Protesting workers bring Athens to a standstill
Athens — Greek trains, ferries and taxis were halted on Wednesday as thousands of workers, including teachers and seafarers, marched to parliament in Athens in a one-day general strike against labour reforms and a government plan to allow employers to extend working hours.
The action was organised by Greece’s largest private and public trade unions who say that the government bill, which would allow employers to seek up to 13 hours of work a day from their staff compared with eight now, even for private sector workers with one job, hurts workers’ rights.
“We are here to say no to a monstrous bill,” said Dimitra, a 24-year-old sales assistant who joined the demonstrations in Athens. “Stop it! We are not machines.”
“No to slavery,” read one of the banners held by protesters.
The draft law, which also gives employers more flexibility on short-term hirings and amends rules on annual leave in the private sector, is expected to be submitted to parliament for its approval this month. Reuters
Sweden may use ‘frozen Russian assets for Ukraine’
Copenhagen — Sweden Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Wednesday that he was in favour of using frozen Russian assets in a “more offensive way” to support Ukraine.
“I am very much in favour of that ... it is simply not acceptable to have all these frozen assets and regarding them as Russian equity with no chance to use them in favour of Ukraine,” he told reporters on Wednesday at a meeting with EU leaders in Denmark. Reuters
Putin awaits US reply on limiting nuclear weapons
Moscow — Russia is still waiting for US President Donald Trump to react to President Vladimir Putin’s offer to voluntarily maintain the limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons once an arms control treaty expires, TASS reported on Wednesday.
Putin last month offered to voluntarily maintain limits capping the size of the world's two biggest nuclear arsenals set out in the 2010 New START accord, which expires in February, if the US does the same.
The state TASS news agency cited deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Wednesday that Moscow was still waiting for Trump’s response to the idea. Reuters
German chancellor vows to grow economy
Berlin — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed on Wednesday to make Europe’s biggest economy competitive again after the cabinet approved measures aimed at reducing bureaucracy and making it quicker and easier to do business through AI and digitalisation.
“We are of course aware of the problems facing the German economy at the moment, but we aspire to return to the top,” Merz said at a press conference at the Borsig Palace on Berlin's outskirts.
Under Merz, Germany has shifted away from decades of fiscal discipline to pass a half-trillion euro infrastructure and defence package aimed at jump-starting growth in the only Group of Seven economy that has contracted for the past two years.
A study by the Ifo economic institute in November showed that excessive bureaucracy costs Germany nearly €150bn a year in lost economic output. Reuters
Market research firm forecasts rise in US auto sales
Bengaluru — US auto sales are expected to rise about 6% in the third quarter from a year ago, as consumers were seen pulling forward their electric vehicle purchases before the end of certain tax credits, while demand for SUVs and crossovers remained steady.
Market research firm Cox Automotive expects US new-vehicle sales to be about 4.14-million units for July-September, compared with 3.9-million in the same period last year.
President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill ended the $7,500 tax credits for new EV purchases on September 30, leading to a temporary surge in sales during the quarter.
Trump’s tariffs have also trickled down to hit the industry with higher prices on parts and other components, though demand for new vehicles has so far held steady.
Demand for mid-size crossovers and pickup trucks has remained strong in September, Cox said in a report.
However, new-vehicle sales are expected to wane in the coming months, as companies pass on their increased costs, Cox analyst Charlie Chesbrough said in the report. Reuters
Apple argues ‘OpenAI deal is not exclusive’
Bengaluru — Apple’s deal with ChatGPT owner OpenAI is not “exclusive” and does not harm competition, Apple’s lawyers said as they asked a US judge on Tuesday to dismiss a case filed by billionaire Elon Musk’s xAI.
Musk’s xAI is seeking billions of dollars in damages, saying Apple would have no reason to more prominently feature the X app and the Grok app in its App Store because of the “exclusive” deal with OpenAI.
Under a deal announced in June 2024, Apple has integrated ChatGPT into its operating system for iPhones, iPads and Macs. Musk owns both X and xAI, which owns the Grok chatbot.
Apple and OpenAI have “locked up markets to maintain their monopolies and prevent innovators like X and xAI from competing,” the lawsuit filed by xAI in August claimed. Reuters
Nigerian oil workers’ strike terminated
Lagos — Nigeria’s oil workers union has agreed to call off a strike that had threatened fuel supply and trade across West Africa, the country’s labour ministry said.
The strike was called after the Dangote refinery dismissed more than 800 unionised staff. Dangote said at the time that the dismissals were part of a staff reorganisation. — Reuters
France probes Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’
Paris — President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday it was “a good thing” that France was investigating a suspected infraction by the oil tanker Boracay, which is suspected of belonging to the so-called shadow fleet involved in the Russian oil trade.
The prosecutor said on Tuesday a probe had been opened after the crew failed to provide proof of the vessel’s nationality and failed to comply with orders, but gave no further details.
Macron said the EU’s collective assessment was that Russia’s “shadow fleet” comprises 600-1,000 ships. — Reuters
Red Cross staff leave Gaza City
Berlin — The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday it has been forced to temporarily suspend operations in Gaza City and relocate staff due to escalating hostilities.
“The ICRC will continue to strive to provide support to civilians in Gaza City, whenever circumstances allow, from our offices in Deir al-Balah and Rafah, which remain fully operational,” it said in a statement. — Reuters
UK manufacturing slumps
London — UK manufacturing activity shrank at the fastest pace in five months in September, reflecting subdued domestic demand and fewer export orders, according to a survey on Wednesday that painted a more downbeat picture than recent official data.
The S&P Global purchasing managers’ index for the UK’s manufacturing sector fell to 46.2 points in September from 47.0 in August, the lowest since April and below the 50-point level that divides growth from contraction. Its output component dropped to a six-month low of 45.7 from 49.3. — Reuters
Etosha fire to hit Namibia hard
Windhoek — Namibia’s tourism industry is expected to suffer the effects of a weeklong wildfire that ravaged more than a third of its largest game reserve for the next three years, a senior government official said.
Official estimates show the fire damaged 38% of the Etosha National Park, which covers about 20,000km2, though unofficial assessments suggest the damage may be worse.
Established as a national park in 1907 during German colonisation, Etosha is home to wildlife, including lions, elephants, leopards, giraffes and zebras, and is one of the top tourist attractions in the country. — Reuters
UK central bank cautious on stablecoins
London — Any stablecoin that becomes widely used as a means of payment in the UK should be regulated like money with a traditional lender, meaning it would need depositor protections and access to central bank reserve facilities, Bank of England (BOE) governor Andrew Bailey said on Wednesday.
Bailey, a long-standing sceptic of cryptocurrencies, said it would be “wrong to be against stablecoins as a matter of principle”, but added that their main use now did not amount to a standard money-like means of payment.
Bailey confirmed the central bank would publish a consultation paper on stablecoins in the coming months. — Reuters
UK tries again to ‘access Apple cloud data’
London — Britain's government has issued a new order to Apple to create a “back door” into its cloud storage service, this time targeting only British users’ data, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
In August, Britain dropped a mandate for the iPhone maker to provide a “back door” that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American as well as British citizens, according to US director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
US legislators had raised concerns that the mandate could allow encrypted user data to be exploited by cybercriminals and authoritarian governments.
Apple, which has said it would never build a “back door” into its encrypted services or devices, appealed against the earlier order at the UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal, the tribunal confirmed in April.
The British government and Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters
Microsoft names head of commercial business
Microsoft chief commercial officer Judson Althoff will assume an expanded role as CEO of commercial business, freeing up company boss Satya Nadella to focus more on the technical side of the business in the tech giant’s quest to dominate the AI race.
Althoff will lead what Microsoft CEO Nadella called a new organisation that will combine sales, marketing and operations.
The reorganisation would help him and other engineering leaders to be "laser focused on our highest ambition technical work — across our data centre buildout, systems architecture, AI science and product innovation,” Nadella said in a blog post on Wednesday.
Althoff will also head a new commercial leadership team that includes leaders from engineering, sales, marketing, operations and finance.
"We are in the midst of a tectonic AI platform shift, one that requires us to both manage and grow our at-scale commercial business today while building the new frontier and executing flawlessly across both,” Nadella said. Reuters
US Supreme Court keeps Cook at the Fed for now
The US Supreme Court said on Wednesday it will hear arguments in January regarding President Donald Trump’s attempt to remove Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.
The move means Cook will remain her in the post for now and sets up a legal showdown over the first-ever bid by a president to fire a Fed official as Trump challenges the central bank’s independence.
The justices declined to immediately decide on a justice department request to put on hold a court order that temporarily blocked Trump from removing Cook, an appointee of former President Joe Biden. The court deferred a resolution on that request until the justices have heard the arguments. Reuters
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