Economic engine trouble

January 08, 2016 - Daily News Briefing

The US and Chinese super-economies are the powerhouses for dozens of developing-world economies. Both are struggling.

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Officers shot and killed a knife-wielding man wearing a fake explosive vest at a police station in northern Paris on Thursday, French officials said, a year to the day after an attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo launched a bloody year in the French capital. Luc Poignant, a police union official, said the man cried out "Allahu akbar," Arabic for "God is great." The man was wearing what looked like an explosive vest, but it was fake, according to two French police officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation. They said the man has not yet been identified.

A new wave of concern for media freedom in Poland rose among European Union leaders and independent journalists after Poland's president signed a temporary new law Thursday that's a step toward giving the government full control of state radio and television. The legislation will take effect Friday and expires on June 30. By then, a sweeping new law intended to overhaul the state-run broadcasters and the PAP news agency is expected to be in place. President Andrzej Duda signed the new legislation because he wants state media to be "impartial, objective, and reliable," his aide Malgorzata Sadurska said. She added that the president believes that the private views of journalists currently interfere with the objectivity of information in state media.

To eat healthy, Americans can still consume eggs, lean meat and a moderate amount of salt, in addition to the fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and seafood often recommended as part of a balanced diet. Those are the latest recommendations of the the federal government's dietary guidelines released Thursday by the Obama administration, which also urges Americans to watch the amount of added sugar they consume, especially in drinks.

In a study published in the journal Nature on Thursday, a number of experts compared droughts and agriculture yields internationally. Climate change is expected to bring increased severe and long-term droughts, a troubling consequence say experts, because longterm dry spells have the greatest impact on agriculture yields. The United Nations predicts a 30 percent population growth before 2050, adding about 10 billion mouths to feed. There was a big difference in agriculture yields between developed and developing countries. Droughts in North America, Europe, and Australia cut yields by an average of 20 percent, over 12 percent in Asia and about nine percent in Africa. But in other parts of the world, drought impacts were negligible. Overall, there was eight to 11 percent more drought damage to crops in developed countries, as compared to developing ones.

American workers are increasingly putting more money away for retirement, with Millennials far outpacing other age groups in improving their retirement savings. That’s a key conclusion from a new Fidelity Investments survey released on Thursday. Despite being the youngest group of workers, Millennials aged 25 to 34 are storing away an average of 7.5 percent of their income for retirement, including any match pay they get from an employer. These younger workers had the largest increase of any age group, up from 5.8 percent two years ago. However, Baby Boomers, or those aged 51 to 69, saved the most of any group. They typically set aside 9.7 percent of their pay for retirement, compared to 8.1 percent in 2013, the survey found.

As Facebook’s Messenger app surpasses 800 million users, making it the fastest growing app of 2015, according to the research firm Nielsen, it is facing an unusual competition. Its chief rival, WhatsApp – which has 900 million users – is also owned by the social media giant. Google is also rumored to be developing its own messaging app that would include some artificial intelligence features to compete with the Facebook products and services like Snapchat and Viber.

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