China’s military and state media rap US following explosive report on SpaceX spy satellite plans
Wang Yanan, chief editor of Aerospace Knowledge, a magazine overseen by the ruling Communist Party, was quoted in an interview as saying the SpaceX satellite project posed “a challenge to global security and stability”.
Pharmacist says Covid vaccine trials were biased and Pfizer, Moderna efficacies were exaggerated
In winter-spring 2021, when vaccine uptake was robust but limited to the elderly, vaccinated people were as a group much older than the unvaccinated and were experiencing just half the younger generation’s infection rate. This would tend to make the vaccines appear more effective at preventing infection than they were.
African Development Bank chief Adesina criticises opaque loans tied to Africa’s natural resources
Akiwumi Adesina said loans secured with natural resources pose a challenge for development banks like his and the International Monetary Fund, which promote sustainable debt management. Countries may struggle to get or repay loans from these institutions because they have to use the income from their natural resources — typically crucial to their economies — to pay off resource-tied debts, he said.
Biden’s $7.3 trillion budget is campaign pitch for spending, tax goals but may not draw in votes
Biden’s budget for the 2025 fiscal year, which starts this October, includes raising the corporate income tax rate to 28 per cent from 21 per cent, forcing those with wealth of $100 million to pay at least 25 per cent of their income in taxes, and letting the government negotiate to bring more drug costs down.
Money talks: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch to marry at 93, days after he was engaged to another woman for two weeks
Previously, he was married to Patricia Booker, an Australian, with whom he had Prudence, and then to Scottish-born journalist Anna Torv, with whom he had Lachlan, James and Elisabeth. These four Murdoch children have the same stake in the family trust and an equal say in what happens to the trust’s voting stock upon Murdoch’s death. He later married Chinese-born Wendi Deng, whom he divorced in 2013 after having two daughters, Grace and Chloe.
Heat is on: Kenyan women among others whose plight is to be addressed in food supply chain
Women are less able to adapt to heat than men, explains Kathy Baughman McLeod, chief executive of Climate Resilience. In Pakistan, hot and crowded homes cause sleepless nights for all, but cultural norms require women to stay indoors, while men can seek cooler conditions outside.
Drink-and-Drive: How Kenya’s ex-president signed away standard gauge railway deal with China without reading it
The SGR contract left no room for rescheduling of the loan of approximately Ksh400 billion ($3.8 billion). The government, it now emerges, had to sit down with unwilling Chinese government to insert a clause in the agreement that now allows for rescheduling of repayment or renegotiating the loan without ceding sovereignty.
No man, No cry: Chinese women eschew hunt for husbands, prefer ‘singledom’ as economy stutters
China’s single population aged over 15 hit a record 239 million in 2021, according to official data. Marriage registrations rebounded slightly last year due to a pandemic backlog after reaching historic lows in 2022. A 2021 Communist Youth League survey of some 2,900 unmarried urban young people found that 44 per cent of women do not plan to marry.
New survey shows Kenya’s business activity experienced marginal expansion since August
Inflation fell to 6.3 per cent year-on-year in February from 6.9 per cent a month earlier, data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics showed.
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.