Communist China is celebrating its 75th birthday. But not everyone is in the party spirit
CNN
For much of the past year since China reopened to the world following the Covid-19 pandemic, a pall has hung over large swathes of the country as its economy struggles to regain momentum.
For much of the past year since China reopened to the world following the Covid-19 pandemic, a pall has hung over large swathes of the country as its economy struggles to regain momentum. The country’s bright young minds are having a hard time landing a job; its white-collar professionals are hit by pay cuts and layoffs; its entrepreneurs struggle to finance their businesses and pay off debts; its middle-class families are seeing their wealth slashed by crumbling housing prices; and its rich race to move money out of the country. In the months leading up to the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic on Tuesday, the mood was encapsulated by a new buzz phrase: “the garbage time of history.” Like the final minutes of a basketball game with one team trailing so far behind that all efforts to win seem futile, some Chinese believe their country is trapped in a similarly bleak period with little hope for a turnaround. The pessimism was a far cry from the buoyant outlook just five years ago, during the last major National Day celebrations in 2019. Back then, economists were rushing to predict when China might overtake the United States to become the world’s largest economy. Those conversations aren’t happening much anymore. These days, the talk centers on how Beijing can avoid a repeat of Japan’s “lost decade” of economic stagnation following bursting of its housing bubble in the 1990s. Last week, after months of increasingly grim economic data, Chinese leader Xi Jinping finally gave the nod to a much-needed stimulus package in a bid to shore up faith in the world’s second largest economy. On Tuesday, the country’s central bank unveiled a raft of measures to counter falling prices, including freeing commercial banks to lend more money and making it cheaper for households and companies to borrow.
Last-minute errands always seem to pop up on Christmas and Christmas Eve, whether it’s buying a quick present or picking up one last ingredient.
King Charles III has ended royal warrants for Cadbury and Unilever, which owns brands including Marmite and Ben & Jerry’s, in a blow to the household names.
While businesses across the US are fretting that President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of new tariffs could mean a massive hit to their bottom lines, at least one industry is gearing up for the exact opposite.
Back in 2022, when the labor market was so hot that Beyoncé even released a song about it, Americans were job hopping in large numbers, boosting their salary in the process.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has steered the world’s most powerful central bank during a tumultuous period for the US economy, from the pandemic to a historic bout of inflation shortly after.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has agreed to sell its Australian cable TV unit Foxtel to British-owned sports network DAZN for 3.4 billion Australian dollars ($2.1 billion) including debt, cutting the media empire’s exposure to a business upended by streaming platforms.
Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan have announced plans to join forces, forming world’s third-largest automaker by sales as the industry undergoes dramatic changes in its transition away from fossil fuels.
The strike protests a lack of contract negotiations, including wage increases for union baristas.
This year was brutal for a number of well-known companies, including Red Lobster, True Value and Big Lots.
Last-minute holiday shoppers may want to give their digital carts a hard look, as Amazon workers remain on strike on the final weekend before Christmas.
Campaigners have accused Facebook parent Meta of inflicting “potentially lifelong trauma” on hundreds of content moderators in Kenya, after more than 140 were diagnosed with PTSD and other mental health conditions.