World

COVID-19 insurance policies are increasingly joining passports and sunscreen as vacation staples, creating opportunities for insurers as more countries require mandatory coverage in case visitors fall ill from the coronavirus. Airline bookings are on the rise in some regions, driving cautious hopes of a revival in summer traffic, but also raising fears among tourist destinations of getting hit with bills should vacationers become stranded by the virus. More than a dozen countries from Aruba to Thailand require COVID-19 coverage for visitors, with Jordan the latest to consider such protections, organisers of an emergency services plan told Reuters. The market for all types of COVID-19 travel coverage is estimated to be between US$30 billion to US$40 billion a year, according to trave...

related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. 2 related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. WASHINGTON: U.S. consumer sentiment unexpectedly fell in early February amid growing pessimism about the economy among households with annual incomes below US$75,000, even as the government is poised to deliver another round of COVID-19 relief money. The ebb in sentiment reported by the University of Michigan on Friday was also despite a decline in new coronavirus cases and an improvement in the distribution of vaccines. It underscored the so-called K-shaped recovery, where better-paid workers are doing well while lower-paid workers are losing out. The government provided nearly US$900 billion in additional fiscal stimulus in late...

Despite Europe’s record of regional integration having been recently tarnished by Brexit, the Franco-German partnership — a response to the massive numbers of casualties sustained during the world wars — has been pivotal for the process toward that integration. Their shared vision of achieving lasting peace in the region is a key motivation behind their joint effort to promote European integration. But what about the Asia-Pacific region? It has only a short history of regional integration compared with Europe, but its parallel with the Franco-German relationship is the partnership developed between Japan and Australia, the former war enemies whose relations are now classed as a “Special Strategic Partnership” involving a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) and a defense pact. Looking ba...

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...