demographics

Young Chinese parents tighten belts as childcare costs rise

BY MARY YANG

  • The government has also promoted the image of "the ideal Chinese family that is centred around heterosexual marriages" as it tries to boost birth rates, said Zhou, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan.
  • New mother Zhang Xiaofei wanted to be financially secure before having a baby, wary of high childcare costs that have been softened only a little by Chinese government cash incentives to boost record-low births.
  • The government has also promoted the image of "the ideal Chinese family that is centred around heterosexual marriages" as it tries to boost birth rates, said Zhou, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan.
New mother Zhang Xiaofei wanted to be financially secure before having a baby, wary of high childcare costs that have been softened only a little by Chinese government cash incentives to boost record-low births.
The world's second-most populous country is threatened with a demographic crisis after its birth rate halved over the past decade -- all while people rapidly age out of the workforce.
Beijing has made "building a childbirth-friendly society" a priority over the next five years, China's Premier Li Qiang said on Thursday as lawmakers gathered in the Great Hall of the People for their annual political conclave.
The government introduced a raft of financial incentives last year,including free pre-school education and annual subsidies of 3,600 yuan ($500) for each child born.
However, young Chinese say the measures do little to alleviate financial stress.
Zhang, 32, and her husband Zhu Yunfei, both manicurists, decided to save before having a child.
"We discussed it before. The two of us were aligned in wanting to (focus on) work first because our families' (financial) conditions aren't that good," she told AFP while on maternity leave in Hebei province.
"If we were to have a child, we would want to give them the very best life," she said, cradling her three-week-old daughter.

'Doesn't mean anything'

The new childcare subsidies have cost the government more than 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion), China's national health director told reporters on Saturday.
They were announced shortly after Zhang and Zhu learned they would be parents.
"We thought our kid was too lucky," Zhu, 36, said.
However, the handout -- roughly 1.5 percent of their pooled annual income -- doesn't come close to covering a year's worth of baby formula.
"People joke that it's like giving you a five-yuan voucher towards a Rolls-Royce," he told AFP. 
Zhu scours second-hand platforms for deals on diapers, while Zhang plans to return to work after her daughter turns one month old.
In Henan, soon-to-be father Li plans to take up a second job once his daughter is born.
To save money, he and his wife made a five-hour round trip to neighbouring Hubei province, where he said hospitals offer free prenatal genetic screening.
Li, using a pseudonym for fear of repercussions, was reluctant to have children and said he was indifferent to the incentives.
"This bit of cash doesn't mean anything," the 35-year-old told AFP.

Incompatible with careers

Social demographer Yun Zhou warned that subsidies "often do not lead to any meaningful rebound in fertility".
The government has also promoted the image of "the ideal Chinese family that is centred around heterosexual marriages" as it tries to boost birth rates, said Zhou, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan.
"For young Chinese women, especially young highly educated Chinese women, there is also this inherent concern about the pervasive gender-based discriminations in the labour market that is front and centre on their mind."
In 2023, the government banned employers from withholding advancement based on marriage, pregnancy, or parental status, as well as the practice of including pregnancy tests as part of pre-employment physical exams.
However, some women still "feel like childbearing and having successful careers and having a life as a whole is fundamentally incompatible", Zhou said.
Lawmakers this week proposed measures such as extra cash for families with three children and lowering the legal marriage age from 22 for men and 20 for women to encourage earlier childbearing.
Chinese social media users slammed such proposals as "nonsense".
Being a parent in China is "very difficult", Yuan Limei, a 30-year-old mother of two, told AFP.
"There are all kinds of expenses. Everything requires money," she said, pushing her six-year-old on a swing in Beijing.
"And with kids, there's no way for you to work."
Yuan's oldest child is 10 but she does not plan on having a third.
"A kid is much harder to raise than a dog or cat," she laughed.
New father Zhu noted that, while subsidies have little impact in big cities like Beijing, they can make a dent in smaller villages.
"In the city, 3,600 yuan is hardly anything and can't even buy a baby pram, but in some rural areas it's not a small sum," he said.
mya/dhw/pbt

games

Sony faces $2.7 bn class action from UK PlayStation users

  • Under UK law, all potentially affected persons are included in this type of class action by default, and may benefit from possible compensation, unless they voluntarily opt out.
  • Japanese entertainment giant Sony will face a £2 billion ($2.7 billion) class action lawsuit starting Tuesday in London, accused of allegedly breaching competition law by overcharging millions of UK PlayStation users.
  • Under UK law, all potentially affected persons are included in this type of class action by default, and may benefit from possible compensation, unless they voluntarily opt out.
Japanese entertainment giant Sony will face a £2 billion ($2.7 billion) class action lawsuit starting Tuesday in London, accused of allegedly breaching competition law by overcharging millions of UK PlayStation users.
The claimants' website accuses Sony of "exploiting its UK customers" for nearly a decade by charging them "too much for PlayStation digital games and in-game content".
"This case seeks to bring that conduct to an end and to secure compensation for those affected," consumer campaigner Alex Neill, who brought the action on behalf of an estimated 12.2 million users, told AFP.
The PlayStation Store is the official digital platform where gamers can buy Sony classics like "Gran Turismo" and "God of War", as well as blockbuster titles like "Call of Duty", "GTA" and "Assassin's Creed" from other studios.
"Sony has a near monopoly on the sale of digital games" for its console, allowing it to dictate prices and charge a 30 percent sales commission to video game publishers, the claimants allege.
According to the claimants, PC game distribution platforms -- which face greater competition -- charge a lower commission of around 12 to 20 percent.
"Games are now designed to incentivise players to spend as much money as possible (including children)," the claimants' website alleges, including for players to "progress, unlock more features, or customise their experience with new characters or weapons".
Sony's prices "are out of all proportion to the costs of Sony providing these services to its customers", they said.
The trial is due to be heard at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London, and is expected to last around 10 weeks.
The lawsuit launched in 2022 is seeking £1.97 billion in damages, to be shared by anyone who purchased digital games or add-on content via the PlayStation store in the decade leading to February 2026, with some limited exceptions.
Under UK law, all potentially affected persons are included in this type of class action by default, and may benefit from possible compensation, unless they voluntarily opt out.
Sony did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment, but in its defence to the claim argued that its distribution model is justified. 
Last year, Apple lost a lawsuit in London for abusing its dominant position and charging excessive commissions on its in-house App Store.
The US tech giant, which has said it intends to appeal the decision, could be liable to reimburse millions of users.
ode/zap/kaf-aks/pdh/yad

US

Why have 1,000 ships at times lost their GPS in the Mideast?

BY IVAN COURONNE, WITH ISABEL MALSANG IN PARIS

  • Most cell phones now use two GPS frequency bands -- one that is older and fainter, and a second that is newer and stronger.
  • The global positioning system (GPS) capabilities of cargo ships, oil tankers and other vessels stuck in the Middle East because of the widening war are likely worse than those in your cell phone.
  • Most cell phones now use two GPS frequency bands -- one that is older and fainter, and a second that is newer and stronger.
The global positioning system (GPS) capabilities of cargo ships, oil tankers and other vessels stuck in the Middle East because of the widening war are likely worse than those in your cell phone.
Experts say this deficiency explains why since the start of US-Israeli strikes, the jamming of satellite navigation signals has left about 1,000 ships in the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman unable to determine their location, either momentarily or continuously.
Dimitris Ampatzidis, a senior risk and compliance analyst for the energy market intelligence firm Kpler, told AFP the number represents about half of the vessels in the area. 
The vast majority of those ships are located off the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
A satellite navigation system is made up of a constellation of satellites that send signals with the time to Earth, allowing the receiver to determine its precise location.
Modern smartphones receive signals from four groups of satellites: the American, European (Galileo), Russian (GLONASS) and Chinese (BeiDou) Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS).
Most cell phones now use two GPS frequency bands -- one that is older and fainter, and a second that is newer and stronger.
But "many ships only listen to the original civilian GPS signal, which is called the L1 C/A signal. It's the one that's been around since the early 1990s for civilian use," Todd Humphreys, an engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told AFP.
Most ships are thus unable to rely on the BeiDou or Galileo systems in the event that a GPS is jammed.
The situation is even worse for airplanes, due to aviation regulations.
"You will not find any aircraft flying in the world today whose built-in GPS receiver is capable of tracking and interpreting signals other than the GPS L1 C/A. So it's out of date by 15 years," Humphreys said.

Spoofing

Jamming a GPS signal is "not that complicated," said Katherine Dunn, the author of an upcoming book of the history of GPS, "Little Blue Dot."
All one needs is "another radio transmitter that can broadcast on the same frequency, but louder," she said, which creates "a wall of mush."
Spoofing is more sophisticated -- and more dangerous, affecting a ship's Automatic Identification System, or AIS.
Every vessel transmits a message per second over a universal radio frequency that announces its identity, destination and position.
Spoofing manipulates that system, causing the affected ship to send a fake, or even nonsensical, location -- meaning that ships could appear to be on land in Iran or the Emirates.

Clocks

Today, GPS signals are not just used to determine location; they also power onboard clocks, radar systems and speed logs, Dunn said.
So even if the ships off the Emirates or Kuwait were protected from drone fire and escorted through the Strait of Hormuz, navigating without a GPS would be perilous.
"Given the size of the ships, electronic assistance has become necessary to steer them," said one merchant marine captain who has sailed on cargo ships around the world.
Crews must "resort to using 20th-century instruments -- radar or visible landmarks," he told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Defensive jamming

Signal jamming is undoubtedly being used both offensively and defensively. Gulf states are directing their systems towards their own shores to ward off Iran's satellite-guided Shahed drones -- at the cost, deemed acceptable, of disrupting their own lives.
Israel did the same thing in 2024, as did Iran after its 12 days of conflict with Israel last year.
"Even if their own air traffic or maritime traffic or their delivery drivers or their dating apps are affected by GPS jamming and spoofing, they'll do it, just like Israel did. Israel did it for a year in 2024," Humphreys said.
For air and sea navigation, start-ups are developing alternative technologies using Earth's magnetic field or inertial navigation.
But for ships today, navigating without a GPS is still far in the future.
ico-im/sst/js

politics

India's economy is booming, but uneven growth clouds ascent

BY ANUJ SRIVAS

  • He added that a "significant portion of India's workforce remains in relatively low-productivity and informal sectors".
  • For years India's economy was driven by its vast services sector that saw millions of people working away in low-cost back offices providing consultancy for predominantly western companies.
  • He added that a "significant portion of India's workforce remains in relatively low-productivity and informal sectors".
For years India's economy was driven by its vast services sector that saw millions of people working away in low-cost back offices providing consultancy for predominantly western companies.
But over the past decade they have given way to centres that allow firms to tap top-tier talent and technology, where white-collar staff perform tasks ranging from IT and data analytics to innovation and design.
Today, these centres are the shiniest parts of India's red-hot economy but not everyone has been able to enjoy the boom times as opportunities remain uneven.
Amazon's biggest office in the world is now located in southern India, and top financiers like JPMorgan have roughly 20 percent of their workforce scattered across Indian cities.
The government says the country is now home to about one-fifth of the world's chip design engineers, helped by hiring from firms like Qualcomm and MediaTek.
This has boosted services sector growth and helped make India the fastest-growing major economy -- a title it has firmly held onto since 2021.
Alouk Kumar, the head of an Indian consultancy that helps global giants set up offshore business centres, says his phone hasn't stopped buzzing in recent weeks.
"Demand and interest have been crazy... the number of calls I have got from European firms has soared," he said. "The way it is increasing, the next 10 years will belong to India."
The surge in growth saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government declare in December that India had overtaken Japan as the world's fourth-largest economy.
But figures last month indicate the announcement was premature, with the crossover unlikely to happen for at least another year.
Still, economists say the eventual switch will represent a landmark achievement -- less than three decades ago, Japan was the second-largest economy in the world, and India was still struggling to dismantle its quasi-socialist economic system.
Market reforms in the 1990s unlocked an eventual $283 billion software‑services industry, while a credit boom in the 2000s helped the country's biggest conglomerates expand globally.
And since 2014, a huge infrastructure drive -- new highways, airports and ports -- has underpinned swift growth.
"India's feat cannot be trivialised," said Dhiraj Nim, an economist at ANZ Research. 
Many countries, he noted, "failed to capitalise" on similar opportunities or "squandered them in the face of global shocks and imprudent policies".
This world-beating growth --- India's economy roughly doubles in size every decade, compared to Japan, which has basically flatlined -- has helped transform the country.
Poverty, for instance, has fallen.
The World Bank estimates the share of Indians living on $4.20 or less per day plunged from 57.7 percent in 2011–12, to 23.9 percent in 2022–23.
Slowly rising incomes have also led to the emergence of a middle class, estimated at over 300 million.
- 'Illusion' - 
But experts caution that the gains from rapid expansion remain wildly uneven.
"There are still a lot of youngsters who are left behind by the progress of our economy," said Amit Saxena of Ambe International.
The firm sends thousands of blue-collar workers overseas each year in search of regular, better paid work.
Nearly half of India's population also continues to rely on agriculture for subsistence.
That keeps GDP per capita far below that of other major economies -- it is 12 times smaller than Japan's and 20 times smaller than Germany's.
"India's economic growth is largely fuelled by demand from the top 100 million people," said Bhaskar Chakravorti, Dean of Global Business at The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
He added that a "significant portion of India's workforce remains in relatively low-productivity and informal sectors".
Chakravorti traces the gaping wage hole to India's services-driven growth, which supports a "narrower slice" of the population, in contrast to China's manufacturing-led boom.
Most economists say India needs sustained eight percent annual growth for two decades to become a high‑income country. 
But in the near term, they warn, the priority is creating quality jobs for the millions entering the labour force each year.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley believe India will require an average GDP growth rate of 12.2 percent to truly tackle underemployment.
Shifting workers from farms to factories is central to that goal. 
While India has attracted firms like Apple to assemble iPhones, it is far from having become a manufacturing powerhouse.
In rural parts of Maharashtra state, the gulf between national headlines and reality feels stark.
Nitin Gaikwad, 32, supplements his meagre farm income by laying roads, under a government jobs scheme meant to provide guaranteed work at fixed wages.
"I don't see any progress anywhere. If they are saying this, it is only in the cities, where there are metros and flights," he said.
"It is an illusion that the country is progressing. The villages have remained untouched."
asv/pjm/dan

US

Israeli strike kills four at Beirut hotel: Lebanon

BY AFP TEAMS IN TEHRAN, BEIRUT, JERUSALEM AND WASHINGTON

  • Iran-backed Hezbollah said it had fired 100 rockets and drones at Israeli territory, targeting naval bases and air defence systems.
  • An Israeli strike on a hotel in central Beirut killed at least four people Sunday, Lebanese officials said, underscoring the widening reach of the US-backed war against Iran as missiles, drones and air strikes pounded targets across the region.
  • Iran-backed Hezbollah said it had fired 100 rockets and drones at Israeli territory, targeting naval bases and air defence systems.
An Israeli strike on a hotel in central Beirut killed at least four people Sunday, Lebanese officials said, underscoring the widening reach of the US-backed war against Iran as missiles, drones and air strikes pounded targets across the region.
The attack came with the conflict spilling into a second week, as both sides pressed attacks and the bodies of the first US troops to die in the war were returned home.
An AFP photographer at the bombed seafront hotel saw shattered windows and heavy damage to one room while security forces sealed off the area.
US President Donald Trump attended the return of six American service members killed in a drone strike on a US base in Kuwait last Sunday, a day after the United States and Israel launched their military campaign against Iran.
Wearing a white "USA" baseball cap, he saluted as flag-draped cases carrying the soldiers' remains were carried off a military transport plane at Dover Air Force Base.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Saturday to prosecute the war with Iran "with all our force", declaring Israel had a plan to eradicate the country's leadership, even as Tehran insisted it would not surrender.

Air supremacy

Israel launched some of its largest raids since the war began on Saturday, targeting a military academy, an underground command centre and missile storage sites.
Fire and smoke billowed from Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport after a predawn attack that Israel said destroyed 16 aircraft and fighter jets. Netanyahu said Israel had achieved almost total control of the skies over the Iranian capital.
Trump also struck a defiant tone, repeating his claim that Iran had been close to developing a nuclear weapon and warning on Truth Social: "Today Iran will be hit very hard!"
He said Washington did not want Kurdish fighters joining the conflict and suggested US troops could eventually be needed to secure Iran's enriched uranium stockpiles.
Trump also mocked reports Britain might send aircraft carriers to the region, posting: "We don't need people that join wars after we've already won!"
Separately, he blamed Iran for what the country's authorities said was a deadly strike on an elementary school in Minab last Saturday that killed at least 150 people. 
The comment came after a New York Times investigation suggested US forces were most likely responsible.
Neither Washington nor Israel has claimed responsibility for the attack and AFP could not independently verify the circumstances.
The conflict -- sparked by joint US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei -- has spread across the region and beyond, reaching the seas off Sri Lanka, where US forces sank an Iranian warship.
- 'Humanitarian disaster' - 
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had struck a US naval base in Bahrain after accusing Washington of targeting an Iranian desalination plant earlier in the day.
There were air raid warnings and explosions reported across the region, including in Jerusalem, Doha and Manama. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted 14 drones while the United Arab Emirates said its air defences destroyed 15 missiles and 119 drones.
Video footage showed one projectile crashing at Dubai airport, while AFP journalists heard blasts in Baghdad, Erbil and Dubai on Saturday evening.
Inside Iran, damage to infrastructure and residential areas is mounting as its people report growing anxiety and a heavy security presence.
"I don't think anyone who hasn't experienced war would understand it," a 26-year-old teacher told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Iran's health ministry said Friday at least 926 civilians had been killed and around 6,000 wounded -- figures AFP could not independently verify.
Lebanon's health ministry said at least 294 people have died in Israeli air strikes over the past week, prompting Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to warn of a looming "humanitarian disaster".
Israel had stepped up its air campaign hours before the seafront hotel was hit, targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in the Dahiyeh area of Beirut's southern suburbs.
Iran-backed Hezbollah said it had fired 100 rockets and drones at Israeli territory, targeting naval bases and air defence systems. The group claimed more than 30 attacks against Israeli positions and troops, including near Haifa and Tel Aviv.

Economic shockwaves

The conflict is reverberating far beyond the battlefield.
Global stock markets have slumped and oil prices have surged, as Iran attempts to choke shipping through the Strait of Hormuz -- a key artery for global energy supplies.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had struck two oil tankers with drones in the Gulf.
Analysts warn there is still no clear path to ending a conflict that US and Israeli officials say could last a month or longer.
Trump has suggested Iran's economy could be rebuilt if a leader "acceptable" to Washington replaces the late supreme leader.
But Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, said the choice of leadership would be made "solely by the will of the Iranian people."
China and Russia have largely stayed on the sidelines despite close ties with Tehran. Trump told reporters he had "no indication" of reports that Moscow may be sharing intelligence with Iran on US troop movements.
bur-ft/acb

shipyard

Women rule the roost atop the Gdansk shipyard cranes

BY BERNARD OSSER

  • It was Walentynowicz's dismissal in 1980 that triggered the huge shipyard strike and the creation of the first free trade union in the Communist bloc.
  • For the past 30 years, Halina Krauze has sat atop a 15-metre (49-foot) crane surveying the Gdansk shipyard, the birthplace of the Solidarnosc trade union.
  • It was Walentynowicz's dismissal in 1980 that triggered the huge shipyard strike and the creation of the first free trade union in the Communist bloc.
For the past 30 years, Halina Krauze has sat atop a 15-metre (49-foot) crane surveying the Gdansk shipyard, the birthplace of the Solidarnosc trade union.
For eight hours, the 65-year-old displaces tonnes of steel that will become ship hulls and wind turbine components.
She is one of dozens of crane operators at the huge yard, the largest in Central Europe.
Far below the cabin, hundreds of workers in overalls, helmets and protective goggles are busy at work.
The noise is constant, sparks fly and the air is full of welding fumes.
Around 70 percent of Poland's construction site crane operators are women, a tradition inherited from the Communist era.
In the Soviet period, "women had to be employed somewhere and since they couldn't do hard labour, they were integrated into other professions", explained Agnieszka Pyrzanowska, spokeswoman for the state-owned Baltic Industrial Group, which now operates part of the shipyard.
"Entire families worked for the same company."
Indeed, Krauze met her husband Stanislaw at the yard and today they work in the same unit.
"He's up there!" she exclaimed, waving energetically at another crane cabin in the sky.

Remembering a legend

Krauze joined what was then called the Vladimir Lenin shipyard in 1983, first in a coal-fired boiler room and later operating a crane. 
"In the beginning, it was a shipyard. We built a good dozen ships a year. Now we build dozens of wind turbine towers. It's quite different," she said.
She is proud to have worked on the same crane as Anna Walentynowicz, one of the founders of Solidarnosc. 
It was Walentynowicz's dismissal in 1980 that triggered the huge shipyard strike and the creation of the first free trade union in the Communist bloc.
Walentynowicz was "a kind of legend, especially among the older generation", Krauze remembered.
With a steady hand, she manoeuvred a huge wind turbine section, five metres in diameter, across the yard.
"There are people below you so you have to be careful nothing happens to them," said Lesia Kovalchuk, a 48-year-old Ukrainian colleague.
Kovalchuk was a crane operator in Ukraine for 15 years before moving to Poland as a refugee when Russia invaded her country in 2022.
Now she teaches young apprentices on Gdansk construction sites.
"In Ukraine, it's completely normal for women to operate cranes. No-one is surprised," she shrugged.
Both women agreed their male colleagues preferred to work with them than with other men.
"Women are calmer and more precise," Hrauze opined.
"Blokes try to get things done as fast as they can. Girls are all about finesse," Kovalchuk grinned.
One thing has changed though, since the Communist era.
At those days, women workers used to receive small gifts on International Women's Day -- "those famous tights, chocolates, carnations...", Krauze recalled.
"There's nothing any more," she said ruefully. "The unions have all forgotten about women."
bo/rl/gil/rmb

CEO

Google gives CEO new pay deal worth up to $692 million

  • Under the plan, Pichai's three-year salary of $6 million, or $2 million per year, would remain unchanged.
  • The CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet could earn up to $692 million over the next three years under a new compensation plan published Friday by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
  • Under the plan, Pichai's three-year salary of $6 million, or $2 million per year, would remain unchanged.
The CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet could earn up to $692 million over the next three years under a new compensation plan published Friday by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The deal would make Sundar Pichai, who has been chief executive of Google since 2015 and of Alphabet since 2019, one of the highest paid CEOs in the world. 
Under the plan, Pichai's three-year salary of $6 million, or $2 million per year, would remain unchanged.
The remainder of his compensation would be paid in the form of Alphabet stock, as well as shares in two subsidiaries -- the autonomous vehicle company Waymo and the drone delivery service Wing.
The SEC filing suggested Pichai could receive about $130 million from Waymo and $45 million from Wing.
The allocation will depend on the performance of the shares and, for Alphabet, on the amount of dividends paid.
In the event of his dismissal, Pichai would forfeit all stock options that are not yet exercisable, according to the document.
"Current and previous incentives in Mr Pichai's compensation have benefited Alphabet and its stockholders significantly," the company said in the filing.
tu/vla/lpa/lga/fox

Israel

Rising US fuel prices risk sparking domestic wildfire for Trump

BY ASAD HASHIM, WITH SARAH LAI IN LOS ANGELES

  • Robinson, the schoolteacher, said he will be watching gas prices every day now.
  • Sean Robinson, a 54-year-old schoolteacher in the US capital Washington, did not realize how high gas prices had gotten until he arrived at the pump on Friday.
  • Robinson, the schoolteacher, said he will be watching gas prices every day now.
Sean Robinson, a 54-year-old schoolteacher in the US capital Washington, did not realize how high gas prices had gotten until he arrived at the pump on Friday.
"That is a sizeable jump," he told AFP, pointing to a neon sign showing $3.27 for a gallon of regular gasoline. 
Robinson is among US consumers feeling the sting of a cost surge sparked by the US-Israel war on Iran, which sent oil prices soaring as Tehran effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz after being attacked.
But the price hike comes at a politically sensitive time for President Donald Trump as midterm elections approach, hitting voters hard.
Expensive gasoline could also prompt the independent central bank to put the brakes on the world's largest economy as it battles stubborn inflation.
Since last week, US average domestic fuel prices have risen 11 percent, according to the AAA's fuel price gauge.
It is the kind of move that Robinson said will have him cutting down on all but the essentials.
"It just determines what I'm going to do on a day-to-day basis," he said. "Pretty much start thinking about (watching) Netflix, staying in the house instead of burning gas."
Others at the gas station agreed.
"It impacts all areas of life," said Toloria Washington, 39. "We are in a state of survival mode."

'It's the basics'

Washington, who works in finance, said fuel expenses are non-negotiable for her. With prices rising at the pump, she had to make cuts elsewhere.
That, she said, is a problem for people already battered by years of high prices post-pandemic.
"That's the key thing, it's tapping into everybody's basics," she added. "It's the basics. Daily survival of food, water, housing."
US inflation hit a peak of 9.1 percent during the pandemic. While it has cooled since then, analysts warn of risks of another pick-up.
"Inflation showed signs of accelerating prior to the jump in energy prices," said KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk.
"That has left consumers in a sour mood," she added.
Swonk warned that rising fuel prices added "insult to injury" for low-income Americans, who are already seeing higher healthcare costs and a tightening of welfare benefits under Trump.
Trump, who has bragged about oil prices falling during his term, sought to address the political fallout on Friday, telling CNN he expected prices to come down quickly.
His Republican party holds only a slim majority in both the House and Senate.
With midterm elections due in November, he will be hoping that voters do not let tightening household budgets weaken his political position.

Fed's 'dueling mandate'

Trump could see further complications if inflation from gasoline price hikes pushes the Fed to respond by keeping interest rates at a higher level.
The central bank has a dual mandate of maintaining stable prices and maximum employment, but has one main tool to do so -- adjusting interest rates.
Raising them generally cools economic activity and reduces inflation while lowering them can spur activity, boosting the weakening employment market.
The prospect of more inflation due to oil prices raises the specter of what some analysts call a nightmare scenario.
"This could not come at a worse time for the Federal Reserve," said KPMG's Swonk. "It now has a dueling mandate with the risk that inflation not only lingers but accelerates."
Fed policymakers remain cautious.
Addressing higher domestic energy prices on Friday, Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller told Bloomberg TV he considered them "unlikely to cause sustained inflation."
But this is scant consolation for many Americans hit by even a temporary bout of price increases.
"One thing after another, it's chaos, you know, every day," said Lucas Tamaren, 32, at a gas pump in Los Angeles.
"Living in America feels unpredictable and chaotic and it's hard."
Robinson, the schoolteacher, said he will be watching gas prices every day now. He expects price pressures will be reflected at the voting booth in November.
"The more you pay higher gas, higher groceries (costs)," he said, voters will "start to see" that the middle class is shrinking.
aha-myl-sl/bys/sla

politics

Venezuela inflation hit 475% in 2025, the world's highest level

BY BRIAN CONTRERAS

  • Washington eventually deposed the authoritarian socialist leader on January 3 in a US special forces' raid on Caracas and has since eased sanctions.
  • Venezuelan inflation soared to 475 percent in 2025, the highest in the world, driven by a tightening of US sanctions in the lead up to the ouster of leader Nicolas Maduro.
  • Washington eventually deposed the authoritarian socialist leader on January 3 in a US special forces' raid on Caracas and has since eased sanctions.
Venezuelan inflation soared to 475 percent in 2025, the highest in the world, driven by a tightening of US sanctions in the lead up to the ouster of leader Nicolas Maduro.
Full-year inflation far exceeded the International Monetary Fund's forecast of 269.9 percent, figures released by the central bank showed Friday.
Accumulated inflation for the first two months of 2026 stood at nearly 52 percent, the bank, which had not released inflation figures in over a year, said.
It did not issue a forecast for the remainder of 2026.
Venezuela's economy was hammered last year by President Donald Trump's campaign of maximum pressure on longtime foe Maduro.
Washington eventually deposed the authoritarian socialist leader on January 3 in a US special forces' raid on Caracas and has since eased sanctions.
Washington and Caracas have vowed to resume full diplomatic ties and jointly develop the country's vast oil and mineral reserves as part of a lightning-fast thaw after years of emnity.
But many Venezuelans say they have yet to see the results on exorbitant prices for basic goods like food and medicine.
"I have to hop from one supermarket to another. It shouldn't be like this," Alix Aponte, a 58-year-old accountant, told AFP as she shopped for vegetables in Caracas on Friday, calling for salary increases.
Average incomes range between $100 and $300 per month, far below what Venezuelans need to meet their basic food needs, economists say.
Food and drink prices alone rose by 532 percent last year, while rent increased by 340 percent and healthcare by 445 percent, the central bank said.
"This inflation is killing us," said Eduardo Sanchez, a leader of the teachers' union, blaming poor economic policies.
Before Maduro's ouster, economists had warned of a return of hyperinflation -- monthly price hikes of 50 percent or more that caused economic chaos between 2017 and 2021.
Memories are still acute of a record 130,000 percent year-on-year rise in prices recorded in 2018, the peak of the hyperinflationary period, which pushed millions to emigrate.
At the time people waited in line for hours to buy a half kilo of coffee or sugar.
By 2024, the figure had fallen to 48 percent -- a turnaround credited largely to the economic management of Maduro's former deputy Delcy Rodriguez, now the country's acting leader.

Brighter post-Maduro outlook

Rodriguez stabilized the situation by introducing greater fiscal discipline, halting the printing of money, relaxing exchange controls and decriminalizing the use of the dollar, which has become Venezuela's de facto currency.
Rodriguez, who was approved by Washington to replace Maduro, has embarked on an ambitious program of reforms since taking the reins.
She has thrown open the vital oil sector to private investment and is also planning to overhaul the country's mining laws to attract investment in critical minerals.
Tamara Herrera, director of the Sintesis Financiera consulting firm, said she expected inflation to fall to a little over 100 percent this year.
"Going forward, the inflation expectation is toward moderation," economist Jesus Palacios said.
bc/cb/ksb

Global Edition

Oil prices surge as Mideast war rages, stocks fall on US jobs

  • The international benchmark oil contract, Brent North Sea crude, surged to $92.69 per barrel, up 8.5 percent for the day and nearly 30 percent for the week after US President Donald Trump said only the "unconditional surrender" of Iran would end the Middle East war. 
  • Crude prices surged Friday on mounting fears about oil supply disruption during the Middle East war, while equities retreated on poor US hiring data.
  • The international benchmark oil contract, Brent North Sea crude, surged to $92.69 per barrel, up 8.5 percent for the day and nearly 30 percent for the week after US President Donald Trump said only the "unconditional surrender" of Iran would end the Middle East war. 
Crude prices surged Friday on mounting fears about oil supply disruption during the Middle East war, while equities retreated on poor US hiring data.
The US-Israel war on Iran and Tehran's retaliatory attacks across the Gulf region have upended the world's energy and transport sectors, virtually halting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
The international benchmark oil contract, Brent North Sea crude, surged to $92.69 per barrel, up 8.5 percent for the day and nearly 30 percent for the week after US President Donald Trump said only the "unconditional surrender" of Iran would end the Middle East war. 
The main US contract, West Texas Intermediate, soared more than 12 percent to over $90 per barrel, topping off the biggest weekly gain on record.
Maritime traffic has all but dried up through the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas supplies run.
Market reaction to the conflict had been tempered by hopes that it would be short, but Trump's demand for Iran's capitulation increases the prospect of a long conflict.
Trump's comments "dashed hopes that the conflict will be averted quickly, and the oil price has continued its push" higher, said XTB research director Kathleen Brooks.
The prospect of high energy prices for a sustained period has fanned fears of a fresh spike in inflation that could hit the global economy while curbing the ability of central banks to cut interest rates to prop up growth.
"The longer that key energy infrastructure and shipping routes in the region are affected, the greater the chance of a significant inflationary impact," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
Attacks on oilfields were reported in southern Iraq and in the northern autonomous Kurdistan region, which forced a US-run oilfield to cease production. Kuwait has also begun cutting production due to a lack of storage capacity, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Earlier this week, Trump pledged to protect ships through the Strait of Hormuz, but shipping companies have exercised caution in the region.
Trump's pledge helped "reduce some of the risk premium in oil markets," but will have "limited impact unless Iran's extensive disruption capabilities are first neutralized," said a note from analysts at JPMorgan Chase. 
Meanwhile, data showed the US economy had unexpectedly lost jobs in February, while unemployment also edged up.
The world's biggest economy shed 92,000 jobs last month, down from revised job growth of 126,000 in January, said the Labor Department.
New data released Friday also showed US retail sales had fallen by 0.2 percent in January.
Investors often look at data showing a slowdown in the economy as raising the chances of the US Federal Reserve lowering interest rates, but analysts say higher oil prices complicate that picture.
Until recently, the markets were anticipating the Fed would resume interest rate cuts in June, but that has now shifted to September.
Wall Street's main indices finished down around one percent or more.
Europe's main markets finished the day with losses of around one percent.
An exception to Friday's sell-off was Boeing, which piled on 4.1 percent following a Bloomberg report that said the company was close to a big sales agreement with Chinese carriers.

Key figures at around 0410 GMT

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 8.5 percent at $92.69 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 12.2 percent at $90.90 per barrel
New York - Dow: DOWN 1.3 percent at 47,501.55 (close)
New York - S&P 500: DOWN 1.3 percent at 6,740.02 (close)
New York - Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 1.6 percent at 22,387.68 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 1.2 percent at 10,284.75 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.7 percent at 7,993.49 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.9 percent at 23,591.03 (close)
Seoul - Kospi: FLAT at 5,584.87 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.6 percent at 55,620.84 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.7 percent at 25,757.29 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.4 percent at 4,124.19 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1604 from $1.1609 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3385 from $1.3357
Dollar/yen: UP at 157.88 yen from 157.59 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.67 pence from 87.00 pence
burs-jmb/bjt/fox

technology

Anthropic vows court fight in Pentagon row

  • Amodei said the Department of War -- the name preferred by the Trump administration for the Department of Defense -- confirmed in a letter that Anthropic and its products, including its widely-used Claude AI model, have been deemed a supply chain risk.
  • Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei has said the company has "no choice" but to challenge in court the Pentagon's formal designation of the artificial intelligence firm as a risk to US national security.
  • Amodei said the Department of War -- the name preferred by the Trump administration for the Department of Defense -- confirmed in a letter that Anthropic and its products, including its widely-used Claude AI model, have been deemed a supply chain risk.
Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei has said the company has "no choice" but to challenge in court the Pentagon's formal designation of the artificial intelligence firm as a risk to US national security.
The CEO, writing in a blog post on Thursday, insisted however that the ruling's practical scope is narrower than initially suggested, signaling that the designation would not have a catastrophic effect on the company.
Amodei said the Department of War -- the name preferred by the Trump administration for the Department of Defense -- confirmed in a letter that Anthropic and its products, including its widely-used Claude AI model, have been deemed a supply chain risk.
It is the first time a US company has ever been publicly given such a designation, a label typically reserved for organizations from foreign adversary countries, like Chinese tech company Huawei.
Amodei, in his blog post, said the company disputes the legal basis of the action but sought to reassure customers.
"It plainly applies only to the use of Claude by customers as a direct part of contracts with the Department of War, not all use of Claude by customers who have such contracts," he wrote.
The designation will require defense vendors and contractors to certify that they don't use Anthropic's models in their work with the Pentagon.
But Amodei argued that under the relevant statute, the intention is "to protect the government rather than to punish a supplier" and requires the Pentagon to use "the least restrictive means necessary."
Microsoft, one of Anthropic's biggest partners, agreed with that reading, concluding that Anthropic products can remain available to its customers other than the Department of War. 
Google and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the other major cloud giants on which Anthropic's Claude is often delivered to businesses customers, also said they were standing by the company's products except for US military use.

'Sloppy'

The dispute erupted after Anthropic infuriated Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth by insisting its technology should not be used for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons systems.
Washington hit back, saying the Pentagon operates within the law and that contracted suppliers cannot dictate terms on how their products are used.
Amodei also used the statement to apologize for an internal company memo leaked to the press this week, in which he told staff the actions against the company were politically motivated.
"The real reasons" the Trump administration "do not like us is that we haven't donated to Trump (while OpenAI/Greg have donated a lot)," Amodei said, referring to Greg Brockman, the president of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, who has donated $25 million to Trump.
Amodei called the memo an "out-of-date assessment of the current situation," written under duress on a day that saw his company under extreme pressure from the government.
OpenAI initially swooped in to replace Anthropic in its contract with the US military, but that move backfired when senior OpenAI staff expressed discomfort with the deal.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman later said the deal was "sloppy" and that he was working to revise it.
The standoff with the Pentagon has had some silver lining for Anthropic, which was founded in 2021 by former staffers of OpenAI, with a focus on AI safety.
The conflict has helped propel the Claude app to the top of download rankings on Apple and Google smartphones.
Anthropic also indicated to AFP that the number of paying users of its Claude model had doubled since the beginning of the year and that its app is currently downloaded more than a million times a day.
arp/jgc

US

Only nine commercial ships detected crossing Hormuz Strait since Monday

  • It is one of at least five ships belonging to the Dynacom company that have crossed the strait since the war started last Saturday, all with their transponders switched off, according to the Financial Times.
  • Only nine oil tankers, cargo and container ships, some of which at times concealed their position, have been recorded crossing the Strait of Hormuz since Monday, according to MarineTraffic data analysed by AFP. After three ships were attacked on Sunday, at least three tankers and a vessel carrying gas have crossed this chokepoint, a key shipping lane virtually shut by the war in the Middle East.
  • It is one of at least five ships belonging to the Dynacom company that have crossed the strait since the war started last Saturday, all with their transponders switched off, according to the Financial Times.
Only nine oil tankers, cargo and container ships, some of which at times concealed their position, have been recorded crossing the Strait of Hormuz since Monday, according to MarineTraffic data analysed by AFP.
After three ships were attacked on Sunday, at least three tankers and a vessel carrying gas have crossed this chokepoint, a key shipping lane virtually shut by the war in the Middle East.
Nearly 20 percent of the world's crude oil and about 20 percent of liquefied natural gas (LNG) usually transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
Only vessels that emitted at least one signal on either side of the Strait of Hormuz were counted by AFP, excluding any others that may have travelled with their signals entirely concealed for a long period of time.
Attacks since Sunday have multiplied against ships navigating Hormuz, raising concerns about a lasting impact on the global economy as the US-Israeli war on Iran and Tehran's retaliatory attacks across the Gulf region have upended the world's energy sector.
Iran armed forces spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi told Iranian state broadcaster Irib, "We emphasize the security of the Strait of Hormuz and control it, but we will not close it."
Despite the conflict, "some tankers are still travelling east and west through the strait, with a number of voyages occurring under AIS (automatic identification system) blackouts," said Matt Wright, an analyst at Kpler, which publishes MarineTraffic, on Wednesday.
One example is the tanker Kavomaleas, which emitted a signal east of the strait on March 3 and then another in the Gulf about 14 hours later.
 

Sanctioned ships

Another example is a 130-metre (427-foot) container ship registered in Panama, which left Pakistan on Monday. Having arrived at the entrance to the Gulf on Wednesday night, it has been inside the strait since Thursday morning.
 The Pushpak, a vessel designed for transporting petroleum products, left the Gulf on Thursday evening, having departed from an Iraqi port.
The Hout, a cargo ship registered in the Comoros, left Dubai on Tuesday bound for a port in southeastern Iran.
The Danuta I, a 225-metre natural gas carrier under US sanctions, crossed the Strait of Hormuz at dawn on Friday.
The Athina, spotted by the Financial Times, was east of the strait on February 28 and transmitted a position to MarineTraffic west of Hormuz on March 1.
It loaded oil in Bahrain before resuming its journey towards the strait but has not transmitted any signal since Thursday afternoon.
It is one of at least five ships belonging to the Dynacom company that have crossed the strait since the war started last Saturday, all with their transponders switched off, according to the Financial Times.
Most carriers have suspended their operations and the passage remains perilous, as demonstrated by the Safeen Prestige, which was hit by projectiles while sailing east from the Gulf on Tuesday, according to the British Maritime Safety Organisation (UKMTO).
lam-vr-jwp-ys/lmc/giv/jhb

US

Middle East war a new shock for financial markets

BY FLORIAN CAZERES

  • This latest crisis follows a number of extraordinary events that markets have had to react to in recent years, from the coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine disrupting energy and food supplies, to Trump's tariff offensive.
  • The outbreak of war in the Middle East has sent shockwaves through financial markets, with energy prices soaring and stocks sliding, just a year after US President Donald Trump's tariff onslaught rattled investors.
  • This latest crisis follows a number of extraordinary events that markets have had to react to in recent years, from the coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine disrupting energy and food supplies, to Trump's tariff offensive.
The outbreak of war in the Middle East has sent shockwaves through financial markets, with energy prices soaring and stocks sliding, just a year after US President Donald Trump's tariff onslaught rattled investors.
"We're in a situation that's not under control and yet, as finance professionals, we have to adapt," ING analyst Vincent Juvyns told AFP.
The US-Israeli war on Iran and Tehran's retaliatory attacks across the Gulf region have nearly choked off shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies transit.
The result has been a surge in European natural gas prices by 66 percent since last week.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices have jumped by more than a quarter, with a barrel of international reference contract Brent crude shooting over $90 on Friday.
That has sparked worries of a surge in inflation and a slowdown in the global economy.
As a consequence, stock prices have slumped, with oil-importing countries particularly hard-hit.
In Europe, London has lost around six percent and Frankfurt and Paris more than seven percent.
In Asia, Tokyo fell 5.5 percent and Seoul 10.6 percent, having suffered a record daily fall of 12 percent on Wednesday.
This latest crisis follows a number of extraordinary events that markets have had to react to in recent years, from the coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine disrupting energy and food supplies, to Trump's tariff offensive.

'One shock after another'

"For more than five years now, it’s been one shock after another," said Stanislas de Bailliencourt, deputy head of investments at asset manager Sycomore.
Volatility has been very high since the beginning of the week, a sign that investors are reacting as new information comes in, with markets capable of shifting direction during the course of the day.
"What it's forced everybody to do is to be hyper vigilant about the news," said Interactive Brokers analyst Steve Sosnick.
"Everybody now is being forced to be an oil trader whether you want to be or not, because that's just how stocks are trading, bonds are trading."
The dollar has been a beneficiary of the turmoil, in part as it is seen as a safe haven.
It had been sliding for months over the uncertainly triggered by Trump's policies, but it gained 2.2 percent against the euro this past week.
But as an oil-exporting country, the United States is not as exposed to a rise in global energy prices.
"We’ve seen capital being repatriated to the United States, which is clearly less dependent on hydrocarbon imports than Europe and the emerging countries," said ING's Juvyns.
Wall Street was considerably less impacted than exchanges in Asia and Europe, with the Dow shedding around three percent this week.
The dollar even bested another traditional safe-haven asset: gold. The precision metal has lost 3.6 percent this past week.

'Resilient global economy'

Sovereign debt is often another safe-haven investment in times of market turmoil, but government bonds haven't benefitted.
When investors pile into government bonds, the interest rates fall as buyers bid for them.
Instead they have risen this past week, with 10-year US Treasuries rising from 4.0 percent to 4.14 percent.
Germany's 10-year bonds, the reference in the eurozone, rose from 2.6 to 2.9 percent.
The reason is that with higher inflation, investors no longer see central banks as cutting interest rates as quickly this year, or at all.
With the hands of central banks tied, investors are worried about the risk of stagflation -- a period of economic stagnation and inflation -- such as what happened after the first oil shock in 1973.
Some investors say the situation is different than in the 1970s.
"The world today is much less dependent on oil than it used to be," said Jean-Francois Robin, an analyst at Natixis CIB.
ING's Juvyns sought to put the crisis in perspective.
"For now, this is clearly a less significant shock than that of tariffs," he said.
After Trump slapped his "Liberation Day" tariffs on trading partners in April 2025, stock markets in the United States and Europe suffered daily losses of up to six percent.
Daily losses were even steeper during the Covid pandemic.
Moreover, stock exchanges were at or near record levels before the war broke out, while oil and gas prices were low.
"The global economy is much more resilient: companies have diversified their supply chains," said Sycomore's de Bailliencourt.
"But if the conflict drags on, we could run into more problems," he added.
bur-fcz/rl/jhb

defense

Swiss eyeing fewer F-35 fighters, reshaping defence set-up

BY ROBIN MILLARD

  • The government is now looking at buying "approximately 30 F-35As", said Pfister.
  • Switzerland announced Friday it wanted to buy 30 US F-35A fighter jets rather than 36 after Washington hiked the price, and said its broader defence set-up needed repurposing to face current threats.
  • The government is now looking at buying "approximately 30 F-35As", said Pfister.
Switzerland announced Friday it wanted to buy 30 US F-35A fighter jets rather than 36 after Washington hiked the price, and said its broader defence set-up needed repurposing to face current threats.
The militarily neutral country also said it was looking at buying a European surface-to-air defence system to go alongside the delayed Patriot system on order from the United States.
Outlining the tense geopolitical situation in Europe, the landlocked nation furthermore said it needed to gear up to face hybrid threats.
The F-35A combat aircraft -- already used by the US Air Force and several European countries -- was chosen by Switzerland in June 2021, over the Airbus Eurofighter, the F/A-18 Super Hornet by Boeing, and French firm Dassault's Rafale.
But Bern and Washington have been quibbling over the final price of the jets, bought to replace the ageing Swiss fleet.
In June last year, Switzerland said the United States wanted Bern to assume additional costs -- cited as high inflation and surging raw material and energy prices.
However, Bern wanted to stick to the agreed price of just over six billion Swiss francs ($7.7 billion) -- an amount that was approved in a 2020 referendum.
Defence Minister Martin Pfister told a press conference Friday that an additional 1.1 billion francs would have been required "for the 36 aircraft initially planned".
The government is now looking at buying "approximately 30 F-35As", said Pfister.
The exact number will depend on contract negotiations between the US government and manufacturers Lockheed Martin.

Hybrid threats

Switzerland's long-standing position has been one of well-armed military neutrality and the European country has mandatory conscription for men.
Bern painted a grim picture of the current security climate.
"The global security situation and Switzerland's geopolitical environment have deteriorated in recent years," the government said.
"The war in Ukraine, increasing hybrid threats, cyberattacks, disinformation and espionage are also having an impact on Switzerland."
But the Alpine country is "not sufficiently equipped to counter the most likely threats," which it said were hybrid warfare and attacks from a distance.
It blamed previous cost-cutting, price increases and long delivery times on the international arms market.

Patriot wait time

Last July, Washington told Bern that the five Patriot units it had on order were being reprioritised and heading to Ukraine.
"According to current knowledge, the delay is four to five years," the government said Friday.
While Switzerland "is sticking to the procurement of Patriot systems due to the importance of the ability to defend against attacks from a distance," it will look for an additional system.
"This reduces dependence on a single supply chain or a single country, and on the other hand, it can be used to better ensure availability," it said.
The government said the Swiss military reckons it needs 31 billion Swiss francs to strengthen the country's defence and security.
"A temporary increase in VAT is intended to make it possible to provide the armed forces... with the financial resources to better protect the population and the country against the most likely threats," it said.
The government is therefore proposing raising the VAT rate by 0.8 percentage points for 10 years, and by creating an "armament fund, which would be financed by the VAT rise and a slice of the army's regular budget".
The government hopes a referendum on plan can be held in mid-2027 so that the temporary VAT increase can take effect in 2028.
apo-rjm/nl/giv

media

Germany's Axel Springer swoops for British newspaper The Telegraph

BY CLEMENT ZAMPA WITH LOUIS VAN BOXEL-WOOLF IN FRANKFURT

  • Britain's government last month launched an investigation into an agreed sale to the owner of the Daily Mail, a rival right-wing publication, citing competition concerns.
  • German media group Axel Springer said Friday it had agreed to buy right-wing British newspaper The Telegraph in a surprise move, as the UK government investigates a rival bid.
  • Britain's government last month launched an investigation into an agreed sale to the owner of the Daily Mail, a rival right-wing publication, citing competition concerns.
German media group Axel Springer said Friday it had agreed to buy right-wing British newspaper The Telegraph in a surprise move, as the UK government investigates a rival bid.
The German group, which already owns tabloid Bild, the Welt broadsheet and Politico news outlet, said in a statement it would pay £575 million ($766 million) in cash for the title, which comprises daily print and online versions.
It follows a drawn-out pursuit of the 170-year-old title.
Britain's government last month launched an investigation into an agreed sale to the owner of the Daily Mail, a rival right-wing publication, citing competition concerns.
The Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) had struck a £500-million deal with US-Emirati consortium RedBird IMI in November for the purchase.
However the paper now looks likely to come under German ownership, with Axel Springer vowing to "preserve the integrity of a heritage media brand", while giving it a platform for growth and expansion.
"To be the owner of this institution of quality British journalism is a privilege and a duty," said Axel Springer chief executive Mathias Doepfner.
The group wanted to help the newspaper "become the most read and intellectually inspiring centre-right media outlet in the English-speaking world", he added.
DMGT confirmed that RedBird IMI had agreed to the potential takeover by Axel Springer.
"We wish every success to Axel Springer and the Telegraph," a DMGT spokesperson said, adding that it believed "the organisation would have thrived under our long-term stewardship."
The publisher warned that the "protracted and out-of-date regulatory framework guarantees that UK-based national newspaper groups are at a huge competitive disadvantage in any merger process."
The Telegraph did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.

'Unprecedented'

"This is unprecedented in the British press scene," Damian Tambini, a senior media lecturer at the London School of Economics, told AFP. 
"Many people will be breathing a sigh of relief and particularly the (Labour) government" amid the prospect of an enlarged British right-wing media group, he added.
RedBird IMI, a joint venture between US investment firm RedBird Capital and Abu Dhabi's International Media Investments, had struck a deal for the Telegraph Media Group in late 2023.
However, the previous UK government triggered a swift resale given concern about the potential impact on freedom of speech owing to Abu Dhabi's press censorship record.
That government also amended merger laws to bar foreign governments from controlling UK newspapers.
RedBird then pursued the takeover under a revised structure, but abruptly dropped its bid in late 2025.
To further complicate matters, the current government in February issued a Public Interest Intervention Notice in relation to the planned takeover by DMGT.
"We are aware that the amazing journalists and employees at... (The Telegraph) have been operating in an extended period of uncertainty," Doepfner said on Friday. 
"We want to bring that uncertainty to an end as soon as we can."
Axel Springer has announced job cuts in recent years, pointing in part to the role of artificial intelligence in rendering certain roles such as proofreading obsolete. 
bur-vbw-bcp-aks/pdw

US

Leading satellite firm to hold back Gulf state images

  • "All new imagery collected over the Gulf States and adjacent conflict zones (not including Iran) will be subject to a mandatory 96-hour delay before it is made available in our archive," Planet said.
  • Planet Labs PBC, a leading provider of high resolution images taken from space, said Friday it would hold back for 96 hours images of Gulf states targeted by Iranian drone attacks.
  • "All new imagery collected over the Gulf States and adjacent conflict zones (not including Iran) will be subject to a mandatory 96-hour delay before it is made available in our archive," Planet said.
Planet Labs PBC, a leading provider of high resolution images taken from space, said Friday it would hold back for 96 hours images of Gulf states targeted by Iranian drone attacks.
The satellite images produced by the California-based company are normally available almost immediately to its clients, who include AFP, as well as other media, companies, researchers -- and potential enemies of the United States.
Planet said in a message to clients the "temporary" move was part of its "commitment to responsible data practices and the safety of personnel on the ground" since the eruption of the Middle East war.
It did not say if it had acted at the request of US authorities. Images of Iran were not included in the order.
"All new imagery collected over the Gulf States and adjacent conflict zones (not including Iran) will be subject to a mandatory 96-hour delay before it is made available in our archive," Planet said.
"This measure is intended to prevent adversarial actors endangering the safety of allied and NATO-partner personnel and civilians there," it added.
"As the conflict evolves, the area impacted may change."
Planet had earlier imposed a 30-day delay on images taken of the war-stricken Palestinian territory of Gaza.
Vantor, another US supplier that was previously known as Maxar, never released images of the military bases of US forces or their allies.
bur-ico/tw/jj

vote

Iceland proposes August 29 referendum on resuming EU membership talks

  • If the country were to resume membership talks, another referendum would be held after the conclusion of the talks asking Icelanders if they want to join based on the negotiated terms.
  • Iceland's government on Friday proposed that a referendum be held on August 29 on resuming the country's EU membership talks, after they were terminated in 2015.
  • If the country were to resume membership talks, another referendum would be held after the conclusion of the talks asking Icelanders if they want to join based on the negotiated terms.
Iceland's government on Friday proposed that a referendum be held on August 29 on resuming the country's EU membership talks, after they were terminated in 2015.
The North Atlantic island submitted an EU membership application in 2009, a year after the stunning collapse of its financial sector.
Negotiations began in 2010 but were suspended three years later following parliamentary elections, and in 2015 the then-government announced the talks were terminated.
Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir told reporters she would present the proposal to parliament early next week. It remained unclear on Friday whether the government had a majority for its resolution.
"We intend to ask the nation the following question: 'Should negotiations on Iceland's accession to the European Union continue?' And then the nation can answer with two options: 'Yes, negotiations should continue', or 'No, they should not continue'," she said.
An opinion poll published in early February by public broadcaster RUV found the Icelandic public was evenly divided on joining the EU, which currently has 27 members.
The three parties of the ruling centre-left coalition had agreed in their government platform to hold a vote on the issue by the end of 2027.
Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir said Iceland was in a position of strength, making it the right time to put the question to the Icelandic people.
"Iceland is strong economically, but also in terms of national self-confidence, and thus able to make this decision," she said.
If the country were to resume membership talks, another referendum would be held after the conclusion of the talks asking Icelanders if they want to join based on the negotiated terms.

World 'has changed'

When Iceland's accession negotiations were paused, 27 of 33 chapters had been opened, and 11 had been concluded, according to the government.
The unopened chapters included one on fisheries, expected to be the thorniest as Iceland is intent on retaining control over its resources.
The foreign minister said if negotiations were to resume, she wanted to go straight to the difficult chapters.
"I will never sign an agreement -- never sign an agreement -- that entails ceding Iceland's control over its resources, such as our fishing resources. I want that to be absolutely clear," she said.
Iceland's objectives with EU membership include ensuring control over its resources, strengthening its defences and ensuring stability and economic and other forms of security, she said.
Frostadottir said the world had changed since Iceland last engaged in EU membership talks. The country would be "entering negotiations from a different position", she said.
"The emphasis on the North Atlantic and the Arctic, on cooperation among these countries, has been transformed," she said.
US President Donald Trump's push to take over Greenland has sparked concern in neighbouring Iceland. Its defence is currently provided by the United States and NATO, as it has no military of its own.
"All of us engaged in international cooperation can sense that awareness of Iceland's uniqueness, and of its strong position and interests... has changed dramatically," the prime minister said.
Olafur Thordur Hardarson, political science professor at the University of Iceland, agreed with the government's assessment that Iceland was in a stronger negotiating position now than in 2009.
"Recent developments in the world order -- especially the rift between Europe and the US -- are likely to make EU leaders more positive towards a deal beneficial to Iceland, especially on natural resources such as fisheries and energy," he told AFP.
However, it was "impossible to predict" how Icelanders would vote on resuming membership talks, or in a later membership referendum, he said.
EU enlargement chief Marta Kos said Iceland was set for a "significant decision".
"In a world of competing spheres of influence, EU membership offers an anchor into a bloc grounded in values, prosperity and security," she said in a statement sent to AFP.
The foreign minister expressed "serious concerns" that Russia might try to influence a future referendum.
po-ef/jhb

indicator

US sheds jobs in February in warning sign for Trump's economy

BY BEIYI SEOW

  • The trend, if it persists, is set to strain Trump's attempts to ease worries about affordability ahead of November midterm elections.
  • The United States unexpectedly lost jobs in February while unemployment edged up, government data showed Friday, piling pressure on President Donald Trump's economic agenda as key midterm elections approach.
  • The trend, if it persists, is set to strain Trump's attempts to ease worries about affordability ahead of November midterm elections.
The United States unexpectedly lost jobs in February while unemployment edged up, government data showed Friday, piling pressure on President Donald Trump's economic agenda as key midterm elections approach.
The world's biggest economy shed 92,000 jobs last month, in a sharp reversal from the job growth of 126,000 in January, said the Labor Department.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, crept up to 4.4 percent from 4.3 percent.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett insisted Friday that the US economy remained "really strong," telling CNBC that observers should consider the average job growth over a few months instead of focusing on monthly fluctuations.
But Chuck Schumer, who leads the Senate's Democratic minority, swiftly criticized the report as a "blaring alarm" that Trump's economy was "deteriorating rapidly."
"Tariffs are increasing costs, gas prices are spiking, and jobs are evaporating," Schumer said.
Fueling the overall plunge in February was a fall in health care employment due to strike activity, said the Labor Department.
But data showed that other sectors were also struggling.
Construction lost 11,000 jobs while manufacturing shed 12,000 roles.
Transportation and warehousing slumped as well, while employment in leisure and hospitality tumbled by 27,000 jobs from January.
The federal government continued losing jobs too.
The trend, if it persists, is set to strain Trump's attempts to ease worries about affordability ahead of November midterm elections.
GDP growth may be holding up, but policymakers have flagged a divergence where wealthier households are doing well but medium- and lower-income families are struggling.

Risks ahead

Economists widely expected a sharp slowdown in job growth this month, although not an outright decline.
"The idea the labor market has turned a corner implodes with this report," said economist Samuel Tombs of Pantheon Macroeconomics.
He expects "elevated federal policy uncertainty, still high borrowing costs for small businesses" and a hit to disposable incomes from an oil prices surge following war in the Middle East to "limit employment growth" moving forward.
Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic said the report was a weaker showing than the "muted gains" expected even when inclement weather and a recent nurses' strike were factored in.
Investors have largely focused on inflation risks from the war since US-Israeli strikes that began a week ago triggered Iranian retaliation.
But "the last look at the labor market ahead of the start of the conflict suggests the labor market was not as strong" as in January, Bostjancic said.
The longer the war continues, the more "negative feedback" could emerge, she cautioned.

 'Alarm bells'

Navy Federal Credit Union chief economist Heather Long added that "the unemployment rate ticked up for the wrong reasons" in February, with more people becoming unemployed.
She said: "This is backsliding and will raise alarm bells at the Federal Reserve."
Although one month's figures do not make a trend, the numbers add to worries about the employment market, which previously helped to prop up household spending.
Already, the Fed cut interest rates thrice last year as the jobs market weakened, before pausing in January to assess the situation.
February's figures could bolster the case for the central bank to resume cuts to shore up the economy, rather than keeping them higher to tackle persistent inflation.
But Long believes that the Fed is about to face conflicting pressures from "a hurting labor market and 'warflation' coming from the war in Iran as energy and food prices rise."
For now, employers appeared "far more restrained in their hiring plans as the month began," said Ger  Doyle, regional president for North America at ManpowerGroup.
He said the overall picture shows a "cautious" labor market where employers are adding roles where they must -- but waiting for clearer economic signals before broadening their hiring plans.
bys/msp

US

Securing shipping lane from Mideast war 'challenging', say experts

BY FABIEN ZAMORA

  • France, Greece and Italy have said they are sending war ships to the eastern Mediterranean, where the Suez Canal provides passage to the Red Sea and beyond to the Gulf.
  • The United States and France have promised to secure oil shipping threatened by the Middle East war, but experts warn warship availability and Iran's wide range of weaponry could make this complicated.
  • France, Greece and Italy have said they are sending war ships to the eastern Mediterranean, where the Suez Canal provides passage to the Red Sea and beyond to the Gulf.
The United States and France have promised to secure oil shipping threatened by the Middle East war, but experts warn warship availability and Iran's wide range of weaponry could make this complicated.
US-Israeli attacks on Iran since Saturday and Iran's fiery response have caused global economic turmoil as shipping avoids the Strait of Hormuz near Iran, one of the world's most vital shipping lanes.
Around a fifth of the world's crude and liquefied natural gas from the Gulf, must pass through this chokepoint.
While Iran has not officially shut off the Strait of Hormuz, shipping through the waterway has all but dried up.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday the US Navy was ready to escort oil tankers through the crucial Gulf shipping route to ensure the "FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD".
France's President Emmanuel Macron said earlier the same day France was building a coalition "to pool the necessary resources, including military ones, so that traffic can be restored and secured" in the Strait of Hormuz, Suez Canal and Red Sea.
But, said analyst Dirk Siebels from consultancy firm Risk Intelligence, "the practical realities of this potential operation would be very challenging".

'Military assets are busy'

Kais Makhlouf, also from Risk Intelligence, signalled one major obstacle.
"Military assets are busy right now doing military stuff", limiting the number that might be free to escort oil and LNG tankers, he said.
US-Israeli air strikes have pounded Iran, while a US submarine this week torpedoed an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, killing at least 86 crew members.
A European military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Iran still posed a threat to shipping.
It could deploy missiles, air or underwater drones, or midget submarines, or even scatter floating or magnetic mines, which are detonated by the proximity of a ship.
Western nations seeking to secure the route for maritime traffic could consider frigate patrols or escorts for a particular ship -- possibly with extra air cover.
"But if the strait was mined, this would require minehunters preceding convoys, or establishing safe corridors before commercial vessels could transit," they said.
Excluding any possible mining, the scenario would be similar to that in the Red Sea, where US and European navies have been protecting ships from attacks by the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels.

A European alliance?

Several sources said that any coalition in the Hormuz Strait could look like the EU operation that has since February 2024 been working with the Yemeni navy in the Red Sea.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that the idea was to secure the Hormuz Strait in that "same spirit" at the European Union's Operation ASPIDES naval task force.
Wary of getting directly involved in the US-Israeli war with Iran, European countries are nevertheless being drawn in following attacks on Cyprus and Western allies in the Gulf.
France, Greece and Italy have said they are sending war ships to the eastern Mediterranean, where the Suez Canal provides passage to the Red Sea and beyond to the Gulf.
A French diplomatic source, wishing to remain anonymous, said talks were ongoing to reinforce the EU ASPIDES operation.
"As for Hormuz, we need to see how things develop," the source added.
"The gradual build-up of the European naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean will eventually prove useful if and when conditions are met to move into the Strait of Hormuz," they said.
Alessio Patalano, a professor at King's College London, said working together was key.
For the Europeans, "it is essential to act as a coalition, because very few European navies have the capabilities required to confront these threats like the British, French or Italian," he said.
fz/ah/ekf/rl

retail

US retail sales decline as consumer pullback deepens

  • "We do not read too much into the decline in retail sales in January, which was clearly affected by the severe winter weather across much of the country," said Michael Pearce, chief US economist at Oxford Economics.
  • US retail sales declined by 0.2 percent in January, according to delayed government data released on Friday, missing some analysts' expectations amid persistent concerns that consumption in the world's biggest economy is slowing.
  • "We do not read too much into the decline in retail sales in January, which was clearly affected by the severe winter weather across much of the country," said Michael Pearce, chief US economist at Oxford Economics.
US retail sales declined by 0.2 percent in January, according to delayed government data released on Friday, missing some analysts' expectations amid persistent concerns that consumption in the world's biggest economy is slowing.
Overall sales fell on a month-on-month basis to $733.5 billion, but were up 3.2 percent from a year ago, US Commerce Department data showed.
The month-on-month figure was a degradation from December's flat growth.
Analysts had been downbeat in their expectations, with Briefing.com forecasting 0.1 percent growth. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal had expected the performance to be even worse, predicting a drop of 0.4 percent.
The data showed a month-on-month decline in spending across a range of sectors, most notably in health and personal care stores (3.0 percent), fuel pumps (2.9 percent) and clothing (1.7 percent).
Auto sales were another notable decline, dropping by 0.9 percent.
Analysts, however, did not appear overly alarmed at the figures, saying depressed consumer activity due to severe weather across the country had been a factor.
"We do not read too much into the decline in retail sales in January, which was clearly affected by the severe winter weather across much of the country," said Michael Pearce, chief US economist at Oxford Economics.
Pearce pointed to a drop in brick-and-mortar spending that was partially offset by an increase of 1.9 percent in sales at nonstore retailers, which include online outlets.
Rising fuel prices due to the US-Israel war on Iran, however, were a concern going forward, with average US gasoline prices increasing about 11 percent in the last week, according to the AAA gas prices gauge on Friday.
Pearce warned rising fuel prices "could add as much as 0.3 (percentage points) to inflation this year, eating into real incomes and spending on other goods and services."
The US economy got more worrying economic data on Friday, with an unexpected drop in jobs in February and unemployment edging up.
Nationwide Senior Economist Ben Ayers, however, expected spending to pick up in February.
"We expect larger tax refunds and fiscal stimulus to boost spending activity in coming months with winter storms now in the rearview mirror across most of the country," he said.
US President Donald Trump's expansive "One Big Beautiful Bill" extended tax breaks from his first term, with analysts expecting increased tax refunds -- mostly for middle and high-income earners -- this year. 
aha/msp