SEOUL – South Korea has unveiled a $40bn (£23bn) stimulus package to help boost the economy. The funds will be used to offer financial support to small and medium-sized companies, create jobs and stimulate the property market. The stimulus was unveiled the same day data showed a decline in economic activity in South Korea. Gross…
SHANGHAI – When a Chinese customer asked for the interior of his new Bombardier Challenger 850 jet to be covered with pricey black carbon fibre, the designer was shocked – but happy to oblige. “We’ll do whatever you want, as long as it’s within the realm of certification,” said Sean Gillespie, executive vice president for…
NEW YORK – Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is suggesting that workers shift to a three-day work week. The catch: He would require 11-hour work days and workers to stay on the job until age 70 or 75. The Financial Times reported that in a speech at a conference in Paraguay, Slim advocated a radical change…
LONDON – Scientists say they have made an “exciting” step towards curing HIV by forcing the virus out of hiding. HIV can become part of someone’s DNA and lie dormant for decades, making a cure impossible. Early stage research in six people, reported at the Aids 2014 conference, shows that low-dose chemotherapy can awaken the…
GAZA – More than 30 members of two Palestinian families have been killed by Israeli strikes, health officials in Gaza say. The overnight strikes in southern Gaza came as the Palestinian death toll from the two-week conflict passed 500. Meanwhile, Hamas launched fresh rocket attacks and used tunnels out of Gaza to infiltrate Israel near…
KIEV – Ukraine has accused pro-Russian rebels of trying to destroy evidence of “international crimes” at the crash site of a Malaysia Airlines plane. The government said the rebels led by Russia were preventing international representatives and its own experts from starting their investigation. It is believed flight MH17 crashed after being hit by a…
LONDON – Dozens of passengers who died on board the crashed Malaysia Airlines plane are thought to have been heading to a major international Aids conference. They include Prof Joep Lange – a prominent and popular researcher and a former president of the International Aids Society (IAS). IAS said they would have “truly lost a…
LONDON – Microsoft is to cut up to 18,000 jobs marking the deepest cuts in the technology firm’s 39-year history. The bulk of the cuts, around 12,500, will be in its phone unit Nokia, which Microsoft bought in April, the firm said. Microsoft pledged to cut $600m (£350.8m) per year in costs within 18 months…
GENEVA – There is a chance the Aids epidemic can brought under control by 2030, according to a report by the United Nations Aids agency. It said the number of new HIV infections and deaths from Aids were both falling. However, it called for far more international effort as the “current pace cannot end the…
MELBOURNE – Survivors of one of the worst bushfires in Australia have won a payout of almost A$500m ($470m), in the country’s largest class action settlement. Some 10,000 plaintiffs sued a power company for negligence over the fire. The case centred on the most deadly blaze on Black Saturday, on 7 February 2009, when wildfires swept…
