Latest news with #KirillKUDRYAVTSEV
Sinar Daily
15-06-2025
- General
- Sinar Daily
Germans leave parental home early, but men take longer to move out
People tend to live at home the longest in Croatia, where they were 31.3 years old when leaving, according to the figures. This was followed by Slovakia and Greece. 15 Jun 2025 06:00pm A man rests near a fountain on the central Roemer Square in the city of Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on June 10, 2025. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) BERLIN - Young people in Germany tend to move out of their parents' home early compared to other European Union (EU) countries, although men take longer to leave the nest, German Press Agency (dpa) reported. New figures released by the federal statistical agency showed that the average age for Germans to leave their parents' home in 2024 was 23.9 - significantly below the EU-wide average age of 26.2 years of age. On average, they were 24.6 years old when moving out, while women were 23.1 years old. - AFP file photo Citing calculations made by the EU's statistical office Eurostat, the agency said young people move out the earliest in Finland, where they are 21.4 years old on average, followed by Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, and France. People tend to live at home the longest in Croatia, where they were 31.3 years old when leaving, according to the figures. This was followed by Slovakia and Greece. German men take longer to leave their parents' home than women do. On average, they were 24.6 years old when moving out, while women were 23.1 years old. Among male 25-year-olds, 33.8 per cent still lived with their parents in 2025, compared to just 22.4 per cent among 25-year-old women. - BERNAMA-dpa More Like This
The Star
08-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
Schnabel says now is the right time to boost euro role
People walk in to the headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, past a giant Euro logo on April 17, 2025 ahead of the Eurozone's monetary policy meeting. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) FRANKFURT: European Central Bank (ECB) executive board member Isabel Schnabel sees a favourable moment now to strengthen the euro's global role as investors turn to Europe. There's a 'window of opportunity' to increase the international role of the euro, she said in a question to a panel at the 31st Dubrovnik Economic Conference last Saturday. Earlier at the same conference, she said that there are signals that investors are focusing on the continent to diversify their portfolios. She had called it a 'positive confidence effect'. The remarks reinforce comments from policymakers including President Christine Lagarde, and show how officials are seeking to turn President Donald Trump's attacks on global trade and US institutions to their advantage. Investors have rushed out of the US dollar so far this year, with the greenback falling against every other major currency tracked by Bloomberg. At the end of May, Lagarde called Trump's erratic policies a 'prime opportunity' to boost the euro's global role and gain privileges long held by the US dollar. Furthermore, the changes 'create the opening for a 'global euro moment',' that politicians should seize, she said. Trump has threatened to hit the bloc with hefty tariffs over its trade surplus with the United States. — Bloomberg
The Star
12-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
ECB needs steady hand and must not overdo rate cuts, Schnabel says
People walk in to the headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, past a giant Euro logo on April 17, 2025 ahead of the Eurozone's monetary policy meeting. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) Stanford (California): The European Central Bank (ECB) needs a 'steady hand' and mustn't lower borrowing costs too much as inflation could turn out to be higher in the future, executive board member Isabel Schnabel says. 'By keeping interest rates near their current levels, we can be confident that monetary policy is neither excessively holding back growth and employment, nor stimulating it,' she said. 'We are thus in a good place to evaluate the likely future evolution of the economy and to take action if risks materialise that threaten price stability,' she added Over the medium-term, risks to inflation 'are likely tilted to the upside, reflecting both the increase in fiscal spending and the risks of renewed cost-push shocks from tariffs propagating through global value chains,' she said in a speech at Stanford University last Friday. The ECB has reduced rates seven times since June and officials have signalled they're ready to do more as US President Donald Trump's trade tariffs threaten to lower growth, with another move looking likely next month. Investors are currently pricing in two to three more cuts this year and some economists like Gilles Moec from Axa Group expect even more aggressive easing, unless the trade negotiations resolve quickly and positively. However, Schnabel urged caution in her first public remarks since the April reduction and her first in-depth monetary-policy comments in public since February, pouring some cold water on rate-cut expectations. Schnabel said that in the current situation, the high level of economic uncertainty, together with the sharp fall in energy prices and a stronger euro 'will likely dampen headline inflation in the short-run, potentially pushing it below our 2% target.' In April, consumer-price growth stood at 2.2%. But monetary policy should focus on the medium-term, she said. 'Given long and variable transmission lags, reacting to short-term developments could result in the peak impact of our policy only unfolding when the current disinflationary forces have passed,' the ECB board member added. She highlighted two factors that could have the size and persistence to pull underlying inflation sustainably away from the ECB's goal: a rise in public spending and global fragmentation. Fiscal policy 'is set to expand on a scale unseen outside periods of deep economic contraction', she said, also highlighting plans by the new German government. 'On balance, the fiscal impulse is likely to put upward pressure on underlying inflation over the medium term.' On fragmentation and in particular US tariffs she admitted that it's difficult to assess the implications as negotiations are ongoing. 'Overall, however, there are risks that a lasting and meaningful increase in tariffs will reinforce the upward pressure on underlying inflation arising from higher fiscal spending over the medium term,' she said. She also said that eurozone foreign demand may prove resilient and trade diversion may benefit the bloc's exports. 'Should prohibitive tariffs on Chinese imports remain in place, they will measurably raise the eurozone's price competitiveness in the US market,' she said. — Bloomberg
Sinar Daily
08-05-2025
- Business
- Sinar Daily
Meta blocks access to Muslim news page in India
There was no immediate reaction from the Indian government on the ban, which comes after access was blocked to the social media accounts of Pakistani actors and cricketers. 08 May 2025 09:08am Meta has banned a prominent Muslim news page on Instagram in India at the government's request, the account's founder said on May 7, denouncing the move as "censorship" as hostilities escalate between India and Pakistan. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) WASHINGTON - Meta has banned a prominent Muslim news page on Instagram in India at the government's request, the account's founder said Wednesday, denouncing the move as "censorship" as hostilities escalate between India and Pakistan. Instagram users in India trying to access posts from the handle @Muslim -- a page with 6.7 million followers -- were met with a message stating: "Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content." Meta has banned a prominent Muslim news page on Instagram in India at the government's request, the account's founder said on May 7, denouncing the move as "censorship" as hostilities escalate between India and Pakistan. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) There was no immediate reaction from the Indian government on the ban, which comes after access was blocked to the social media accounts of Pakistani actors and cricketers. "I received hundreds of messages, emails and comments from our followers in India, that they cannot access our account," Ameer Al-Khatahtbeh, the news account's founder and editor-in-chief, said in a statement. "Meta has blocked the @Muslim account by legal request of the Indian government. This is censorship." Meta declined to comment. A spokesman for the tech giant directed AFP to a company webpage outlining its policy for restricting content when governments believe material on its platforms goes "against local law." The development, first reported by the US tech journalist Taylor Lorenz' outlet User Magazine, comes in the wake of the worst violence between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan in two decades. Both countries have exchanged heavy artillery fire along their contested frontier, after New Delhi launched deadly missile strikes on its arch-rival. At least 43 deaths were reported in the fighting, which came two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing a deadly attack on tourists in the Indian-run side of the disputed Muslim-majority region of Kashmir. Pakistan rejects the charge and has warned it will "avenge" those killed by Indian air strikes. The @Muslim account is among the most followed Muslim news sources on Instagram. Khatahtbeh apologised to followers in India, adding: "When platforms and countries try to silence media, it tells us that we are doing our job in holding those in power accountable." "We will continue to document the truth and stand out firmly for justice," he added, while calling on Meta to reinstate the account in India. India has also banned more than a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels for allegedly spreading "provocative" content, including Pakistani news outlets. In recent days, access to the Instagram account of Pakistan's former prime minister and cricket captain Imran Khan has also been blocked in India. Pakistani Bollywood movie regulars Fawad Khan and Atif Aslam were also off limits in India, as well as a wide range of cricketers -- including star batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan and retired players Shahid Afridi and Wasim Akram. Rising hostilities between the South Asian neighbors have also unleashed an avalanche of online misinformation, with social media users circulating everything from deepfake videos to outdated images from unrelated conflicts, falsely linking them to the Indian strikes. On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump called for India and Pakistan to immediately halt their fighting, and offered to help end the violence. - AFP More Like This
Int'l Business Times
01-05-2025
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
Google Play Slashes 1.6 Million Apps In Brutal Crackdown On Low-Quality Content
AFP / Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV The digital guillotine has fallen at Google Play, and the numbers are staggering. In an unprecedented purge that has left developers reeling and users confused, Google has wiped out nearly half of all applications from its Play Store since January. The tech giant has removed a jaw-dropping 1.6 million apps from its digital marketplace with barely a word of explanation. App intelligence firm Appfigures broke the news last week, revealing that Google Play's global offerings have plummeted from approximately 3.4 million apps to just 1.8 million – a 47% reduction that represents the most aggressive cleanup in the platform's history. Massive App Purge Hits Google Play As an illustration, Apple's iOS App Store experienced a slight rise over the same timeframe, moving from 1.6 million apps to approximately 1.64 million currently. For Google, this drop in app numbers could be a welcome change for Android device owners. LT Android App is currently removed from Google Play (again!). This time, a random "you don't exist" email from Google out of the blue. Hopefully will be back up soon, please bear with me :/ — Language Transfer & The Thinking Method (@LangTransfer) April 29, 2025 Notably, Android device owners often had to wade through misleading, spammy, and just plain bad apps to find the beneficial ones. This cleanup could also boost developers who've had to compete for attention in a crowded market. A less cluttered app store could mean their quality apps get noticed more easily. A Contributing Factor? Google's Lenient Review Process Over the years, Google Play's less demanding guidelines for app examination have flooded the store with lower-standard apps. While Apple consistently upholds rigorous app assessment procedures before making apps available, Google frequently depends on automatic evaluations and malware checks to accelerate the app-vetting procedure. This difference in approach has contributed to the contrasting app store sizes and quality control. As noted in a TechCrunch report, Google typically has a quicker app-vetting duration, which stems from its less intensive human oversight. In July 2024, Google declared its intention to elevate the basic quality standards for applications. This decision likely contributed to the change in the number of available Play Store app listings. Some apps may have been removed for not meeting these new, higher benchmarks. Stricter Quality Standards Trigger App Removals Rather than solely removing faulty apps that crashed, wouldn't install, or didn't function correctly, the company stated it would start eliminating apps that showed 'limited functionality and content.' The removal encompassed inactive applications lacking specific features, such as apps consisting only of text or those functioning solely as PDF viewers. The search engine giant also removed apps that offered minimal content, such as those providing just a single wallpaper. Furthermore, Google prohibited applications created to be non-functional or serve no purpose, which could have included experimental projects or discontinued efforts by developers. Furthermore, Google prohibited applications created to be non-functional or serve no purpose, potentially encompassing experimental projects or discontinued efforts by developers. Google verified with TechCrunch that its updated guidelines contributed to this. These guidelines also featured a wider range of verification demands, mandatory app testing for new individual developer accounts, and increased human assessments to identify apps attempting to mislead or defraud users. AI And Human Eyes Moreover, the company highlighted other 2024 investments in artificial intelligence for identifying threats, stronger data protection rules, enhanced developer resources, and more. Consequently, Google stated that it stopped 2.36 million apps violating policies from being released on its Play Store and terminated over 158,000 developer accounts that had tried to distribute damaging applications. One element Google didn't mention was the new trader status regulation enforced by the EU starting this February. This rule mandated that developers include their names and addresses in the app's listing. Failure to comply would result in their apps being removed from EU app stores. It's important to note that Apple also started requiring trader status information in February and didn't experience a decrease in available apps. Interestingly, Appfigures observed a reduction in the number of apps on the Google Play Store even before the formal commencement of the cleanup last summer; the reason for this shift is unclear to them. Nevertheless, the firm indicates that 10,400 new apps have been released on Google Play this year, a 7.1% increase compared to last year as of April. Major developers and established apps appear largely unaffected, suggesting Google's algorithm prioritized removing applications with low engagement metrics or outdated code. But for Android's reputation as the more open and developer-friendly mobile platform? The optics aren't great. Originally published on IBTimes UK This article is copyrighted by the business news leader
