Author: ALJAZEERA

Kolkata, India – For the past several years, Manpreet Singh has been dreaming of going abroad for higher studies. The 22-year-old Sikh, a resident of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh state, chose Canada as his destination as that is where many of the Sikh diaspora is settled. But the current diplomatic tension between India and Canada has put a damper on those plans, leaving him disappointed. Singh is now planning to go to Europe and complete his education. “Canada was always on the top of my list for foreign education as several people of our community are settled there, and I…

Micro-blogging site says it now has more than 15 million users, up from nine million in September.Social media platform Bluesky has gained more than one million new users since the US presidential election, benefitting from an exodus of people unhappy with the direction of X under billionaire owner Elon Musk. The micro-blogging site said on Wednesday that it had topped 15 million users, up from about nine million in September. Started by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey in 2019, Bluesky has gained a reputation as a refuge for left-leaning users disaffected by X’s rightward turn under Musk’s stewardship. Some Bluesky users…

Australia’s Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin Australia halt flights following eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki.Several airlines have cancelled flights between Australia and Indonesia’s Bali after a nearby volcano spewed ash up to 10km (6 miles) into the sky. Jetstar and Virgin Australia said on Wednesday that all flights to and from the Indonesian resort island’s capital Denpasar had been cancelled due to the eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki. “Due to volcanic ash caused by the Mount Lewotobi eruption in Indonesia, it is currently not safe to operate flights to and from Bali,” Jetstar said in a statement. Qantas said a…

Donald Trump’s return as president of the United States for the second time has boosted equity markets on bets of lower corporate tax, favourable tariffs and deregulation, lifting shares of banks, locally focused small-cap companies and Trump Media. His promise to make Tesla CEO Elon Musk head of a government efficiency commission after the billionaire backed Trump throughout his electoral campaign led to a 12.5 percent surge in the shares of the electric carmaker. Wall Street’s main indexes opened at record highs, while the small-cap Russell 2000 index jumped about 4.8 percent to its highest in nearly three years. “Business animal spirits…

When Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on January 20 next year, one of the first things economists expect him to do is enact at least some of the tariffs he promised while on the campaign trail. As a candidate, Trump said he would impose 10 percent to 20 percent tariffs across the board on imports, and 60 percent on imports from China. Economists expect him to start with tariffs targeting a few countries, including China and other trading partners such as Canada, Mexico and the European Union. “He will at least threaten…

The Fed will have to navigate a changing economic landscape with the election of Donald Trump as the next US president.The United States Federal Reserve has cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point as policymakers took note of a job market that has “generally eased” while inflation continues to move towards the central bank’s 2 percent target. “Economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace,” the central bank’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee said on Thursday. The statement followed a two-day policy meeting in which officials lowered the benchmark overnight interest rate to the 4.5…

EXPLAINERAs a second Trump administration looms, intense jockeying for key spots in his forthcoming cabinet has begun.Who’s in? And who’s out? Donald Trump is carefully considering his cabinet picks following his historic presidential election victory over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on Tuesday. Trump had reportedly avoided detailed cabinet discussions until after the election results were clear. In one early announcement, he said on Thursday that helping him manage that team will be Susie Wiles, who managed his election campaign and will now serve as his chief of staff. “Susie is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected. Susie…

EDITOR’S ANALYSISThe rise in prices under the Biden administration proved fatal to Kamala Harris’s election hopes.Of the many possible explanations for former US President Donald Trump’s stunning return to the White House, one towers above all others: the cost of living. In exit polls, 45 percent of voters said they were worse off than four years ago, when President Joe Biden took office, versus just 24 percent who said their financial situation had improved. Voters who named inflation as their number one concern broke for Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris by a factor of nearly two to one, according…

Taipei, Taiwan – Asia is bracing for disruption should American voters return Donald Trump to the White House, with his plans for sweeping tariffs threatening to hobble the region’s export-driven growth. Trump, who ran neck-and-neck with Vice President Kamala Harris in polls before Tuesday’s presidential election in the United States, has pledged to impose tariffs of 60 percent or more on Chinese imports and tariffs of 10 to 20 percent on all other foreign goods. The trade measures would come on top of tariffs on $380bn worth of Chinese goods that Trump imposed during his first term and current President…

The dispute between port foremen and their employers could disrupt crucial international shipments.Employers at Canada’s largest port have said they would lock out their workers after a negotiating deadline with the union had passed, potentially disrupting key shipments of the country’s coal, potash and beef. The BC Maritime Employers Association said it would lock out more than 700 foremen at the Port of Vancouver at 4.30pm local time (00:30 GMT) on Monday because negotiations with their union, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514, had broken down. The threatened lockout in Vancouver, on Canada’s west coast, comes at the…