Washington — The US trade deficit in goods increased in May amid a decline in exports, but an ebbing inflow of imports is likely to position trade to make a big contribution to GDP in the second quarter.
The goods trade gap widened 11.1% to $96.6bn last month, the commerce department’s Census Bureau said on Thursday. Exports of goods dropped $9.7bn to $179.2bn. Goods imports were little changed at $275.8bn.
A flood of imports as businesses rushed to bring in goods before President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs came into effect boosted the goods trade deficit to a record high in the first quarter, accounting for much of the 0.5% annualised rate of decline in GDP during that period. Reuters
Pearson and Google team up on AI learning tools
London — Pearson has entered multiyear-year partnership with Alphabet’s Google cloud service, providing students with AI learning tools that also make teachers’ jobs easier, the British education company said on Thursday.
The tie-up will focus on creating personalised learning tools powered by Google’s advanced AI models for students in primary and secondary school.
The tools will adapt to each student’s pace and needs, while also helping teachers track performance and tailor lessons, the companies said in a statement.
Pearson CEO Omar Abbosh said AI could help reshape school education by replacing uniform teaching methods with personalised learning paths tailored to individual students. Reuters
Greek firefighters battle a wildfire near Athens
Palaia Fokaia — Greek firefighters on Thursday battled a wildfire that reached houses near the coastal town of Palaia Fokaia, 40km south of Athens, and authorities ordered evacuations of four nearby seaside hamlets.
Assisted by eight aircraft, five helicopters and 28 vehicles, 90 firefighters were deployed in the area of Palaia Fokaia and sought to put out flames that were whipped up by high winds and scorching houses.
It was not immediately clear how many people had left their homes in Palaia Fokaia. Reuters
Australia sues Chinese firm over rare earths breach
Sydney — Australia is suing a Chinese-linked company and a former associate over a breach of foreign investment laws linked with rare earths miner Northern Minerals, the national treasurer said on Thursday, adding it was the first case of its kind.
Indian Ocean International Shipping and Service Company was one of five foreign investors with ties to China subject to an order by treasurer Jim Chalmers to divest shares on national interest grounds in June last year.
Chalmers said in a statement he had lodged a legal action in the federal court and was seeking penalties, declarations and costs. Reuters
Britain to split top job at failing statistics office
London — Britain is set to split the top job at the country’s statistics office to create a second role focused on overseeing the running of the organisation, which has been criticised for economic data failures, a person familiar with the situation said.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS), Britain’s largest independent producer of official statistics, has been criticised by the Bank of England (BoE) after its labour, inflation, trade and producer price data all suffered from errors or methodology problems.
Its employment data problems, stemming from a slump in responses to its surveys, have caused headaches at the BoE, which needs to know how much inflation pressure is lingering in the jobs market when it sets interest rates. Reuters
India at odds with SCO ministers over terrorism
New Delhi/Beijing — Defence ministers of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) meeting in China were unable to adopt a joint statement at the end of their talks due to a lack of consensus on referring to “terrorism”, the Indian foreign ministry said on Thursday.
SCO is a 10-nation Eurasian security and political grouping whose members include China, Russia, India, Pakistan and Iran. Their defence ministers’ meeting was held as a precursor to the annual summit of its leaders set for the autumn.
“India wanted concerns on terrorism reflected in the document, which was not acceptable to one particular country and therefore the statement was not adopted,” he said, without naming the country. Reuters
Germany warned on persecution of Russia journalists
Moscow — Russia will summon the German ambassador soon to inform him of retaliatory measures in response to what it sees as pressure and harassment of Russian journalists based in Germany, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday. Reuters
Meta, Invenergy sign new solar, wind power deal
Bengularu — Renewable energy developer Invenergy and social media giant Meta Platforms have signed four deals to supply 791MW more of solar and wind power to operate data centres, the companies said on Thursday.
This is the latest in a string of deals by Meta to meet the surging power demand of its data centres needed for AI technologies using clean energy.
Last year, Meta had signed four contracts with the Chicago-based Invenergy for 760MW of solar electricity. Invenergy said Thursday's deals bring the companies’ total partnership to 1,800MW. Reuters
BHP faces UK contempt hearing over dam collapse
London — BHP faces a full contempt of court hearing in Britain for funding litigation to try to prevent some Brazilian municipalities suing the mining giant over one of Brazil’s worst environmental disasters, London's high court ruled on Thursday.
Thursday’s ruling is the latest development in long-running litigation over the collapse in 2015 of the Mariana dam in southeastern Brazil that was owned and operated by BHP and Vale’s Samarco joint venture.
Judge Adam Constable said it was arguable that BHP, the world’s biggest miner by market value, funded Brazilian litigation to stop the municipalities suing in London “with the purpose ... of interfering with the administration of justice”.
It is not yet known when the contempt hearing will take place. Reuters
US court blocks department from shutting Job Corps
Washington — A US judge on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from shutting down Job Corps, a major residential job training programme for low-income youth.
US district judge Andrew Carter in Manhattan said the abrupt shuttering of the 60-year-old programme by the US department of labour without authorisation from Congress was likely illegal.
The ruling came in a lawsuit by the National Job Corps Association, a trade group for contractors who operate Job Corps sites, and some of its members. Carter issued a preliminary injunction stopping the department from ending the programme pending the outcome of the lawsuit, extending an emergency ruling he issued earlier in June. Reuters
Jamaica wants Charles to help in slavery reparations
London — Jamaica will ask King Charles to request legal advice from the London-based Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the final court of appeal for UK overseas territories and some Commonwealth nations, on the issue of slavery reparations.
Under the Judicial Committee Act of 1833, Charles, who remains Jamaica’s head of state after the country gained independence from Britain in 1962, has the authority to refer matters to the council for consideration.
Hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans were shipped to Jamaica, and many scholars and advocates say the legacy of that period has resulted in, or played a role in, today’s inequities. Reuters
Ghana confident cocoa production will increase
Abijan — Ghana expects its cocoa output to rebound in the 2024/25 season to about 600,000 tonnes after a sharp fall in production in the previous season, the CEO of the West African nation’s sector regulator said on Thursday. Reuters
Xiaomi prices new car cheaper than Tesla’s Model Y
Beijing — Chinese EV and smartphone maker Xiaomi on Thursday priced its new electric YU7 SUV 10,000 yuan ($1,395) cheaper than Tesla’s Model Y, stepping up the challenge to the US firm in the world’s largest auto market.
The base model of the YU7 starts from 253,500 yuan, with the more premium models YU7 Pro and YU7 Max priced at 279,900 and 329,900 yuan, respectively.
Xiaomi was to take orders for all three models from Thursday night. The Model Y, which was China’s best-selling SUV in May, retails from 263,500 yuan in China. Reuters
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