UNITED KINGDOM
Economy exits recession
The kingdom exited a shallow recession and beat growth forecasts in the first quarter, official data showed yesterday, in a boost to embattled Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of this year’s election. GDP expanded 0.6 percent, bolstered by robust growth in service industries and auto manufacturing, the Office for National Statistics said. That beat market expectations of 0.4 percent growth and marked the strongest performance since the fourth quarter of 2021, helping send London’s stock market to yet another record peak. Sunak — whose governing Conservatives are trailing the Labour Party before a general election and suffered heavy losses in English local polls last week — has made economic growth one of his top priorities. The economy had suffered two successive quarters of slight contraction in the second half of last year on the back of elevated inflation and a cost-of-living crisis.
RUSSIA
Putin reappoints Mishustin
President Vladimir Putin yesterday reappointed Mikhail Mishustin as prime minister. In line with the law, Mishustin, 58, submitted his Cabinet’s resignation on Tuesday when Putin began his fifth presidential term. Mishustin’s reappointment was widely expected by political observers, who said that Putin has appreciated his skills and low political profile. Mishustin, the former head of the nation’s tax service, has steered clear of political statements and avoided media interviews during his tenure. Lower house Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin announced that Putin had submitted Mishustin’s candidacy to the State Duma, which was to hold a session later yesterday to consider it. Mishustin’s approval is a mere proforma in the Kremlin-controlled parliament.
ZIMBABWE
Official forex rate pushed
The government said it would fine businesses using inflated exchange rates as it battles to maintain the value of its newly introduced gold-backed currency, the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG). Any business using an exchange rate higher than the official rate of 13.5 ZiG per US dollar would be fined 200,000 ZiG (US$14,815), a government notice on Tuesday showed. Anyone offering “goods or services at an exchange rate above the prevailing interbank foreign currency selling rate” would be guilty of a civil infringement, it said. The government has been striving to keep the ZiG afloat since its launch early last month, with authorities launching a blitz on illegal foreign currency traders last month. Some businesses such as supermarkets have been charging a premium above the market rate for customers paying in the new currency, while the ZiG is being rejected by informal traders.
UNITED STATES
Scores of pelicans starving
Scores of sick and starving pelicans have been found in coastal California communities in recent weeks and many others have died. Lifeguards spotted a cluster of two dozen sick pelicans earlier this week on a pier in coastal Newport Beach and called in wildlife experts to assist. Debbie McGuire, executive director of the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, said the birds are the latest group that they have tried to save after taking in more than 100 other pelicans that were anemic, dehydrated and weighing only half of what they should. “They are starving to death and if we don’t get them into care, they will die,” she said. “It really is a crisis.” It is not immediately clear what is sickening the birds. Some experts said the pelicans are malnourished even though marine life abounds off the Pacific Coast.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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