Headlines

Japan’s trucking industry is a crucial cog in one of the world’s largest economies, and it is the lifeblood of the Japanese culture of ultra-convenience. But it, and its drivers, are under immense strain, the New York Times reported. To improve job conditions and make the work more appealing, the government is moving to cap overtime for the first time next year, easing the punishing hours that have long defined trucking in Japan. Addressing that problem, however, will create others — potentially disrupting the nation’s entire logistics system.

British shopper numbers at stores on Boxing Day rose from a year earlier, especially in London, research data showed on Wednesday, marking a strong start to the post-Christmas bargain-hunting spree, Reuters reported. Research group MRI Software said footfall rose 4% across all UK retail destinations on Dec. 26. Known in Britain as Boxing Day, the date that traditionally launches high-street sales was in the Victorian era the time when the rich would donate leftover food and goods from Christmas Day festivities to the poor.

China's November industrial profits posted double-digit gains as overall manufacturing improved, although soft demand continued to constrain business growth expectations, emboldening calls for more macro policy support, Reuters reported. The 29.5% profit rise came on top of a 2.7% increase in October and alongside a pickup in industrial output in November, although other sectors of the world's second-largest economy still missed forecasts.

Chinese assets have had a terrible year—but China’s currency is gaining ground as an international payments option, the Wall Street Journal reported. The yuan’s status as a global currency still faces a huge obstacle in the form of China’s own capital controls. Even so, rising willingness to conduct trade in yuan could help insulate China’s economy, at least to an extent, in the event sanctions were imposed in a hypothetical future conflict with the West.

Argentina’s President Javier Milei is considering issuing a perpetual bond to pay a $16 billion lawsuit award stemming from the nationalization of state-run energy company YPF, Bloomberg News reported. Swinging between political jabs and policy intentions, Milei suggested that the government would issue the bond without a fixed maturity while charging Argentines the “Kicillof tax,” named after Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof who spearheaded efforts to nationalize YPF in 2012.

He may be headed to prison next year after pleading guilty to U.S. criminal charges in November, yet 2023 held a silver lining for former Binance Holdings Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao: His estimated wealth ballooned by almost $25 billion this year, Bloomberg News reported. Toward the end of a year when Bitcoin rebounded more than 160% following a market collapse in 2022, Zhao tops a list of crypto entrepreneurs who saw their estimated net worth surge in 2023, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Coinbase Global Inc.

Hundreds of thousands of homeowners are attempting to navigate Dubai’s red-hot housing market, which has outperformed most others around the world this year, Bloomberg News reported. Tenants, property analysts and developers are trying to predict whether the market is finally starting to turn as a slew of new properties are delivered and global economic uncertainty catches up with the emirate. So far, the boom has been underpinned by an influx of wealthy investors such as Russians seeking to shield their assets, crypto millionaires and rich Indians seeking second homes.

The Belgian National Bank chief’s term has yet to be renewed, potentially leaving the central bank without a leader early next year, Bloomberg News reported. Governor Pierre Wunsch’s mandate comes to an end Jan. 1 and “so far, the government has not announced a decision related to this mandate,” the institution’s spokesman said by e-mail on Wednesday. Wunsch, 56, has been at the central bank since 2011 and took the top job in 2019 when he was appointed for a five-year term.

A serviced-office provider with a slew of sites in London’s financial district has collapsed into administration, the latest flexible workspace business to fold in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. BE Offices Ltd. and almost a dozen subsidiaries entered an administration application at London’s High Court, according to a filing. This included units responsible for workspaces in the city’s Cheapside, Threadneedle Street and in Paddington, the filings show.

Ethiopia became Africa’s latest defaulter after it failed to make an interest payment following the end of a grace period on Monday, Bloomberg News reported. The Horn of Africa nation had to pay a $33 million coupon on Dec. 11. The government didn’t want to make the payment because it “wants to treat all creditors in the same way,” Ahmed Shide, Ethiopia’s minister of finance said on state TV on Thursday. Hinjat Shamil, senior reform advisor at the Ministry of Finance confirmed Monday that the payment had not, and will not be paid.