WORLD

BRASILIA,  BRAZIL | Xinhua | Brazil’s financial market maintained its 2023 economic growth forecast at 2.92 percent, but slightly upgraded the expected expansion in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024 from 1.51 percent to 1.52 percent, the Central Bank of Brazil said Tuesday. In keeping with its latest Focus survey …

ANKARA, TURKEY | Xinhua | The Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee on Tuesday approved Sweden’s NATO bid following deliberation, a first step necessary for putting it to a full parliament vote. The bill regarding the approval of Sweden’s accession protocol to NATO was adopted by the committee with votes by …

BRATISLAVA |  Xinhua |  Europe and China have common interests in several areas, such as climate, trade and technology, and the cooperation between the European Union (EU) and China is vital, a Slovakian economic expert told Xinhua in a recent interview. Juraj Sipko, former head of the Institute of Economic …

Moscow, Russia | XINHUA | Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a law that authorizes the government to temporarily reduce or fully eliminate export duties of certain goods to “friendly countries.” The law will empower the Russian government to lower export duties on shipments to friendly countries for a period …

WASHINGTON | Xinhua | Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng has called on the two sides to draw inspirations and wisdom from their Ping-Pong Diplomacy over five decades ago. In a speech at a recent event held by the Chinese Embassy in the United States to commemorate the 52nd …

UNITED NATIONS, UK | Xinhua | The General Assembly has approved an annual regular budget for the United Nations of about 3.59 billion U.S. dollars, UN News reported on Sunday. The 2024 budget is higher than that of 2023, which stood at nearly 3.4 billion dollars. The regular budget covers …

GENEVA | Xinhua | The World Health Organization (WHO) sounded the alarm on the threat of dengue Friday as the mosquito-borne disease has spread to previously untouched countries, infecting over 5 million and killing more than 5,000 this year. Nearly 80 percent of those cases, or 4.1 million, have been …

TOKYO | Xinhua | The Japanese government on Friday adopted a draft budget of 112.07 trillion yen (about 787 billion U.S. dollars) for fiscal year 2024, with defense spending hitting an all-time high for the 10th straight year. The figure approved by the cabinet for the fiscal period from April …

Liverpool, UK | THE INDEPENDENT |  An end-to-end encounter at Anfield ended all square despite Gabriel giving Arsenal a fourth minute lead. The Brazilian headed home Martin Odegaard’s free-kick to give Arsenal the perfect start, but Mohamed Salah rifled home a first-half equaliser. Both sides remained firmly intent on going …

UNITED NATIONS | Xinhua | The Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, has been officially listed as a UN floating holiday in its calendar of conferences and meetings as from 2024. The UN General Assembly, in a resolution, acknowledges the significance of the Lunar New Year, which is observed in …