Business
China's economy shows signs of improvement, but its property sector still in the doldrums
China's manufacturing and investment improved in the first two months of the year, while weakness in the property sector weighed on the economy, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday. The report said industrial output rose 7% from a year earlier in January-February, better than analysts had forecast. Spending on… Read
Elon Musk defends ketamine use
Elon Musk suggested his use of drugs benefits Tesla investors in an interview released Monday, saying he takes prescribed ketamine to treat his "negative frame of mind." The 52-year-old tycoon confirmed he takes the anesthetic -- typically used for pain management and to treat depression -- following reports in the… Read
Uber pays $178 million to end legal fight with Australian taxi drivers
Global rideshare giant Uber will pay 272 million Australian dollars ($178 million) to settle a long-running dispute with Australian taxi and hire car drivers who lost out when the company entered the Australian market. A class action against Uber had been expected to go to trial in the Supreme Court… Read
Japan business lobby chief hopes for gov't efforts to end deflation
The head of Japan's biggest business lobby on Sunday expressed hope that the government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will take necessary measures to fully combat the country's decades-long deflation. In a speech at the annual convention of Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Masakazu Tokura, chairman of the Japan Business… Read
Bernie Sanders wants U.S. to adopt a 32-hour workweek
The 40-hour workweek has been standard in the U.S. for more than eight decades. Now some members of Congress want to give hourly workers an extra day off. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the far-left independent from Vermont, this week introduced a bill that would shorten to 32 hours the amount of… Read
Why are so many voters frustrated by the U.S. economy? It's home prices
Lori Shelton can't fathom ever having the money to buy a home — and that's a major reason why so many voters feel down on the economy ahead of this year's presidential election. Shelton, 67, drives an Uber to help pay rent in Aurora, Colorado. An advance on her pay… Read
Levi’s reopens Kyoto store offering elevated brand experience
Levi Strauss & Co (LS&Co) on Friday announced the reopening of its Levi’s store in Kyoto. Located in the heart of Teramachi Kyogoku shopping district and featuring Levi’s cutting-edge NextGen store format, the store is emblematic of the brand’s commitment to bringing elevated shopping experiences to the world’s most desirable… Read
Reddit reveals FTC inquiry into deals licensing its users' data for AI training
Reddit said Friday that the Federal Trade Commission has opened an inquiry into the social media platform’s sale, licensing or sharing of its users' posts and other content to outside organizations for use in training artificial intelligence models. The company disclosed the inquiry Friday in a filing with the Securities… Read
McDonald's operations in Japan resume after IT outage
Operations at all McDonald's stores in Japan resumed on Saturday after some were forced to temporarily close following a system outage that also hit other countries the previous day, according to the Japanese unit of the U.S. hamburger chain. McDonald's Co (Japan) said on its website that "operations are currently… Read
Eyes on Bank of Japan as unions announce big wage hikes
Japan's largest trade union said Friday it had secured the highest wage hikes since 1991 in preliminary data that stokes speculation the central bank will finally shift away from its outlier ultra-loose monetary policy. The Rengo union said that in spring wage talks so far, its members had secured pay… Read
