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Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack said she saw no need to change U.S. interest rates for months ahead after the central bank cut borrowing costs at its last three meetings, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Hammack opposed recent rate cuts as she is more worried about elevated inflation than the potential labor-market fragility that prompted officials to lower rates by a cumulative 75 basis points over the past few months, the report added. Hammack told the Journal that the Fed didn’t need to change its benchmark interest rate, currently in a range between 3.5% and…

Chinese toymaker Pop Mart, maker of the popular Labubu monster dolls, launched the second edition of its pop culture magazine as part of a strategy to widen its customer base and grow its intellectual property (IP) portfolio.The company, which sells toys in blind boxes, started selling the Playground magazine for 39.9 yuan (US$5.7), with the theme of exploring the future.“The magazine embodies emotional value and aligns with the younger generation’s desire for self expression,” Vicson Guevara, Pop Mart’s executive creative director and co-creator of the magazine, said during a launch event in Shanghai on Friday. “We hope it can eventually…

Chinese toymaker Pop Mart, maker of the popular Labubu monster dolls, launched the second edition of its pop culture magazine as part of a strategy to widen its customer base and grow its intellectual property (IP) portfolio.The company, which sells toys in blind boxes, started selling the Playground magazine for 39.9 yuan (US$5.7), with the theme of exploring the future.“The magazine embodies emotional value and aligns with the younger generation’s desire for self expression,” Vicson Guevara, Pop Mart’s executive creative director and co-creator of the magazine, said during a launch event in Shanghai on Friday. “We hope it can eventually…

Chinese workers are returning to Africa in their thousands, reversing a decade-long decline and signalling a renewed focus on strategic mega-projects across the continent.In 2024, there were 90,793 Chinese workers on contracted projects and labour services on the continent, an increase of about 4 per cent over the 87,078 recorded the previous year, according to data from the China Africa Research Initiative (CARI) at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.Now, as investment flows accelerate, mostly driven by Chinese state-owned enterprises, worker numbers are once again increasing in key countries across Africa.Last year, nearly half of all Chinese workers…

China’s state broadcaster has given a rare glimpse of PLA war gaming, with footage of a simulated encounter between Chinese and French multi-role fighters.The CCTV report on Friday said this year was the first year that the entire People’s Liberation Army and People’s Armed Police Force were promoting pilot war-gaming at scale.PLA war games are usually highly classified but the report indicated that this one was among a number that took place in Xuchang, Henan province, at a gathering attended by 20 units from across the military and its academies. Other war games were conducted by army and submarine forces,…

Discussions on the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) are being revived by some of its founders even as questions persist over the political will to implement the ambitious project, with analysts saying the Gaza situation is a key hurdle in hampering progress.Unveiled in 2023, IMEC is positioned as a single economic artery connecting South Asia, the Middle East and Europe through shipping lanes, railways, energy pipelines and high-speed data cables running via the Gulf.Planners for the corridor aim to reduce transit times and costs across the three regions, and counter China’s growing economic footprint through the Belt and Road Initiative.Analysts…

Vaccine expert Hu Haitao, who studied under Drew Weissman, the Nobel laureate and pioneer of mRNA biology, has given up his tenured position at a US research institute and returned to China – a decision that required little explanation in 2025, he said.Even just one year ago, people close to him would have thought it “unbelievable” that he might give up an academic career established over nearly two decades in the United States, Hu told the South China Morning Post.But academic prospects in the US had become more “uncertain and unpredictable” in the past year and “you don’t have to…

Divisive rhetoric and AI-driven misinformation are undermining international cooperation in the wake of the deadly Bondi Beach attack, a leading counterterrorism expert has warned.Adam Hadley, the founder and executive director of Tech Against Terrorism, an advisory organisation supported by the United Nations, said a “dangerous convergence” of interests between hostile states and terrorist groups like Islamic State was being fuelled by populist agendas and commercial interests, with artificial intelligence accelerating the reach of divisive narratives.The warning follows a storm of speculation triggered by last Sunday’s apparently Isis-inspired mass shooting of Australian Jews commemorating Hanukkah in Sydney, which mirrored the aftermath…

LONDON (AP) — Prince William and his eldest son, Prince George, put on aprons to help make Christmas lunch at a homeless shelter, a charity that the Prince of Wales first visited as a child with his mother, the late Princess Diana.The royal father and son were seen decorating a Christmas tree and helping with meal preparations in the kitchen at The Passage in central London, in a video posted to William’s YouTube account on Saturday. “Proud to join volunteers and staff at The Passage in preparing Christmas lunch – this year with another pair of helping hands,” read a…

LONDON (AP) — Thousands of people cheered and danced around Stonehenge as the sun rose over the prehistoric stone circle on Sunday, the winter solstice.The crowds, many in costume, had gathered before dawn, waiting patiently in the dark and cold field in southwest England. Some sang and beat drums, while others took time to reflect among the huge stone pillars.Many make the pilgrimage to the stone circle every summer and winter and consider it a spiritual experience. The ancient monument, erected between 5,000 and 3,500 years ago, was built to align with the movement of the sun on the solstices…