Category: Business

Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

By MIKE FULLER Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Wednesday urged global cooperation to combat cyberattacks by “hostile state actors” and criminal gangs.

Raab also pledged 22 million pounds ($31 million) in support to “vulnerable” countries in Africa and the Indo-Pacific to improve their digital defense capacity.

He said Britain and the West must step up on cybersecurity or face the “multilateral vacuum” being filled by China and Russia.

“We need the combination of resilient defenses but also offensive capabilities, and the global diplomatic clout which comes with being a modern cyberpower,” Raab said in a speech at a National Cyber Security Centre conference in London.

He said the funding would go to national cyber response teams, awareness campaigns and an Interpol operations hub in Africa.
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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The Scottish National Party won its fourth straight parliamentary election on Saturday and insisted it will push on with another referendum on Scotland’s independence from the U.K. even though it failed by one seat to secure a majority.

Final results of Thursday’s election showed the SNP winning 64 of the 129 seats in the Edinburgh-based Scottish Parliament. The result extends the party’s dominance of Scottish politics since it first won power in 2007.

Other results from Super Thursday’s array of elections across Britain emerged Saturday, including the Labour Party’s victory in the Welsh parliamentary election. Labour’s Sadiq Khan was also reelected mayor of London.

The election with the biggest implications was the Scottish election, as it could pave the way to the break-up of the United Kingdom. The devolved government has an array of powers but many economic and security matters remain within the orbit of the British government in London.
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Level : Advanced

By ROB HARRIS AP Global Soccer Writer

There will be no goal clips, lineup announcements, banter between clubs or even title celebrations.

Four days of silence across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by soccer leagues, clubs and players in England began on Friday in a protest against racist abuse that has been adopted more widely.

Such is the anger across the game, it means that if Manchester City clinches the Premier League on Sunday it will not celebrate the title on social media.

WHO IS BOYCOTTING?

There was initially a joint boycott announcement by the English Football Association, English Premier League, English Football League, Women’s Super League, Women’s Championship as well as player, manager and referee bodies, anti-discrimination group Kick It Out, and the Women In Football group. Ahead of the boycott which began at 1400 GMT on Friday through 2259 GMT on Monday, other English sports including cricket, rugby, tennis and horse racing said they would fall silent on social media. FIFA, UEFA and the Premier League’s British broadcasters also said they wouldn’t post online across four days.
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Level : Advanced

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ Associated Press

HAVANA (AP) — Raul Castro said he is stepping down as Cuban Communist Party leader, leaving the island without a Castro guiding affairs for the first time in more than six decades and handing control of the party to a younger generation.

The 89-year-old Castro made the announcement in a speech Friday at the opening of the eighth congress of the ruling party, the only one allowed on the island.

“I concluded my task as first secretary … with the satisfaction of having fulfilled (my duty) and confidence in the future of the fatherland,” he said in a typically terse, to-the-point finale that contrasted with the impassioned verbal pyrotechnics of his brother Fidel, who died in 2016.
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Level : Advanced

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Middle East economies are recovering from the coronavirus pandemic faster than anticipated, largely due to the acceleration of mass inoculation campaigns and an increase in oil prices. But the International Monetary Fund warned Sunday that an uneven vaccine distribution would derail the region’s rebound, as the prospects of rich and poor countries diverge.
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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

By ARITZ PARRA Associated Press

MADRID (AP) — After years of waiting tables, Danae De Vries is one step closer to achieving her lifetime dream of becoming a theater coach.

Ironically, she owes that to the pandemic. It was after last year’s brutal lockdown that shut the Spanish economy down for weeks that the owners of a small restaurant chain in Madrid offered De Vries to cut her weekly work schedule by one day.

Already struggling to make ends meet in a city that has seen rental prices spiral, the 28-year-old was hesitant at first — and then enthusiastic when she was told her wages would remain untouched.
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Level : Advanced

By TOM KRISHER and CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Business Writers

DETROIT (AP) — It’s a question occupying the minds of millions of employees who have worked from home the past year: Will they still be allowed to work remotely — at least some days — once the pandemic has faded?

On Wednesday, one of America’s corporate titans, Ford Motor Co., supplied its own answer: It told about 30,000 of its employees worldwide who have worked from home that they can continue to do so indefinitely, with flexible hours approved by their managers. Their schedules will become a work-office “hybrid”: They’ll commute to work mainly for group meetings and projects best-suited for face-to-face interaction.
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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — U.K. trade with the European Union plunged in January as Britain’s departure from the bloc and widespread coronavirus restrictions dealt a double blow to the nation’s struggling economy.

Goods exports to the EU fell 40.7% from a month earlier and imports dropped 28.8%, the Office for National Statistics said Friday. The figures contributed to a 2.9% month-on-month decline in overall economic output.

Britain left the European single market on Jan. 1, ending almost half a century of free trade and triggering tariffs, increased paperwork and border delays on both sides of the English Channel.
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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer

TOKYO (AP) — The new president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee has begun holding weekly news conferences hoping to win over a doubting Japanese public with the postponed games opening in just under five months.

Seiko Hashimoto is trying to assure everyone that the Olympics will be safe and secure, a phrase she repeated a dozen times Friday in her inaugural news conference.

Polls show about 80% of Japanese think the games should be postponed again or canceled amid the pandemic.
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Level : Advanced

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ and ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business writers

BANGKOK (AP) — Oil prices pressed higher Monday after strikes on major oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, shook energy markets already rattled by a decision by oil producers last week to not lift output.

Brent crude, the international standard, surpassed $70 per barrel for the first time in over a year, gaining $1.14 to $70.47 a barrel. It surged $2.62 on Friday.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil added $1.10 to $67.19 per barrel, up 1.7%, falling back from bigger gains earlier in the day. It jumped $2.26 to $66.09 per barrel on Friday.
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