Unemployment rises in America; Trump expands travel ban, and more
The World in Brief from The Economist
The Economist
4.1 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2025
⏱️ 5 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, you're listening to the free edition of the world in brief from The Economist. |
| 0:11.2 | As a reminder, if you subscribe to The Economist, you'll get access to a deeper look at the day ahead, updated three times a day. |
| 0:20.1 | If you're already an Economist subscriber, visit |
| 0:22.9 | economist.com slash espresso or visit our espresso app to start listening. Here's today's |
| 0:29.5 | free edition. |
| 0:35.3 | This is the world in brief from The Economist. |
| 0:40.3 | Our top stories. |
| 0:44.3 | America's economy added 64,000 jobs in November, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, the highest in over four years, up from 4.4% in September. |
| 0:58.1 | The release of two months of data was delayed because of a 43-day government shutdown. |
| 1:04.1 | October's figures for which officials were unable to collect unemployment data showed that the economy lost 105,000 jobs, in part because of cuts |
| 1:14.2 | to the federal workforce. The Trump administration expanded its travel ban, barring citizens |
| 1:21.9 | from seven other countries on top of the original 12 from entering America. People from Burkina Faso, Laos, Marley, Niger, |
| 1:32.2 | Sierra, Sierra, Leone, South Sudan and Syria, along with those using Palestinian documents, will no longer |
| 1:38.8 | be allowed in. Fifteen other countries faced new restrictions. The White House cited risks, including terrorism and visa |
| 1:47.8 | overstay rates. The European Union is moving to rollback rules that would in effect ban |
| 1:55.6 | new petrol and diesel cars by 2035. Facing pressure from Europe's auto industry, it will instead require |
| 2:04.5 | carmakers to reduce tailpipe emissions by 90% compared with 2021 levels. The announcement comes |
| 2:13.0 | a day after Ford, an American car maker, said it was scaling back its electric vehicle plans. |
| 2:20.5 | Business activity in the euro area slowed, more than expected in December, |
| 2:26.5 | dragged down by a private sector downturn in Germany. |
| 2:30.4 | S&P Global's composite purchasing managers index showed the Eurozone slipping from 52.8 in November to 51.9, |
| 2:40.5 | nearing the threshold for contraction. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Economist, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Economist and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

