United News of Bangladesh

Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa and her online news company were cleared Wednesday of tax evasion charges she said were among a slew of legal cases used by former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to try to muzzle critical reporting. The Court of Tax Appeals ruled that prosecutors failed to prove “beyond reasonable doubt” that Ressa and Rappler Holdings Corp. evaded tax payments in four instances after raising capital through partnerships with two foreign investors. “The acquittal of the accused is based on the findings of the court...that respondents did not commit the crime charge,” the court said in its decision. Rappler welcomed the court decision as “the triumph of facts over politics.” Read: At rehabbed Globes, 'The Fabelmans,' 'Banshees' triumph “We thank the court for this just decision and for recognizing that the fraudulent, false, and flimsy charges made by the Bureau of Internal Revenue do not have any basis in fact,” Rappler said in a statement. “An adverse decision would have had far-reaching repercussions on both the press and the capital markets.” “Today, facts win, truth wins, justice wins,” Rappler quoted Ressa as saying after the verdict was announced. Human Rights Watch said the tax charges under Duterte’s rule were “bogus and politically motivated” and the acquittal of Ressa and Rappler “is a victory for press freedom in the Philippines.” Ressa won the Nobel with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov in 2021 for fighting for the survival of their news organizations, defying government efforts to shut them. The two were honored for “their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.” The tax charges against Ressa and Rappler stemmed from a separate charge by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Manila’s corporate watchdog, in 2018 that the news website violated a constitutional provision that prohibits foreign ownership and control of Philippine media companies when it received funds from foreign investors Omidyar Network and North Base Media through financial papers called Philippine Depositary Receipts. Read: Jack Ma will give up control of leading Chinese financial tech provider Ant Group The Philippine commission then ordered the closure of Rappler on the basis of the allegation, which Rappler denied and has appealed saying it was a news company totally owned and controlled by Filipinos. The tax court ruled that the Philippine Depositary Receipts issued by Rappler were non-taxable, removing the basis of the tax evasion charges filed by Justice Department prosecutors under Duterte. “No gain or income was realized by accused in the subject transactions,” the court said. There was no immediate reaction from the government and Duterte. Ressa and Rappler face three more legal cases, a separate tax case filed by prosecutors in another court, her Supreme Court appeal on an online libel conviction, and Rappler’s appeal against the closure order issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ressa faces up to six years in prison if she loses the appeal on the libel conviction, which was filed by a businessman who said a Rappler news report falsely linked him to a murder, drug dealing, human trafficking and other crimes. Rappler, founded in 2012, was one of several Philippine and international news agencies that critically reported on Duterte’s brutal crackdown on illegal drugs that left thousands of mostly petty drug suspects dead and his handling of the coronavirus outbreaks, including prolonged police-enforced lockdowns, that deepened poverty, caused one of the country’s worst recessions and sparked corruption allegations in government medical purchases. The massive drug killings sparked an investigation by the International Criminal Court as a possible crime against humanity. Duterte ended his often-turbulent six-year term last year and was succeeded by Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of a dictator who was overthrown in an army-backed “people power” uprising in 1986 following an era marked by widespread human rights violations and plunder.

Six people — including a 17-year-old mother and her 6-month-old baby — were killed in a shooting early Monday at a home in central California, and authorities are searching for at least two suspects, sheriff’s officials said. Deputies responded around 3:30 a.m. to reports of multiple shots fired at the residence in unincorporated Goshen, just east of Visalia, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office said. “Actually the report was that an active shooter was in the area because of the number of shots that were being fired,” Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told reporters. Deputies found two victims dead in the street and a third person fatally shot in the doorway of the residence, Boudreaux said. Three more victims were found inside the home, including a man who was still alive but later died at a hospital, he said. The sheriff said investigators are searching for at least two suspects. They believe there is a gang connection to the killings. The sheriff’s office conducted a narcotics-related search warrant at the residence last week, Boudreaux said. “We also believe this was not a random act of violence. We believe this was a targeted family,” he said. Goshen is a semi-rural community of about 3,000 residents 35 miles (56 kilometres) southeast of Fresno in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley. Read more: 9 killed in Walmart shooting in Virginia

Mega Millions players will have another chance Friday night to end months of losing and finally win a jackpot that has grown to $1.35 billion. Plenty of people have won smaller prizes in the lottery game, but no one has matched all six numbers and won the grand prize since Oct. 14. Those 25 straight drawings without a winner have allowed the top prize to roll over and grow larger for three months. It’s now the fourth-largest lottery prize in U.S. history. If there isn’t a winner Friday night, the jackpot will inch closer to the record $2.04 billion Powerball prize won last November in California. The long stretch without a Mega Millions jackpot winner is because of the game’s steep odds of 1 in 302.6 million. The $1.35 billion prize is for a winner who chooses an annuity with annual payments over 29 years. Winners almost always take the cash option, which for Friday night’s drawing would be an estimated $707.9 million. Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The U.S. inflation report for December being released Thursday morning could provide another welcome sign that the worst bout of spiking prices in four decades is slowly weakening. Or it could suggest that inflation remains persistent enough to require tougher action by the Federal Reserve. Most economists foresee the more optimistic scenario: They think December marked another month in which inflation, though still uncomfortably high, continued to cool. According to a survey by the data provider FactSet, analysts have predicted that consumer prices rose 6.5% in December compared with a year earlier. That would be down from 7.1% in November and well below a 40-year high of 9.1% in June. On a month-to-month basis, the economists think prices were flat in December. Even more significant, a closely watched gauge of “core” prices — which excludes volatile energy and food costs — is expected to have risen just 0.3% from November to December and 5.7% from a year earlier. The Fed closely tracks core prices, which it sees as a more accurate indicator of future inflation, in setting its interest rate policies. Another modest rise in core prices would increase the likelihood that the Fed would raise its benchmark rate by just a quarter-point, rather than a half-point, when its next meeting ends Feb. 1. For now, inflation is falling, with the national average price of a gallon of gas declining from a $5 a gallon peak in June to $3.27 a gallon as of Wednesday, according to AAA. Supply chain snarls that previously inflated the cost of goods have largely unraveled. Consumers have also shifted much of their spending away from physical goods and instead toward services, such as travel and entertainment. As a result, the cost of goods, including used cars, furniture and clothing, has dropped for two straight months. Economists will pay particular attention Thursday to the prices of services, which are seen as a stickier component of inflation. They reflect rising wages among labor-intensive businesses such as restaurants, hotels and health care companies. If the data show only a small increase in services costs, that would likely strengthen hopes that the economy can avoid recession and instead experience a “soft landing." Such a scenario would mean slow growth and likely a small rise in unemployment but much less economic pain than a full-fledged recession. Read more: Europe's inflation slows again but cost of living still high Indeed, last week's jobs report bolstered the possibility that recession could be avoided. Even after the Fed's seven rate hikes last year and with inflation still high, employers added a solid 223,000 jobs in December, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, matching the lowest level in 53 years. At the same time, average hourly pay growth slowed, which should lessen pressure on companies to raise prices to cover their higher labor costs. “The soft landing narrative has gained some credibility this year, and that has also led to a stock market rally," said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors. Another positive sign for the Fed's efforts to quell inflation is that Americans overall expect price increases to decline over the next few years. That is important because so-called “inflation expectations” can be self-fulfilling: If people expect prices to keep rising sharply, they will typically take steps, like demanding higher pay, that can perpetuate high inflation. On Monday, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that consumers now anticipate inflation of 5% over the next year. That's the lowest such expectation in nearly 18 months. Over the next five years, consumers expect inflation to average 2.4%, only barely above the Fed's 2% target. Still, in their remarks in recent weeks, Fed officials have underscored their intent to raise their benchmark short-term rate by an additional three-quarters of a point in the coming months to just above 5%. Such increases would come on top of seven hikes last year, which caused mortgage rates to nearly double and made auto loans and business borrowing more expensive. Futures prices show that investors expect the central bank to be less aggressive, and implement just two quarter-point hikes by March, leaving the Fed's rate just below 5%. Investors also project the Fed will cut rates in November and December, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has sought to push back against that expectation of fewer hikes this spring and cuts by the end of the year, which can make the Fed's job harder if investors bid up stock prices and lower bond yields. Both trends can support faster economic growth just when the Fed is trying to cool it down. The minutes from the Fed's December meeting noted that none of the 19 policymakers foresee rate cuts this year. Read more: Wall Street braces for earnings to get hit by inflation Still, last week James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, expressed some optimism that this year, “actual inflation will likely follow inflation expectations to a lower level," suggesting 2023 could be a “year of disinflation.”

The Golden Globes returned to the air Tuesday with a red carpet flush with celebrities, comedian Jerrod Carmichael as a hesitant emcee and top awards for Steven Spielberg's “The Fabelmans" and Martin McDonagh's “The Banshees of Inisherin,” as the beleaguered award show sought to rekindle its pre-pandemic and pre-scandal glamour. Spielberg’s autobiographical coming-of-age film “The Fabelmans” won best drama film and the dark friendship tale “The Banshees of Inisherin,” captured best film, comedy or musical. “Abbott Elementary,” “White Lotus” and “House of the Dragon” led the TV awards. The Globes’ would-be comeback ended like many Globes ceremonies before it: with a triumphant Spielberg. For the fifth time, one of Spielberg's films won a best picture Globe. Nominated 14 times by the Globes for best director, Spielberg also won the honor for the third time. He began by thanking his three sisters, his late father and his late mother, Leah Adler ( played by Michelle Williams in the film). “She is up there kvelling about this right now,” said Spielberg. Carmichael kicked off the 80th Golden Globes from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, with little of the fanfare that usually opens such ceremonies. He plunged straight into the issues that drove the Globes off television and led much of the entertainment industry to boycott the Hollywood Foreign Press Association after the group was revealed to have no Black members. Carmichael opened by asking the crowd to “be a little quiet here." “I am your host, Jerrod Carmichael,” said the “Rothaniel” comedian. “And I'll tell you why I'm here. I'm here 'cause I'm Black. “I won't say they were a racist organization,” he continued before sitting on the stage. “But they didn't have a single Black member until George Floyd died. So do with that information what you will.” McDonagh's “The Banshees of Inisherin” left with three awards, including best screenplay for McDonagh and best actor in a comedy for Colin Farrrell. Fourteen years earlier, Farrell won a Globe for McDonagh's “In Bruges,” which likewise paired him with Brendan Gleeson. In his remarks, Farrell thanked the playwright, his castmates, his kids and the film’s donkey, Jenny. On a soggy night following punishing, prolonged rains that have lashed Southern California, the first award went to Ke Huy Quan, the former child star of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," for best supporting actor in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” A clearly emotional Quan, who had left acting years before directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert cast him in their multiverse tale, thanked them for his second act. "More than 30 years later, two guys thought of me," said Quan. “They remembered that kid. And they gave me the opportunity to try again.” Michelle Yeoh, the star of “Everything Everywhere At Once,” also won, for best actress in a comedy or musical. The Malaysian-born Yeoh was just the second female actor of Asian descent to win in the category, after her “Crazy Rich Asian” costar Awkwafina, who won for “The Farewell” in 2020. “Forty years,” the 60-year-old Yeoh said. “Not letting go of this.” Possibly Yeoh's stiffest competition at the Academy Awards, Cate Blanchett of “Tár,” won best actress on the drama side. Blanchett, in production, wasn't in attendance to pick up her fourth Globe. (Also absent was Kevin Costner, best-actor winner in a drama series for “Yellowstone.” Presenter Regina Hall said he was sheltering in place in Santa Barbara due to flooding.) Angela Bassett, a likely Oscar frontrunner, won best supporting actress for her performance in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever." “Weeping may come in the evening, but joy comes in the morning,” Bassett said, referencing the loss of “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman. Best actor was an upset. Austin Butler won for his performance in Baz Luhrmann's “Elvis." The favorite in the category has arguably been Brendan Fraser for “The Whale.” Ahead of the Globes, Fraser said he would not attend because "my mother didn’t raise a hypocrite.” In 2018, Fraser said he was groped in 2003 by longtime HFPA member Philip Berk. Berk, who is no longer an HFPA member, denied it. Mike White's “The White Lotus” won for best limited or anthology series. Fresh off her dramatic finale, Jennifer Coolidge gave one of the night’s lengthiest and warmest speeches while accepting the best supporting actress in a limited series award. “Even if this is the end, you sort of changed my life in a million different ways,” Coolidge told White. “My neighbors are speaking to me, things like that.” The public school sitcom “Abbott Elementary” came in the lead TV nominee and took home three awards, including best comedy series. Quinta Brunson, the show's creator and star, won best actress in a comedy series, and Tyler James Williams won for his supporting role. “It has resonated with the world in a way that I couldn't even have imagined it would have," said Brunson as she thanked the studios that backed her vision. “But let's be real. I did imagine it. That's why I sold it to you.” Best drama series went to “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon.” “Naatu Naatu” from the Telugu sensation “RRR, ” won best song over the likes of Rihanna and Taylor Swift. The Globes were plunged into chaos shortly before a largely remote pandemic 2021 awards show when a Los Angeles Times report revealed that the HFPA, then numbering 87 members, had no Black members. Stars and studios boycotted last year’s ceremony, which NBC opted not to televise, saying the HFPA needed time to make “meaningful reform.” Tom Cruise, whose “Top Gun: Maverick” was nominated for best picture, drama, famously returned his three Golden Globe awards after the HFPA revelations. Mid-show Tuesday, Carmichael came out with three trophies he said he found backstage, and suggested they be traded for Shelly Miscavige, the wife of the leader of the Church of Scientology. The HFPA pledged to reform, diversified its membership and changed some of the ways it operates. It now has 96 members, including six Black members, along with 103 nonmember voters. Billionaire Todd Boehly purchased the Globes and has begun turning the nonprofit group into a for-profit company. Reaction to the Globe nominations last month was muted. But much of the industry turned out Tuesday. Eddie Murphy and Ryan Murphy received tributes. Sean Penn introduced a message from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “There will be no third World War," Zelenskyy said in a taped message, predicting Russia's defeat. "It is not a trilogy.” When the Globes were on the brink, NBC reworked its Globes deal into a one-year contract and moved the show from Sunday to Tuesday. That meant the Globes were essentially put on a one-year audition to recapture its awards-season perch. As it has for most award shows, Globes viewership has cratered. After 18.4 million watched the 2020 awards, the 2021 edition managed just 6.9 million, according to Nielsen. Still, the Globes remain a valuable marketing tool for awards contenders, propping up ads for films in the long stretch between the holidays and the Oscars, which air March 12, a year after “the slap.” Accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award, Eddie Murphy said he knew the blueprint for longevity in show business: “Pay your taxes, mind your business, and keep Will Smith's wife's name out of your (expletive) mouth!”

The global economy will come “perilously close” to a recession this year, led by weaker growth in all the world’s top economies — the United States, Europe and China — the World Bank warned on Tuesday. In an annual report, the World Bank, which lends money to poorer countries for development projects, said it had slashed its forecast for global growth this year by nearly half, to just 1.7%, from its previous projection of 3%. If that forecast proves accurate, it would be the third-weakest annual expansion in three decades, behind only the deep recessions that resulted from the 2008 global financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Though the United States might avoid a recession this year — the World Bank predicts the U.S. economy will eke out growth of 0.5% — global weakness will likely pose another headwind for America’s businesses and consumers, on top of high prices and more expensive borrowing rates. The United States also remains vulnerable to further supply chain disruptions if COVID-19 keeps surging or Russia’s war in Ukraine worsens. And Europe, long a major exporter to China, will likely suffer from a weaker Chinese economy. The World Bank report also noted that rising interest rates in developed economies like the United States and Europe will attract investment capital from poorer countries, thereby depriving them of crucial domestic investment. At the same time, the report said, those high interest rates will slow growth in developed countries at a time when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has kept world food prices high. “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has added major new costs,” World Bank President David Malpass said on a call with reporters. “The outlook is particularly devastating for many of the poorest economies where poverty reduction is already ground to a halt and access to electricity, fertilizer, food and capital is likely to remain limited for a prolonged period.” The impact of a global downturn would fall particularly hard on poorer countries in such areas as Saharan Africa, which is home to 60% of the world’s poor. The World Bank predicts per capita income will grow just 1.2% in 2023 and 2024, which is such a tepid pace that poverty rates could rise. Read more: Emerging, developing economies less prepared for downturn than 10 years ago: World Bank “Weakness in growth and business investment will compound the already devastating reversals in education, health, poverty and infrastructure and the increasing demands from climate change,” Malpass said. “Addressing the scale of these challenges will require significantly more resources for development and global public goods.” Along with seeking new financing so it can lend more to poorer countries, Malpass said, the World Bank is, among other things, seeking to improve its lending terms that would increase debt transparency, “especially for the rising share of poor countries that are at high risk of debt distress.” The report follows a similarly gloomy forecast a week earlier from Kristina Georgieva, the head of the International Monetary Fund, the global lending agency. Georgieva estimated on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that one-third of the world will fall into recession this year. “For most of the world economy, this is going to be a tough year, tougher than the year we leave behind,” Georgieva said. “Why? Because the three big economies — U.S., EU, China — are all slowing down simultaneously.” The World Bank projects that the European Union’s economy won’t grow at all next year after having expanded 3.3% in 2022. It foresees China growing 4.3%, nearly a percentage point lower than it had previously forecast and about half the pace that Beijing posted in 2021. The bank expects developing countries to fare better, growing 3.4% this year, the same as in 2022, though still only about half the pace of 2021. It forecasts Brazil’s growth slowing to 0.8% in 2023, down from 3% last year. In Pakistan, it expects the economy to expand just 2% this year, one-third of last year’s pace. Other economists have also issued bleak outlooks, though most of them not quite as dire. Economists at JPMorgan are predicting slow growth this year for advanced economies and the world as a whole, but they don’t expect a global recession. Last month, the bank predicted that slowing inflation will bolster consumers’ ability to spend and power growth in the United States and elsewhere. Read more: World Bank dims outlook for global economy amid Russia war “The global expansion will turn into 2023 bent but not broken,” the JPMorgan report said.

Expressing anger and frustration, several hundred protesters on Monday (January 09, 2023) demanded justice for a Bangladeshi American college student who was shot and killed by police in the Boston suburb of Cambridge last week, a shooting that has drawn attention from Bangladeshi media. Sayed Faisal, 20, a student at the University of Massachusetts Boston, was shot on January 4 while advancing on officers with what police described as a kukri and after a less-than-lethal “sponge round” failed to stop him, authorities have said. A kukri is a short sword with an angled blade that originated in South Asia. Protesters at the rally outside Cambridge City Hall organized by the Bangladesh Association of New England held signs saying “Justice for Faisal” and “Faisal needed help not bullets,” while his friends and teachers remembered his friendliness, his positive outlook and his intelligence. An independent judicial inquest into the shooting has been initiated. The findings of that inquest will be forwarded to the Middlesex district attorney’s office to decide whether charges are warranted, a process that could take a year or more. Read More: Killing of Bangladeshi-American in US: Human chain in front of MoFA demands justice Faisal, who was known as Prince by his family, was an only child who was never violent and had never been involved with law enforcement before, his parents said in a statement released by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “We are completely devastated and in disbelief that our son is gone,” the Cambridge residents said. “Prince was the most wonderful, loving, caring, generous, supportive, and deeply family-oriented person. He loved to travel, create art, and play sports with his friends.” Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, City Manager Yi-An Huang, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, and Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine Elow are all expected to attend a community meeting on Thursday to discuss the shooting and answer questions from the public. The City Council has also scheduled a special meeting on Jan. 18 to discuss protocols, processes, and training of city police. Read More: Momen slams Bangladeshi expat's killing in US, denounces hate crime Authorities have not released the name of the officer who opened fire. The officer, who is on paid administrative leave, is a seven-year department veteran who has never been the subject of a citizen’s complaint, police spokesperson Jeremy Warnick said Monday. According to the preliminary investigation, police received a 911 call early last Wednesday afternoon from a resident who reported seeing a man jumping out of an apartment window with a machete which he appeared to be using to cut himself. Officers and paramedics found the man, identified as Faisal, bleeding in an alley. Faisal saw police, who requested that he drop the weapon, and ran for several blocks. Read More: We support calls for “thorough, transparent investigation” over Bangladeshi-American student's death: US Embassy He then reportedly moved toward the police while still holding the weapon, even when they fired a less-than-lethal round at him. He continued to advance and one officer fired a gun, striking Faisal, who later died at a hospital, authorities said.

E-commerce billionaire Jack Ma will give up control of Ant Group, the leading Chinese financial technology provider he founded. In a statement posted Friday, Ant Group said that after an ownership restructuring, “no shareholder, alone or with other parties” will have “control over Ant Group.” The company is an affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba, which Ma also founded. The move follows other efforts over the years by the Chinese government to rein in Ma and the country’s tech sector more broadly. Two years ago, the once high-profile Ma largely disappeared from view for 2 1/2 months after criticizing China’s regulators. The government at the same time also forced Ant Group to call off a highly-anticipated IPO that would have raised over $3 billion, just days before it was to launch. Also read: Where is Alibaba founder Jack Ma? In Tokyo, according to Financial Times Yet Ma’s surrender of control comes after other signs the government was easing up on Chinese online firms. Late last year Beijing signaled at an economic work conference that it would support technology firms to boost economic growth and create more jobs. And last month, the government said it would allow Ant Group to raise $1.5 billion in capital for its consumer finance unit.    

In a book full of startling revelations, Prince Harry’s assertion that he killed 25 people in Afghanistan is one of the most striking — and has drawn criticism from both enemies and allies. In his memoir, “Spare,” Harry says he killed more than two dozen Taliban militants while serving as an Apache helicopter copilot gunner in Afghanistan in 2012-2013. He writes that he feels neither satisfaction nor shame about his actions, and in the heat of battle regarded enemy combatants as pieces being removed from a chessboard, “Baddies eliminated before they could kill Goodies.” Harry has talked before about his combat experience, saying near the end of his tour in 2013 that “if there’s people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we’ll take them out of the game.” But his decision to put a number on those he killed, and the comparison to chess pieces, drew outrage from the Taliban, and concern from British veterans. “Mr. Harry! The ones you killed were not chess pieces, they were humans; they had families who were waiting for their return,” prominent Taliban member Anas Haqqani wrote Friday on Twitter. The Taliban, who adhere to a strict interpretation of Islam, returned to power when Western troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi said Harry’s comments “are a microcosm of the trauma experienced by Afghans at the hands of occupation forces who murdered innocents without any accountability.” In Britain, some veterans and military leaders said publishing a head count violated an unspoken military code. Col. Tim Collins, who led a British battalion during the Iraq war, told Forces News that the statement was “not how you behave in the Army; it’s not how we think.” Retired Royal Navy officer Rear Adm. Chris Parry called the claim “distasteful.” Some questioned whether Harry could be sure of the toll, but Harry said he reviewed video of his missions, and “in the era of Apaches and laptops,” technology let him know exactly how many enemy combatants he had killed. Others said Harry’s words could increase the security risk for him and for British forces around the world. “I don’t think it is wise that he said that out loud,” Royal Marines veteran Ben McBean, who knows Harry from their military days, told Sky News. “He’s already got a target on his back, more so than anyone else.” Retired Army Col. Richard Kemp told the BBC the claim was “an error of judgment” that would be “potentially valuable to those people who wish the British forces and British government harm.” Harry lost his publicly funded U.K. police protection when he and his wife Meghan quit royal duties in 2020. Harry is suing the British government over its refusal to let him pay personally for police security when he comes to Britain. Tens of thousands of British troops served in Afghanistan, and more than 450 died, between the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 and the end of U.K. combat operations in 2014. Harry spent a decade in the British Army, serving twice in Afghanistan. He spent 10 weeks as a forward air controller in 2007-2008 until a media leak cut short his tour. He retrained as a helicopter pilot with the British Army Air Corps so he could have the chance to return to the front line. He was part of a two-man crew whose duties ranged from supporting ground troops in firefights to accompanying helicopters as they evacuated wounded soldiers. Harry has described his time in the army as the happiest of his life because it let him be “one of the guys” rather than a prince. After leaving the military in 2015 he founded the Invictus Games, an international sports competition for sick and injured veterans. Harry’s memoir is due to be published around the world on Tuesday. The Associated Press obtained an early Spanish-language copy.

Flexible working hours can advance economies and businesses while helping employees and families achieve a better work-life balance, said a new report launched by the UN labour agency Friday. Issues surrounding working hours and conditions are at the heart of most labour market reforms and evolutions taking place in the world today, Philippe Marcadent, chief of INWORK at the International Labour Organization (ILO), said in the "Working Time and Work-Life Balance Around the World." "The number of hours worked, the way in which they are organised, and the availability of rest periods can significantly affect not only the quality of work but also life outside the workplace." The study, which is the first to focus on work-life balance, examines the effects that working hours and time schedules have on the performance of businesses and their employees. Covering the periods before and during Covid, the report reveals that more than a third of all employees are regularly working more than 48 hours per week, while a fifth of the global workforce is labouring fewer than 35 hours per week, on a part-time basis. "The so-called 'Great Resignation' phenomenon has placed work-life balance at the forefront of social and labour market issues in the post-pandemic world," lead author Jon Messenger said. The report analyses different work schedules and their effects on work-life balance, including shifts, arrangements for being on call, compressed hours, and hours-averaging schemes. Innovative working-time arrangements, such as those introduced during the Covid crisis, can bring great benefits, including greater productivity and improved work-life balance, Messenger said. "This report shows that if we apply some of the lessons of the Covid crisis and look very carefully at the way working hours are structured, as well as their overall length, we can create a win-win (for all), improving both business performance and work-life balance," he added. The Covid crisis measures also yielded powerful new evidence showing that giving workers more flexibility in how, where and when they work, can be positive both for them and for business, with significant productivity gains. Conversely, restricting flexibility brings substantial costs, including higher staff turnover. "There is a substantial amount of evidence that work–life balance policies provide significant benefits to enterprises, supporting the argument that such policies are a 'win-win' for both employers and employees," the report said. Laws and regulations which set an upper limit on hours worked and statutory rest periods, contribute to the long-term health and well-being of society, it added. According to Working Time, countries should continue to support pandemic-era initiatives such as inclusive short-time work schemes, which not only saved jobs but also boosted purchasing power and helped cushion the effects of economic crises. It also advocates for a public policy shift to reduce the number of working hours in many countries, and promote a healthy work-life balance. Also, the report encourages teleworking to help maintain employment and give workers more agency.