Author: Thefuturedatainsights

With the Friday notices, 85 percent of Voice of America’s workforce had been slashed.Layoff notices have been sent to 639 employees of Voice of America (VOA) and the United States agency that oversees it, effectively shutting down the outlet that has provided news to countries around the world since World War II. The notices sent on Friday included employees at VOA’s Persian-language service who were suddenly called off administrative leave last week to broadcast reports to Iran following Israel’s attack. Three journalists working for the Persian service on Friday, who left their office for a cigarette break, had their badges confiscated…

Trump signs executive order extending the deadline for TikTok’s sale or divestment from Chinese parent company ByteDance to September 17.United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order extending the deadline for China-based ByteDance to divest its US assets of the short-form video app TikTok by another 90 days, he says, despite a law that mandated a sale or shutdown. “I’ve just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days (September 17, 2025),” the president said in a post on Thursday on his social media platform, Truth Social. The ban would have otherwise…

Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez warns the spending hike would undermine EU efforts to build its own security and defence base.Spain has reportedly asked to opt out of NATO’s proposed defence spending target of 5 percent of GDP, risking disruption to a key agreement expected at next week’s alliance summit. In a letter addressed to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Thursday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged the alliance to adopt a more flexible framework, according to media reports. The letter, seen by the Reuters and Associated Press news agencies, called for either the target to remain optional or for Spain to…

The dispute centred on an exception granted to California on national vehicle emission standards, allowing it to set stricter rules than federal standards.The United States Supreme Court has sided with fuel producers that had opposed California’s standards for vehicle emissions and electric cars under a federal air pollution law, agreeing that their legal challenge to the mandates should not have been dismissed. The justices in a 7-2 ruling on Friday overturned a lower court’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit by a Valero Energy subsidiary and fuel industry groups. The lower court had concluded that the plaintiffs lacked the required legal standing…

Russia’s economy must not slide into recession, President Vladimir Putin said, after economists warned for months of a slowdown in growth. Putin told attendees, including government ministers and central bankers, at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday that some specialists and experts were “pointing to the risks of stagnation and even a recession”. “This must not be allowed to happen under any circumstances,” he said. “We need to pursue a competent, well-thought-out budgetary, tax and monetary policy,” he added. Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said on Thursday that the economy was on the verge of slipping into a recession,…

The court declined to fast-track the review of the dispute over Trump having legal power to impose broad tariffs.The United States Supreme Court has declined to speed up its consideration of whether to take up a challenge to President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs even before lower courts have ruled in the dispute. The Supreme Court denied on Friday a request by a family-owned toy company, Learning Resources, that filed the legal challenge against Trump’s tariffs to expedite the review of the dispute by the nation’s top judicial body. The company, which makes educational toys, won a court ruling on May 29 that…

Hong Kong’s residential property segment is on the verge of a turnaround that could last between four and five years, with home prices likely to rise starting in the second half of the year, according to Morgan Stanley.The US investment bank said the first half of the year would end with prices down 2 per cent from a year earlier, while prices in the second half would rise 2 per cent year on year. The call essentially moves the recovery forward in time and smooths it out compared with the previous forecast, which called for a 5 per cent first-half…

The official newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party has cautioned against an “addiction” to blind card packs and blind boxes among the country’s youths as the summer holiday approaches.People’s Daily called for strict identity verification to curb the “out-of-control consumption” of blind boxes – opaque packages containing randomly chosen toys, models or cards – by minors in a report published on Friday.The items, with their allure of “unknown surprises,” have become highly sought-after by young consumers, but hide “commercial traps” that induce impulsive spending, the article said.As the “guzi economy” or “goods economy” – merchandise related to anime, games, idols…

Leading publications of China’s ruling Communist Party have urged local governments to implement strictures on lavish banquets carefully, an attempt to temper overzealousness amid concerns from the country’s beleaguered food and beverage industry.Qiushi, the party’s theoretical journal, said in a commentary piece on Friday that recent affirmations of the need for frugality in official meals are intended to limit extravagant practices, not ordinary dining.“Some local governments scrutinise every meal gathering and intervene in every banquet. Some agencies, to ‘avoid trouble’, simply cancel all official receptions. Some cadres even go so far as to avoid normal working meals,” the piece read.Such…