World

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...

HANOI: More than 10 million residents of Ho Chi Minh City will be placed under a strict overnight curfew beginning Monday (Jul 26), an unprecedented move to curb infections as Vietnam battles a rapid COVID-19 surge. After successfully containing limited coronavirus outbreaks last year, the communist country is now recording increasing infections and deaths fuelled by the highly contagious Delta variant. Hardest-hit are the northern industrial centres and Ho Chi Minh City in the south, which has registered more than 62,000 infections since April - making up the bulk of Vietnam's 101,000 cases. Authorities have restricted movement in the once-bustling economic hub for more than two months, and imposed a lockdown in early July. Residents are allowed to leave home only for medical emergenci...

Panera Bread wants to be the new corporate cafeteria — even if employees are still working remotely or only popping into the office a few days every week. The soup and sandwich chain, which claims to have been the largest restaurant caterer in the U.S. before the pandemic, has been working on several initiatives to adapt its catering business to how the U.S. workforce has changed. Demand for Panera's catered meals, which primarily comes from companies and universities, cratered during lockdowns as many workers stayed home. Now, many employees are preparing to return to the office, if they haven't already. A CNBC survey conducted in June found that 45% of respondents expect to have a hybrid workforce model in the second half of 2021. Roughly one-third of company executives who participat...

At a press conference, co-chair of the COVID-19 multi-ministerial task force Lawrence Wong said that these businesses will be allowed to resume operations “only after we are satisfied that safe management measures are well in place”. “I think the onus is very much now on the nightlife association and its members to show us that they can get their act together and behave properly,” he added. Mr Wong joined the press conference remotely as he is in isolation after returning from G20 meetings in Venice. In a media release, the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) said outlets will only be allowed to resume operations after Jul 30 if they pass an inspection and receive approval from SFA. It added that any outlet found to be operating during the suspension period will face f...