World

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...

Max Scherzer struck out 10 over seven innings in his Dodgers debut and Mookie Betts hit a pair of home runs to power Los Angeles to a 7-5 victory over the visiting Houston Astros on Wednesday. Scherzer (9-4), who was acquired at Friday's trade deadline from the Washington Nationals, gave up two runs on five hits with one walk in his fourth double-digit strikeout game of the season. Will Smith and AJ Pollock also hit home runs as the Dodgers split a brief two-game series with the Astros. The teams split the season series 2-2 in a rematch of the 2017 World Series, won by Houston. Michael Brantley, Carlos Correa and Kyle Tucker homered for the Astros. Houston starter Jake Odorizzi (4-6) was tagged for seven runs (six earned) on six hits and four home runs over three innings. Reds 6, Twins...

BEIJING : China's robust export growth likely moderated in July amid an acceleration in COVID-19 cases globally and continuing severe pressure on global supply chains, a Reuters poll showed on Friday. Although there are signs China's strong industrial recovery in the first half of the year may be losing some momentum, overseas demand has remained strong in recent months even as factories in many countries return from lockdowns. Headline trade numbers are also being helped by the statistical base effects when compared with sharp declines a year ago. Exports are expected to have risen 20.8per cent in July from a year earlier, according to the median forecast in a Reuters poll of 21 economists, compared with a 32.2per cent gain in June. Imports likely rose 33.0per cent last month year-on-...

As the 76th anniversaries of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki approach, survivors of the catastrophe are pinning their hopes on Japan joining a U.N. treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons that took effect in January, seeing it as a key step in realizing their dream of a nuclear-free world. But some experts say the goal is unrealistic for Japan as nuclear threats continue to grow in the region while an existing nonproliferation treaty is not working properly amid growing tensions between the United States and fellow nuclear superpowers Russia and China. Terumi Tanaka, 87, a co-chairperson of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), insists that Japan, the only country to have experienced nuclear attacks, should approve the treaty sig...

Fifty years since a secret visit to Beijing by then-U.S. national security adviser Henry Kissinger paved the way for American engagement with communist China, ties between the two rival powers are now heading in the opposite direction. That trajectory is unlikely to be altered any time soon, experts say, as top officials in both countries buckle down for a long-haul competition. “I think both countries are preparing for a prolonged, contested struggle,” said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund think tank. Biden administration officials say the U.S. strategy is a reaction to China’s own aggressive behavior, while the Chinese side says that increased tensions are the result of tougher U.S. policies. “The fundamental reason (for the tensions) is that th...

The United States said Monday that Myanmar’s junta was playing for time with a two-year election time frame as Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to encourage ASEAN to appoint an envoy. Blinken is participating virtually in a week of talks involving foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the latest bid by U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration to engage a region at the front line of U.S. competition with China. Ahead of the ASEAN talks, Myanmar’s junta chief promised to hold elections and lift a state of emergency by August 2023, extending an initial timeline given when the military deposed elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1. The announcement is “a call for ASEAN to have to step up its effort because it’s clear that the Burmese junta is just s...

BOSTON :A positive jobs report drove U.S. stocks modestly higher Friday, but a parallel rise in Treasury yields signaled a downside: the good news could push the Federal Reserve to curtail its massive stimulus policies faster then expected. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 943,000 in July after rising 938,000 in June, the Labor Department said in its closely watched employment report, pushing unemployment down to 5.4per cent and suggesting the economy maintained its strong momentum. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls increasing by 870,000 jobs. "It's a number that's hard to say anything but positive things about," said Sameer Samana, a market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in St. Louis. "Especially with the Delta variant kind of perking up, it would be much m...

REUTERS: Private aviation companies are making a beeline for executives wary of flying commercial to business meetings due to a limited offering of direct flights, as corporate travel eases back this fall after a pandemic-induced slump. Private air traffic has rebounded above 2019 levels, helped by wealthy leisure travellers avoiding commercial earlier in the pandemic to avoid contracting the virus or due to fewer direct flights. Now, some charter companies are trying to extend that advantage to corporate travel, with scheduled flights to some business hubs still below 2019 levels despite a broader leisure-driven rebound in commercial traffic. Corporate planemakers like General Dynamics Corp's Gulfstream Aerospace and Textron Inc are boosting production as demand rises. Rival Bombardier...