World

Although the start of the women’s artistic gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics was disappointing for the usually dominant US team, the Americans still have the most medal opportunities of any country. The Russians, competing as the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) as part of sanctions due to several doping scandals, qualified for Tuesday’s team final ahead of the Americans after an off day for US star Simone Biles. But the US women’s qualifying efforts earned them 11 medal attempts at the Tokyo Games, the maximum possible. That includes the team event, two in the all-around and two in each of the four apparatus finals. ROC could earn at most 10 medals since they qualified only one gymnast to the balance beam finals, and China have the next highest medal chances at seven. The top eight of 1...

A Frontier Airlines passenger was taped to his seat after he allegedly groped two flight attendants and punched another in the face on a Miami-bound flight from Philadelphia last week, according to a police report. The passenger, 22-year-old Maxwell Berry of Norwalk, Ohio, had finished two drinks and was ordering another when he allegedly brushed his empty cup against a flight attendant's "back side inappropriately," said the Miami-Dade Police Department report about the July 31 flight. Berry later allegedly groped the breasts of two flight attendants, who asked a third cabin crew member for help, the report said. Berry then allegedly punched that flight attendant in the face "with a closed fist." Berry could not immediately be reached for comment. "A fight ensued," said the report. The...

Nike is at risk of running out of sneakers made in Vietnam as the Covid crisis worsens around the global, according to a new report from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The warning comes after two of Nike's suppliers in Vietnam, Chang Shin Vietnam Co. and Pou Chen Corp., recently halted production due to a rapidly growing Covid outbreak in the region. In fiscal 2020, Nike said contract factories in Vietnam made roughly 50% of total Nike branded footwear. A new analysis from Panjiva, a business line of S&P Global Market Intelligence, found Vietnam accounted for 49% of U.S. seaborne imports linked to Nike and its products in the second quarter of 2021. Nike's imports from Vietnam are led by footwear, Panjiva said, which was included in 82% of shipments in the 12 months ended June 30. "Th...

With no indication of a U.S.-China leaders’ summit in the works, nor any outcomes announced from high-level diplomatic talks on Monday, relations between Beijing and Washington appear to be at a standstill as both sides insist the other must make concessions for ties to improve. U.S. officials had stressed that Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman’s trip to the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin to meet Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other officials was a chance to ensure that stiffening competition between the two geopolitical rivals does not veer into conflict. But the combative statements that emerged from the meeting — albeit coupled with suggestions from officials that closed-door sessions were marginally more cordial — mirrored the tone set in Alaska in March, when the first se...

BANGKOK: Myanmar's military ruler Min Aung Hlaing on Sunday (Aug 1) again promised new multi-party elections and said his government is ready to work with any special envoy named by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). He also said a state of emergency would lifted by August 2023, extending the military's initial timeline given when it deposed Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb 1. He spoke in a televised address six months after the army seized power from a civilian government after disputed elections won by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's ruling party, which he described as "terrorists". "We will accomplish the provisions of the state of emergency by August 2023," he said. "I pledge to hold multiparty elections without fail." The general's announcement would place Myanmar in th...

NEW DELHI: India is considering slashing import duties on electric cars to as low as 40 per cent, two senior government officials told Reuters, days after Tesla Inc's appeals for a cut polarised the country's auto industry. For imported electric vehicles (EVs) with a value of less than US$40,000 - including the car's cost, insurance and freight - the government is discussing slashing the tax rate to 40per cent from 60per cent presently, the officials told Reuters. For EVs valued at more than US$40,000, it is looking at cutting the rate to 60per cent from 100 per cent, they said. "We haven't firmed up the reduction in duties yet, but there are discussions that are ongoing," one of the officials said. India is the world's fifth-largest car market with annual sales of about 3 million vehi...

NEW YORK : Google employees based in the same office before the pandemic could see different changes in pay if they switch to working from home permanently, with long commuters hit harder, according to a company pay calculator seen by Reuters. It is an experiment taking place across Silicon Valley, which often sets trends for other large employers. Facebook and Twitter also cut pay for remote employees who move to less expensive areas, while smaller companies including Reddit and Zillow have shifted to location-agnostic pay models, citing advantages when it comes to hiring, retention and diversity. Alphabet Inc's Google stands out in offering employees a calculator that allows them to see the effects of a move. But in practice, some remote employees, especially those who commute from lo...

BOSTON -U.S. stocks edged higher on Monday on optimism over government infrastructure spending and corporate earnings, even as oil prices slumped on broader macroeconomic fear and the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus continued. U.S. senators on Sunday unveiled a bipartisan plan to invest around US$1 trillion in roads, bridges, ports, high-speed internet and other infrastructure, with some predicting the spending bill, the largest in decades, could pass as early as this week. A rebound in corporate profits and the recent drop in bond yields are also bolstering the case for owning stocks, even as markets stand near records and economic growth is expected to slow. Those factors helped push the S&P 500 index to a near all-time high on Monday morning, although the benchmark bas...

Anti-coup protesters in Myanmar held demonstrations on Monday (Jul 19) to coincide with a public holiday to commemorate slain independence heroes, including the father of the country's detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Since the military seized power on Feb 1 and arrested Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior members of her party, hundreds of people have been killed as the army quelled street protests and in clashes between soldiers and newly formed people's militias. In Yangon, military authorities held a tightly controlled ceremony for Martyrs' Day at a mausoleum dedicated to Aung San, Aung San Suu Kyi's father and a national hero, who was assassinated alongside members of his cabinet on July 19, 1947. Drivers in Yangon also blared their horns at 10.37am, a tradition to mark the t...

Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the government, was cited as saying that efforts were also being made to seek support from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and unspecified “friendly countries". “Efforts must be made for ensuring better health of the State and the people,” he was quoted as saying. Myanmar reported another 342 deaths Thursday, and 5,234 new infections. Its seven-day rolling average of deaths per 1 million people rose to 6.29 — more than double the rate of 3.04 in India at the peak of its crisis in May. The figures in Myanmar are thought to be a drastic undercount due to lack of testing and reporting. “There is a big difference between the actual death toll from COVID-19 of the Military Council and reality,” a physician from the Mawlamyine General Hospita...