War zone
-
admin
- March 2, 2026
- 3
War zone
admin
There is a worry that AI might become godlike, well it already has, or at least Buddha like.There is a worldwide shortage of people willing to join religious orders and preach so a Japanese university
admin
An AI productivity boom, if it materialises, may help buy major economies more time to clean up their strained public finances, economists say, although it won’t do the heavy lifting.The stakes couldn’t be higher. Debt
admin
On paper, American consumers spent last year tightening their belts, and even retail heavyweights stumbled. But sit-down restaurants and some drive-through chains buzzed with patrons seeking a special treat or cheap comfort food. Their upbeat sales made the US restaurant industry a rare bright spot for jobs, with restaurant payrolls ticking up 1% last year, adding about 108,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics.In contrast, the overall US economy added 181,000 non-farm jobs in 2025, marking the weakest annual payroll growth in 20 years outside a recession year.Success among restaurants was not evenly spread, though.Corporate filings show that eateries such as Brinker’s Chili’s, Yum Brands’ Taco Bell and fast-growing coffee chain Dutch Bros lured customers by aggressively marketing bundled deals, leaning into digital innovation and limited-time offers, and focusing on high-margin, Instagrammable food.But previous darlings like Chipotle and Cava were hurt by what analysts call the “slop-bowl fatigue” — growing weariness among younger consumers with high-priced, customisable grain or salad bowls.Tempe, Arizona-based Dutch Bros and its franchisees added roughly 8,000 employees in the last two years, a 33% increase, the company said.“We have a healthy pipeline of growth,” CEO Christine Barone told Reuters after the company’s earnings in February. The brand, which serves customisable beverages, is a hit with younger consumers, Barone said.A similar story is playing out at another chain that, like Dutch Bros, sells more treats than meals.Ice cream chain Whit’s Frozen Custard has grown its payroll by up to 40% a year for the past two years, said owner Bill Aseere, to keep up with rapid growth. It now has stores in 93 locations across 10 states and some 15 to 20 employees per store. Amanda Wang, co-founder of fast-growing Chinese beverage chain Ningji Lemon Tea — part of a tidal wave of Chinese tea brands coming to the US — said her chain’s new restaurants in the US were buoyed by demand among price-weary consumers for affordable indulgences.Tea “offers that little bit of happiness,” she said. As a whole, the restaurant industry grew payrolls even as it weathers depressed traffic and rising labour costs, analysts say, thanks in part to menu price increases. Menu prices at restaurants grew 4.1% in 2025 compared to grocery inflation of 2.3%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis. A deeper look at 2025 payroll data shows the difference in fortunes between types of restaurants: staff headcount at snack and non-alcoholic beverage restaurants grew 3.6% in 2025 and those at sit-down restaurants rose 1%. But fast-food payrolls grew only 0.4%, while cafeterias and buffet payrolls shrank 3.9%. “At the end of the day, people want go out to eat and celebrate those big occasions,” said Chad Moutray, an economist at the National Restaurant Association, referring to resilient spending at sit-down restaurants.“Consumers might be pulling back from vacations, but they still prioritise eating out.” The payroll data and Moutray’s comments underscore what the industry calls the “lipstick effect” — consumers tightened their budgets, cancelling expensive trips and postponing big-ticket purchases, but treated themselves to an indulgent meal, coffee or dessert.Brinker’s reported 23% growth in its hourly restaurant staff between fiscal years 2024 and 2025, according to SEC filings, though it indicated that a growing share of its employees were part-time. Darden, the parent company of sit-down restaurants like Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, increased staff for fiscal 2025 by about 3.8%. Most national restaurant chains are franchised and do not report total employment figures among franchisees, but Chipotle and Starbucks, which operate the majority of their own stores, reported slight declines in total headcount for fiscal year 2025. While cascades of tariff announcements have forced other industries to raise prices and reroute sourcing, restaurant owners have only faced the tariffs impacting narrow categories like cup packaging and Chinese Sichuan peppers. — Reuters
admin
The Gorton and Denton by-election looks to be one of the more consequential contests of its kind since the Second World War. “Seismic” is how the triumphant Greens describe it. This was, after all, the
admin
By joining Israel to mount an unprovoked military offensive against Iran on Saturday, US President Donald Trump violated the key international law which bans war except in self-defence. Trump tried to justify this campaign by
admin
It is 25 years since there was a Clinton in the White House, yet the diehard Democrat power couple still have a habit of ending up in the headlines. The release of the Epstein files
admin
A few years ago, but long after she became one of the highest-paid women on American television, the Big Bang Theory star Kaley Cuoco was asked to be on the cover of a magazine. And
admin
Angela Rayner’s response to the Green victory in the Gorton and Denton by-election was to say that Labour should be “braver”. Shabana Mahmood’s response was to do just that. The home secretary will next week
admin
The decision by Instagram to alert parents when teenagers repeatedly search for suicide or self-harm content is a timely and responsible step toward protecting young users. As a platform used daily by millions of adolescents,
