World

Three-quarters of Africa's population is under the age of 35, according to the United Nations. FotografiaBasica/Getty The working-age population of sub-Saharan Africa is set to increase more than twofold by 2050 to become the largest in the world, offering unprecedented opportunity for economic growth, according to S&P Global Ratings. In a report published Wednesday, the ratings agency estimated that growth in the working-age population would add up to three percentage points to the average annual GDP growth for the next 10 years across key economies in the subcontinent. S&P Global Ratings' senior economist Satyam Panday said countries in sub-Saharan Africa are now experiencing the "most significant demographic transition in their history." "Unprecedented decreases in fertility rates, low...

Select’s editorial team works independently to review financial products and write articles we think our readers will find useful. We may receive a commission when you click on links for products from our affiliate partners. Capital One business credit card debut Capital One Spark Cash Plus Credit Card The Capital One Spark Cash Plus Credit Card is a charge card, meaning that there is no predetermined spending limit. However, that does not mean you can spend an unlimited amount on the card. Your spending limits are determined by several factors, including spending history, credit score and more. The card has an annual fee of $150, but comes with a long list of benefits, including: A one-time welcome bonus of up to $1,000. You'll earn $500 once you spend $5,000 in the first three months, ...

On a warm Friday night in July, the sun seemed to linger behind Amsterdam’s low, 16th century skyline. In the red-light district, the crush of tourists that was common before the pandemic had long since vanished, making it easy for a delivery worker to cycle past a handful of gawkers around the old town’s notorious storefronts. While six German men in matching T-shirts ignored signs warning of a €95 ($112) fine as they swilled beers on a nearby footbridge, they were the exception. Mostly, only small groups of sedate strollers were about on this midsummer evening. Centuries before its more lurid attractions took hold, Amsterdam was already a tourist draw. As far back as 1345, when a communion wafer at a local church apparently proved indestructible, pilgrims flocked to see the miracle hos...

A northeastern Indian state that has for years been a big transit point for illicit drugs originating in neighboring Myanmar has launched a massive crackdown on the trade, seizing record amounts and arresting nearly 2,000 people since May. Assam, four of whose neighboring states have open and rugged borders with Myanmar, connects the northeast to the rest of India. It has received praise for the drug clampdown from ruling and opposition politicians but has been criticized for alleged human rights abuses, including the shooting of suspected traffickers. Assam’s ties with one of the states, Mizoram, has frayed too, after Assam linked the drugs fight to a recent territorial clash between the two states in which police forces fired at each other. Police say Assam, the most populous northeas...

SAN FRANCISCO : At Tesla's "Autonomy Day" event in April 2019, Chief Executive Elon Musk said that by mid-2020 Tesla would have over a million self-driving vehicles where riders "could go to sleep" during a trip. Tesla has not achieved that goal and on Thursday Musk is staging another event, called "AI Day," to promote his electric car company as the place to work for the engineers he needs to make good on his promises for autonomous vehicles. Musk has walked back some of his claims for Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) system in recent months, saying Tesla cars are "not fully-self driving yet." U.S. safety regulators earlier this week opened an investigation into Tesla's driver assistant system because of accidents where Tesla cars crashed into stationary police cars and fire trucks. T...

:U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp, along with Chevron Corp, is seeking to bulk up in the burgeoning renewable fuels space by finding ways to make such products at existing facilities, sources familiar with the efforts said. The two largest U.S. oil companies want to produce sustainable fuels without ponying up billions of dollars that some refineries are spending to reconfigure operations to make such products. Renewable fuels account for 5per cent of U.S. fuel consumption, but are poised to grow as various sectors adapt to cut overall carbon emissions to combat global climate change. Both Chevron and Exxon have massive refining divisions that contribute heavily to their overall carbon emissions. The companies have been criticized for a less urgent approach to renewable investments than E...

Select’s editorial team works independently to review financial products and write articles we think our readers will find useful. We may receive a commission when you click on links for products from our affiliate partners. Many of our financial habits we learn as children. Learning about how to save and how to budget are important to building the strong financial foundations that can carry you into adulthood. According to Policygenius, nearly 63% of parents are teaching their children about allowances, budgeting and even the importance of some bank accounts — and your kid doesn't even need to be 18 before they can have their own bank account and start taking a hands-on approach to learning about money. The Chase First BankingSM account is a debit card meant for kids ages 6–17 and parent...

The magnitude of the United States’ failure in Afghanistan is breathtaking. It is not a failure of Democrats or Republicans, but an abiding failure of American political culture, reflected in U.S. policymakers’ lack of interest in understanding different societies. And it is all too typical. Almost every modern U.S. military intervention in the developing world has come to rot. It’s hard to think of an exception since the Korean War. In the 1960s and first half of the 1970s, the U.S. fought in Indochina — Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia — eventually withdrawing in defeat after a decade of grotesque carnage. President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat, and his successor, the Republican Richard Nixon, share the blame. In roughly the same years, the U.S. installed dictators throughout Latin America ...

SINGAPORE: ComfortDelGro on Friday (Aug 13) announced a net profit of S$91 million in the first half of 2021, as global economic activity gradually resumed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This reversed what the company called "massive" destruction in the same period last year, when it posted a net loss of S$6.6 million. In a media release on Friday, ComfortDelGro's managing director and Group CEO Yang Ban Seng described the past six months as "painful but tolerable". "The global situation continues to be difficult but it is definitely an improvement over the catastrophic conditions we all experienced last year," said Mr Yang. While the situation has improved, the "continuous see-saw effect of lockdowns and reopenings" has taken its toll on businesses and the community, he added. "As a gro...

A man walking past wind turbines at the Phu Lac wind farm in southern Vietnam's Binh Thuan province. MANAN VATSYAYANA | AFP | Getty Images Southeast Asia's economy could lose trillions of dollars over the next 50 years if the region does not act to reduce carbon emissions significantly, a Deloitte report found. In fact, the region is at a turning point, and can turn the cost into an opportunity, the report said. If Southeast Asia steps up efforts on climate change and rapidly reduces emissions, it could achieve economic gains of $12.5 trillion in present value terms — with an average GDP growth of 3.5% each year for the next 50 years, according to the consulting firm. "This potential future not only avoids the worst impacts of climate change, it also creates prosperous long-term economic ...