World

President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Wednesday aimed at addressing a global semiconductor chip shortage that has forced U.S. automakers and other manufacturers to cut production and alarmed the White House and members of Congress, administration officials said. The scarcity, exacerbated by the pandemic, will be the subject when Biden meets a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday to discuss the issue. Administration officials said Biden's executive order, to be signed at 4:45 p.m. EST Wednesday, will launch an immediate 100-day review of supply chains for four critical products: semiconductor chips, large-capacity batteries for electric vehicles, rare earth minerals and pharmaceuticals. The order will also direct six sector reviews - modeled after the process use...

HANOI: Vietnam will receive 60 million COVID-19 vaccines this year, including 30 million under the WHO-led COVAX scheme, the health minister said on Friday (Feb 19) as the Southeast Asian country battles its biggest virus outbreak since the pandemic began. Vietnam has been one of the world's virus-mitigation success stories, thanks to targeted mass testing and strict quarantining. Its total number of cases since the coronavirus was first detected in the country more than a year ago stands at 2,347, including imported cases, with 35 deaths. But the new outbreak of the more contagious UK variant of the disease detected in the northern province of Hai Duong last month is Vietnam's biggest pandemic challenge yet, health minister Nguyen Thanh Long told a COVID-19 taskforce meeting. "This...

European shares jumped on Monday and the bond market calmed, with yields dropping from their recent spikes, while optimism about U.S. fiscal stimulus sent oil prices higher. LONDON: European shares jumped on Monday and the bond market calmed, with yields dropping from their recent spikes, while optimism about U.S. fiscal stimulus sent oil prices higher. After Asian stocks rallied overnight, European share indexes opened higher, with the STOXX 600 up 1.7per cent at 0837 GMT. London's FTSE 100 up 1.8per cent and Germany's DAX was up 1.3per cent. The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 countries, was up 0.5per cent, recovering from the previous session's multi-week low. The much-anticipated US$1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill was passed in the U.S. House of Representat...

During Thursday's GameStop hearing, Citadel Securities' Ken Griffin defended a controversial method brokerages use to make money, and said his firm would adapt if new regulations prohibited the practice. Lawmakers finally got a chance to press Robinhood, Citadel and Reddit chiefs about the GameStop trading controversy. Members of Congress spent much of their time prodding about "payment for order flow," a practice in which a brokerage receives payment from a market maker, known as a dealer, for directing the order to them. This model is how Robinhood and other brokers are able to have commission-free trading. Robinhood made more than $221 million from payment for order flow in the fourth quarter of 2020. Meanwhile, Citadel Securities is a market maker. "We simply play by the rules of ...

Sanctions have limited impact when Myanmar has support from some regional countries, key state-owned enterprises are left untouched and a looming cybersecurity law threatens to cut protesters from the outside world, says international security scholar Hannan Hussain. COLLEGE PARK, Maryland: US President Joe Biden ordered a series of sanctions against Myanmar’s military leadership on Wednesday (Feb 10), including robust export controls, a freeze on cooperative US assets and a halt to billion-dollar government funds. “I've approved a new executive order enabling us to immediately sanction the military leaders who directed the coup, their business interests as well as close family members,” announced Biden. Though Myanmar’s military junta has withstood sanctions in the past, its curren...

Myanmar security forces opened fire on protests against military rule on Wednesday, killing nine people, witnesses and media reported, a day after neighbouring countries called for restraint and offered to help Myanmar resolve the crisis. The security forces resorted to live fire with little warning in several towns and cities, witnesses said, as the junta appeared more determined than ever to stamp out protests against a Feb. 1 coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. “They marched towards us and fired tear gas, marched again and used stun grenades,” Si Thu Maung, a protest leader in the central town of Myingyan, said. “Then they didn’t spray us with water cannon, no warning to disperse, they just fired their guns.” A spokesman for the ruling military council did no...