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Sun, May 19, 2024 11:33 AM All times are UTC

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The US is one of the least trade-oriented countries in the world – despite laying the groundwork for today’s globalized system

Apr 26, 2024 01:31 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Given the spate of news about international trade lately, Americans might be surprised to learn that the U.S. isnt very dependent on it. Indeed, looking at trade as a percentage of gross domestic product a metric...

Beyond the spin, beyond the handouts, here’s how to get a handle on what’s really happening on budget night

Apr 25, 2024 06:11 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, TV or news websites on budget night. The quickest way to find out what...

Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility

Apr 25, 2024 06:09 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Ivan Vladislavić is Johannesburgs literary linkman. He tells us, in the first pages of his new book, The Near North, that before cities were lit, first by gaslight and later electricity, people of means paid torchbearers...

Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget

Apr 25, 2024 06:08 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

With Jim Chalmerss third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief beyond the tax cuts although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As this weeks consumer price...

Inflation is slowly falling, while student debt is climbing: 6 graphs that explain today’s CPI

Apr 25, 2024 06:06 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Australias inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and its now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. The annual rate peaked at 7.8% in the December quarter of 2022 and is now just 3.6%, in...

Extraordinary Vietnam fraud case exposes the inherent vulnerabilities of banks

Apr 25, 2024 06:05 am UTC| Insights & Views Business Economy

The financial crisis of 2008 showed just how much the world depends on banks being well run. Since then, regulators have been given new powers to keep some of the biggest institutions on a much shorter leash to stamp out...

Rishi Sunak wants to cut the cost of ‘sicknote’ Britain

Apr 25, 2024 06:04 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy Politics

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has announced a crackdown on sickness and disability benefits in order to end a sicknote culture and over-medicalising the everyday challenges and worries of life, in part because he claims that...

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Economy

What should you do if you can’t pay your rent or mortgage?

The cost of living crisis is making it difficult for many people to pay their bills, including housing costs. Private sector rents have increased by an average 9% over the year to February 2024, and rising interest rates...

Reducing energy demand and improving efficiency will help prevent the next gas crisis

Gas prices have relaxed, Europe has come out of the winter with record gas storage levels and a surfeit of liquefied natural gas is set to reach the shores of Europe over the coming years. Many commentators are hopeful...

Minimum wage for South African farm workers: study shows 2013 hike helped reduce poverty even though compliance was poor

Minimum wage policies are typically aimed at reducing poverty. Yet there is little direct evidence of this effect, especially in developing countries. And none for South Africa. In a recent paper, we consider the...

Gas is good until 2050 and beyond, under Albanese gas strategy

The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel through to 2050 and beyond. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuels uses would change over...

South Africa’s plan to move away from coal: 8 steps to make it succeed

The South African governments Just Energy Transition Implementation Plan was launched in November 2023. It is a roadmap guiding the country away from reliance on coal-fired power towards renewable energy alternatives by...

Politics

Donald Trump Allegedly Offers Oil Execs a Deal to Scrap EV Incentives for $1B Donation

Former President Donald Trump reportedly proposed a $1 billion deal to oil executives, offering to end electric vehicle (EV) subsidies in return for campaign funding, according to The Washington Post. This move underscores...

US Supreme Court upended decades of precedent in 2022 by allowing voters to vote with gerrymandered maps instead of fixing the congressional districts first

For the 2022 midterm elections, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Alabama to use congressional districts that violated the law and diluted the voting power of Black citizens. A 5-4 vote by the Supreme Court in February...

Germany lowers voting age to 16 for the European elections

Ahead of the European parliament elections in June, Germany has lowered the age limit on participation to 16. This makes it the largest of just a handful of states in the EU to allow people under the age of 18 to vote....

South Africa will be president of the G20 in 2025: two much-needed reforms it should drive

South Africa will play an important international role in 2025 as president of the G20. The G20 is a group of 19 countries as well as the African Union and the European Union. Between them they represent 85% of global...

What early 2024 polls are revealing about voters of color and the GOP

By the end of winter 2024, the return of Donald Trump to the top of the GOP presidential ticket has revealed a surprising trend in the former presidents base of support: his increasing popularity among Black and Latino...

Science

Is dark matter’s main rival theory dead? There’s bad news from the Cassini spacecraft and other recent tests

One of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics today is that the forces in galaxies do not seem to add up. Galaxies rotate much faster than predicted by applying Newtons law of gravity to their visible matter, despite those...

Why are algorithms called algorithms? A brief history of the Persian polymath you’ve likely never heard of

Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without...

IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects

About a trillion tiny particles called neutrinos pass through you every second. Created during the Big Bang, these relic neutrinos exist throughout the entire universe, but they cant harm you. In fact, only one of them is...

The Mars Sample Return mission has a shaky future, and NASA is calling on private companies for backup

A critical NASA mission in the search for life beyond Earth, Mars Sample Return, is in trouble. Its budget has ballooned from US$5 billion to over $11 billion, and the sample return date may slip from the end of this...

Dark matter: our new experiment aims to turn the ghostly substance into actual light

A ghost is haunting our universe. This has been known in astronomy and cosmology for decades. Observations suggest that about 85% of all the matter in the universe is mysterious and invisible. These two qualities are...

Technology

OpenAI Founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman Defend After Safety Researchers Quit

OpenAI founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman are defending their safety measures after top researchers Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike resigned, highlighting internal disagreements on AI priorities. Key OpenAI Safety...

Analyst Predicts Ethereum ETF to Trigger Major ETH Market Moves Soon

Cryptocurrency analyst Michael van de Poppe forecasts that the upcoming Ethereum ETF announcement will cause significant market moves, despite a recent decline in trading volume. Ethereums ETF Announcement Expected to...

Venezuela Acts Tough on Crypto Mining Amid Energy Squeeze, Disconnects Bitcoin Farms

Venezuelas Ministry of Electric Power is disconnecting cryptocurrency mining farms from the national grid to manage energy demand and ensure a stable power supply. This measure follows the recent seizure of 2,000 Bitcoin...

AI 'Godfather' Warns of Job Displacement, Advocates for Universal Basic Income

Renowned AI godfather Geoffrey Hinton warns of significant job losses due to AI, urging governments to adopt universal basic income as a countermeasure. Hinton Advocates for Universal Basic Income According to...

Shiba Inu: Top Analyst Identifies Coin as 'Potential Gold Mine'; Price Analysis Suggests 35% Upside

Top analyst Davie Satoshi sees Shiba Inu (SHIB) as a potential gold mine; price analysis predicts a 35% upside. Key Pattern in SHIBs Price Chart The Shiba Inu (SHIB) memecoin has caught the eye of many analysts....