- NewsReuters Videos
UK exits recession with better-than-expected growth
STORY: Britain's economy grew by the most in nearly three years in the first quarter of 2024.It brought to an end the shallow recession it entered in the second half of last year, and beat analyst forecasts.Official data said gross domestic product expanded by 0.6% in the three months to March.That was the strongest expansion since the fourth quarter of 2021, when it grew 1.5%.Friday's data was welcomed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of an election.He said the economy had 'turned a corner'.The opposition Labour Party accused Sunak of being out of touch, and said it was not time for what they called a 'victory lap'.On a monthly basis, the economy grew by 0.4% in March.That was faster than analyst forecasts, and driven partly by fewer public-sector strikes.Data showed car manufacturing performed well, but was offset by continued weakness in construction.Friday's data also declared GDP in March was 0.7% higher than a year earlier, and above all economist expectations.However, Britain has still had one of the slowest recoveries from the effects of the global health crisis.The country's economy was just 1.7% bigger than its level in late 2019 at the end of the first quarter of 2024.Only Germany among the G7 had performed worse.
- PoliticsABC News Videos
Karen McDougal will not take the stand in Trump's hush money trial
McDougal alleged she had a 10-month affair with former President Donald Trump in 2006 and was paid $150,000 in exchange for not speaking out about the affair.
- NewsAssociated Press Videos
Oxen in Thailand's annual royal ploughing ceremony indicate Thai economy set to prosper
The Thai economy is set to prosper over the next year and when the forecasters are two heavyweight, horned, white oxen, who would argue? The prediction came via the annual Royal Ploughing ceremony, held Friday, on a field outside the Grand Palace in Bangkok. The pageant-heavy spectacle –presided over by King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida – marks the start of the rice-planting season. A pair of sacred oxen repeatedly ploughed the ground while a brahmin priest scattered rice on the furrowed soil.
