British healthcare and ambulance workers belonging to the GMB trade union have voted to accept a government pay offer, the union said on Friday, hours after members of another union rejected it. The offer, agreed between the government and healthcare union leaders last month, included a one-off payment equivalent to 2% of salaries in the 2022/23…
The Biden administration has asked a federal appeals court to put on hold a judge’s ruling striking down the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that insurers cover preventive care, including screenings for certain cancers and pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV (PrEP), at no extra cost to patients. In a filing Thursday evening with the New Orleans-based 5th…
Lithium prices rebounded this week for the first time in five months after tumbling from record highs, but new supply of the key mineral for electric vehicle (EV) batteries coming on stream is likely to weigh on the market next year. A decision by world No. 2 producer Chile to nationalise its lithium sector may curb long-term…
Inflation-hit Pakistan on Friday approved a rise of up to 20% in retail prices of general medicines and 14% for essential ones, prompting immediate criticism from drug manufacturers who said the increases were too small. The government decision followed a months-long stand-off with importers and manufacturers, whose associations have been demanding an across-the-board 39% rise, warning that…
Ron DeSantis met Britain’s foreign minister James Cleverly during a visit to London on Friday aimed at boosting economic ties, ahead of an expected announcement by the Florida governor that he will run for U.S. president. DeSantis has been on an international tour this week as he prepares to launch a 2024 presidential bid that…
While Chile’s plan to take control of its lithium industry has caused global shockwaves, state-led production of the metal used to make electric vehicle batteries is seen by analysts as likely years away given technical and political challenges. President Gabriel Boric last week said he would move to gradually nationalize the country’s lithium industry, which…
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol told U.S. lawmakers on Thursday it is necessary to speed up trilateral cooperation with Japan and the United States to counter increasing North Korean nuclear threats, and said the world must not “shy away” from promoting freedom for the North. Yoon, on the fourth day of a state visit…
Queues stretch hundreds of metres around temples in China on weekends, as despondent young worshippers pray to find jobs in an economy slowly clawing its way back from the coronavirus pandemic. “I hope to find some peace in temples,” said 22-year-old Wang Xiaoning, pointing to “the pressure of finding a job” and housing costs that…
A salesperson shows gold bangles to a customer at a jewellery showroom during Dhanteras, a Hindu festival associated with Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, in Mumbai, India. India’s government said on Thursday it will invite fresh bids for quotas to import gold from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with a concessional duty agreed under a…
The British government succeeded on Thursday in limiting the length of an upcoming strike by nurses, after the health department took legal action against a trade union. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) had called a 48-hour strike from the evening of April 30, which for the first time would involve staff from emergency departments,…
