logo
China planemaker COMAC starts commercial operation in Vietnam

China planemaker COMAC starts commercial operation in Vietnam

Reuters19-04-2025
SHANGHAI, April 19 ((Reuters)) - Two Chinese-made COMAC aircraft, branded as C909, started flying routes in Vietnam on Saturday, Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), the Chinese planemaker said.
The planes were leased by China's Chengdu Airlines to Vietnamese budget airline VietJet, and the route opening marks the start of COMAC's commercial operation in Vietnam, according it said in a statement.
The Reuters Tariff Watch newsletter is your daily guide to the latest global trade and tariff news. Sign up here.
The airline operates flights between the capital Hanoi and Con Dao Island off southern Vietnam, as well as between business hub Ho Chi Minh City and Con Dao.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

New Zealand manufacturing activity expands in July, survey shows
New Zealand manufacturing activity expands in July, survey shows

Reuters

timean hour ago

  • Reuters

New Zealand manufacturing activity expands in July, survey shows

SYDNEY, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Manufacturing activity in New Zealand rose in July, returning to levels of expansion seen during early 2025 after new orders and production metrics hit the highest level in three years, a survey showed on Friday. The Bank of New Zealand-Business NZ's seasonally adjusted Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) increased to 52.8 in July from a revised 49.2 in June. The new orders index rose to 54.2 from a revised 51.8 in the prior month. A reading above 50 indicates manufacturing activity is expanding, while anything below that threshold points to contraction. "Given the prevailing headwinds it is, perhaps, even more encouraging that the PMI has moved back into expansion. It will need to be sustained or nudge a bit higher to be consistent with our economic forecasts," BNZ senior economist Doug Steel said.

US legal jobs are rising again, but gains are mixed
US legal jobs are rising again, but gains are mixed

Reuters

time2 hours ago

  • Reuters

US legal jobs are rising again, but gains are mixed

Aug 14 (Reuters) - (Billable Hours is Reuters' weekly report on lawyers and money. Please send tips or suggestions to opens new tab.) The U.S. legal sector enjoyed its fifth straight month of employment growth in July, despite strains on the U.S. economy, reaching just shy of the historical peak of 1.2 million jobs in December 2023, according to the latest preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But a review of 35 years of BLS data shows legal industry employment has still barely improved from an earlier high point it reached nearly two decades ago, before the late-2000s financial crisis and the pandemic each reversed years of gains. July's job numbers, which are subject to revision, are just 1.7% higher than the 1,179,500 jobs recorded in May 2007, when a period of propulsive growth had increased the number of legal jobs by 26.3% since 1990. While overall legal employment only recently rebounded from the Great Recession, the largest law firms have grown substantially, employing more lawyers and becoming far richer. Between 1999 and 2021, the 200 top-grossing U.S. firms collectively grew their lawyer headcount by 87% and increased their revenues by 172%, according to data collected by the American Lawyer. The Bureau of Labor Statistics job figures for the legal sector include a range of legal workers at companies, law firms and other organizations of all sizes, including paralegals and assistants. The majority are attorneys, according to BLS, but it's a much larger and more varied group than those employed by the country's largest law firms. Those firms have grown by serving major corporate clients and continually charging higher rates, legal industry consultants said. Billing rate increases have also sent compensation skyrocketing for top lawyers at the most in-demand firms. Pay for the "superstars" of the legal industry — who can command more than $10 million a year — are "numbers that were unimaginable 15 years ago," said consultant Bruce MacEwen of Adam Smith Esq. Technological advances have allowed law firms to grow without needing to rely as heavily on administrative staff and paralegals, said Kristin Stark, a principal at law firm consultancy Fairfax Associates. The ratio of lawyers to law firm staff has been declining for years, according to a 2024 report from the Thomson Reuters Institute. In 2017, law firms had 95 full-time support staffers for every one lawyer. In 2023, that number dropped to 81. The Thomson Reuters Institute and Reuters share the same parent company. Artificial intelligence could drive more changes in legal staffing and employment if it allows law firms and legal departments to manage with fewer workers. Kent Zimmermann, a law firm consultant at Zeughauser Group, said he spoke with the general counsel of a large fund who, instead of asking his fund's go-to outside law firm for case summaries and complex data sets, asked a generative AI model for the same information and received it for free. Beyond the U.S. legal sector, BLS reported much weaker-than-expected job growth for July and issued historically large revisions to the data for May and June. President Donald Trump fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer hours after the report, accusing her without evidence of manipulating the figures. – A team from Boies Schiller has taken on a prominent role defending top Florida officials in a pair of lawsuits in federal court over the state's hard-line immigration policies. Boies partner Jesse Panuccio is representing state Attorney General James Uthmeier in one case that is on appeal now in the 11th Circuit. A judge in June held Uthmeier in civil contempt, opens new tab for allegedly flouting one her orders in the litigation. A contract between Florida and Boies Schiller showed the state was billed $875 for legal work from partners, $750 for counsel and $625 for associates. Panuccio was a leading U.S. Justice Department lawyer during the first Trump administration. He and the firm did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Panuccio was in court last week in the other case, a challenge to the state's effort to build an immigration detention center in the Everglades. He is defending the state's emergency management director. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami at the hearing halted new construction at the facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" while the lawsuit plays out. – International law firm Eversheds Sutherland said this week that its overall global revenue increased by roughly 10% in 2024, rising to $1.63 billion thanks in part to an increase in revenue from its U.S. offices. Eversheds' U.S. business increased its revenue by 10% to, $460 million in 2024, a firm spokesperson said. The firm opened a new office in Silicon Valley last month. Eversheds said Wednesday that revenue generated by its offices in Asia, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Middle East, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom rose by 3% to 768.7 million pounds ($1.04 billion) during its most recent fiscal year, which ended April 30. Other London-founded international firms, including Clifford Chance, Kennedys, and Linklaters, have also reported revenue increases. Read more: Optum picks new fight to kick law firm Motley Rice off opioids case Lawyers face objections to multimillion-dollar fees after no-cash settlement with Schwab Uber dials up new fights with plaintiffs lawyers

USAID failed to monitor uses of Musk's Starlink terminals sent to Ukraine, says watchdog
USAID failed to monitor uses of Musk's Starlink terminals sent to Ukraine, says watchdog

Reuters

time2 hours ago

  • Reuters

USAID failed to monitor uses of Musk's Starlink terminals sent to Ukraine, says watchdog

WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Agency for International Development did not monitor the uses of 5,175 Starlink terminals sent to Ukraine, with nearly half of the operational units ending up in areas fully or partly held by Moscow, according to a report by the agency's internal watchdog. USAID's inspector general found that the agency failed to keep track of the terminals of Elon Musk's satellite internet service because it had accepted a higher risk of misuse due to "the complex wartime environment" and Ukraine's urgent need for them. "As a result, USAID did not know where the terminals were or how they were used," said the report dated August 11 that was reviewed by Reuters. In response, USAID said it was impractical to track the terminals once they were handed to Ukraine because of the dangerous wartime conditions and the "unprecedented emergency" created by Russian strikes on communications systems. "The primary objective was to restore life-saving connectivity for critical public services, such as healthcare, municipal emergency shelters, and local governance," said a USAID letter included in the report. The findings were first reported by Bloomberg. The report did not examine Ukraine's use of the terminals for military operations, including drone flights, artillery targeting and communications. After Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, USAID partnered with Musk's SpaceX company to provide 5,175 Starlink terminals to Ukraine to sustain critical civilian services and internet connectivity, the report said. USAID delivered to Kyiv 1,508 terminals that it purchased and 3,667 units donated by SpaceX, said the report. It found that USAID did not "fully mitigate" the risk of the terminals being misused, and that more than half of the "active" units were "present in territories that Russia fully or partially occupied." The report did not say how those terminals ended up in those areas, who had them or the purposes for which they were used. Kyiv last year charged that Russian occupation troops had been using thousands of Starlink terminals acquired from private Russian firms, allegations denied by the Kremlin and by Musk.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store