China unveils plan to drive economic growth above 5 per cent annually, IMF forecasts 3.5 per cent shrink
China started the year with a stock market rout and deflation at levels unseen since the global financial crisis of 2008-09. The property crisis and local government debt woes persisted, increasing pressure on China’s leaders to come up with new economic policies.
Kenyan Kipruto and Ethiopian Kebede win Tokyo Marathon in course record times
Eliud Kipchoge was struggling at halfway with the pace under the course record time of 2:02:40 he had set in 2022, and the double Olympic champion had slipped two minutes behind the leaders by the 30-km mark. He finished 10th.
India’s ruling Janata Party bets on women voters with sewing machines, piped water and cooking gas
Traditionally Indian women were more inclined to vote for Congress, the main opposition party, in part because it gave a country short of female role models its first woman prime minister, Indira Gandhi.
With world’s lowest fertility rate already South Korean women prefer career growth to having babies
Since 2018, South Korea has been the only Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) member with a rate below 1, defying the billions of dollars spent by the country to try to reverse the trend that led the population to decline for a fourth straight year in 2023.
Under Taliban rule Afghan women say there has been drastic erosion of their rights
The women also outlined the intergenerational and gendered impact of the de facto authorities’ restrictions and the accompanying conservative shifts in social attitudes towards children. Some respondents said boys appeared to be internalising the social and political subordination of their mothers and sisters.
Japan’s unexpected slip into recession elevates Germany to world’s third biggest economy
While many analysts still expect the Bank of Japan to phase out its massive monetary stimulus this year, the weak data may cast doubt on its forecast that rising wages will underpin consumption and keep inflation durably around its 2 per cent target.
Jailed ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s supporters win big as US, UK and EU urge probe into poll fraud
Imran Khan is in jail and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has been barred from the polls. Independents, most of them backed by Khan, had won the most seats – 98 of the 245 counted by 1830 GMT – while Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party had won 69 seats.
Preliminary Pakistan election outcome favours jailed former PM Imran Khan supporters
Imran Khan is in jail and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was barred from the election, so his supporters contested as independents. Analysts have predicted there may be no clear winner, adding to the woes of a country struggling to recover from an economic crisis while it grapples with rising militant violence in a deeply polarised political environment.
Argentina captain and Inter Miami talisman Messi ‘recovers’, ready to play in Tokyo after
Messi trained later on Tuesday in suburban Tokyo and looked fit, running drills and moving with ease at a practice facility run by the Japan Football Association. He did not speak afterward with reporters.
World’s largest automaker Toyota adjusts profit growth upwards to $33 billion, rivals forecast drop
Toyota CFO Yoichi Miyazaki said that efforts to adjust production to better respond to demand for popular models had helped the automaker sell vehicles without resorting to the usual discounts and incentives.
