Author: admin@primenews

TSMC says its second factory in Arizona will be delayed, marking another setback for the world’s largest chipmaker and its role in US President Joe Biden’s bid to boost American manufacturing. The facility will now be operational in 2027 or 2028, compared to previous expectations of a 2026 start, according to Chairman Mark Liu. “There will be a gap,” he told analysts on an earnings call Thursday. Liu said construction on the shell of the factory had begun, but the Taiwanese chipmaking titan needed to review “how much incentives … the US government can provide.” The company is in close contact with…

Retail sales fell by 3.2% in December in the sharpest drop since the UK was in a Covid lockdown. Official figures revealed a sharp fall in demand for goods, but food sales also declined in the run-up to Christmas. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said it appeared people did their shopping earlier in November, taking advantage of Black Friday sales. It meant that retail sales tumbled at the fastest rate since January 2021. The ONS said the amount of non-food products people bought in December fell by 3.9%. That compares to a 2.7% increase in November. Food demand was also…

Parents of school students who were on the boat that capsized in a lake in India’s Gujarat state have alleged that their children were “not given life jackets”. Twelve pupils, aged between seven and 12 years, and two teachers, drowned in the incident on Thursday in Harni Lake in Vadodara city. Police have arrested two people in connection with the incident. Search operations are underway to find the remaining victims. Eighteen students and two teachers have been rescued so far and are undergoing treatment in a nearby hospital, authorities say. While the cause of the incident is not yet known, eye witnesses…

Japan is set to make the latest attempt at a soft touch-down on the Moon. Its Slim (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) mission will aim for a gentle slope, close to an equatorial crater called Shioli. The bid follows the failure this month of a private American company to reach the lunar surface. Statistically, it’s proven very hard to land on Earth’s natural satellite safely. Only about a half of all attempts have succeeded. Japan’s space agency (Jaxa) hopes the precision navigation technologies built into Slim will stack the odds in its favour. Those technologies are behind the mission’s nickname…

Saltburn director Emerald Fennell says she thinks the film’s infamous bathtub scene has had such a big reaction because it is “both diabolical and revolting, and unbelievably relatable”. It was the “first scene I imagined when thinking about the movie,” she said. The psychological thriller, which stars Barry Keoghan as a student who’s fixated on a wealthy university friend, has caused a stir on social media. It received five Bafta nominations on Thursday, including best British film. The dark comedy became an internet sensation after it was released on Amazon Prime in December. Filled with an abundance of viral scenes,…

The number of North Korean defectors entering South Korea nearly tripled in 2023 compared to the previous two years, authorities said Thursday – including a higher number of youth and members of the North Korean elite. South Korea’s Unification Ministry recorded 196 defectors entering the country last year, it said in a briefing. More than half were in their 20s and 30s, and about 84% were women or girls, according to government data. The total figure is just a fraction of pre-pandemic levels – 1,047 defectors arrived in 2019 – but it still marks a significant rise after a steep decline during…

Indonesia has allowed three Boeing 737 Max 9 planes to fly again after grounding them, as they have different configurations from a jet that was forced to make an emergency landing in the United States on January 5, its transport ministry said on Thursday. A cabin panel broke off a new Boeing (BA) 737 MAX 9 jet operated by Alaska Airlines (ALK) in mid-flight, leading to the grounding of the model and inspections by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The incident occurred after take-off from Portland, Oregon en route to Ontario, California, forcing pilots to turn back and land safely with all 171 passengers and six crew…

More than 5,000 electric vehicles were loaded onto a giant shipping carrier in China this week and sent to ports in Europe. The cars come from BYD, the Chinese carmaker that is backed by Warren Buffett and has surpassed Tesla as the world’s biggest seller of electric vehicles (EVs). The automaker enlisted the massive vessel, dubbed “BYD Explorer No. 1,” to ferry its exports from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen to Germany and the Netherlands on its maiden voyage, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua. It’s a striking visual example of the growing heft of BYD, which has conquered its home market…

Tata Steel is to push ahead with plans to close both its blast furnaces in Port Talbot with the expected loss of 3,000 jobs UK-wide, the BBC has been told. Most are expected to go by September, with the majority in Port Talbot where the steelworks will be transitioned to a greener electric arc furnace. Unions called it a “crushing blow” and the “worst-case scenario”. The UK government said it will support employees and the local economy. Tata Steel currently employs 8,000 people, with about 4,000 based at the UK’s largest steelworks in Port Talbot, which has two coal powered…

In his 17 years of managing a hotel in Gulmarg, a picturesque town in Indian-administered Kashmir, Manzoor Ahmad has never seen a season without snow. But this year, things are different: the snow-clad mountains in the region are oddly brown and barren. “This is unprecedented,” Mr Ahmad, 50, says, and adds that tourists have stopped making reservations at his hotel. Every year, thousands of tourists visit Kashmir in winter to enjoy skiing and sightseeing. But the absence of snowfall this year has bought the region’s tourism industry to its knees. Close to 100,000 tourists visited Kashmir last January, but this…