “Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”, the fastest-selling game in nearly four decades of the Zelda franchise.But times are now tighter for the company, which has promised news on the successor to its popular but ageing Switch console by the end of March 2025.”Unit sales of both hardware and software were extremely high for the first half of the previous fiscal year,” Nintendo said, adding that the Mario movie had “energised our dedicated video game platform business”.”There were no such special factors in the first half of this fiscal year, and with Nintendo Switch now in its eighth year since launch, unit sales of both hardware and software decreased significantly,” it added.In the April-September period, Nintendo logged net profit of 108.7 billion yen ($710 million), down 60 percent from the same period a year earlier.The Kyoto-based company kept unchanged its downbeat full-year net profit forecast of 300 billion yen — a drop of nearly 40 percent from the 490 billion yen in 2023-24.It now expects sales of 1.28 trillion yen, down from the previous estimate of 1.35 trillion yen, and also issued a less optimistic operating profit forecast.The Switch, both a handheld and TV-compatible device, became a must-have distraction among all age groups during the Covid pandemic, but buzz around the console is fading.”Unit sales for the entire Nintendo Switch family of systems decreased 31 percent year-on-year to 4.72 million units” in the first half, Nintendo said on Tuesday.Software unit sales were down nearly 28 percent on-year, it added.For now “the company is focused on increasing sales of the current Switch console in 2024, so a lot of news flow about the next console may happen in mid-January 2025 and later”, Takeshi Koyama of Mizuho Securities said ahead of the results.For several years, Nintendo has been pursuing a strategy to reach a wider audience, analysts say.The company last month opened its first museum in a renovated factory in Kyoto, showcasing its long history since starting life in 1889 producing playing cards.