World

US President Donald Trump holds up swabs as he speaks during a Coronavirus Task Force press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 19, 2020. The White House is trying to block billions of dollars for coronavirus testing and contact tracing in the upcoming stimulus relief bill, two Republican sources told NBC News, even as infections surge across the country and Americans face long wait times to receive test results amid high demand. Senate GOP lawmakers, in a break with the administration, are pushing back and trying to keep the money for testing and tracing in the bill, the sources told NBC News. Some White House officials reportedly believe new money shouldn't be allocated for testing because previous funds remain unspent. The White House declined CNBC's request for c...

Team New Zealand have blamed "informants" for spreading "highly defamatory and inaccurate" allegations about the body organising their America's Cup defence, triggering government questions over "financial and structural matters". WELLINGTON: Team New Zealand have blamed "informants" for spreading "highly defamatory and inaccurate" allegations about the body organising their America's Cup defence, triggering government questions over "financial and structural matters". The team, who will defend the 169-year-old sailing trophy in Auckland next year, said suspicions that there were "informants" in the America's Cup Event (ACE) organisation were confirmed when leaked information came back to them from Europe. "The motives of the informants who had access to the Team New Zealand base ca...

PARIS: A protest movement against the deployment of 5G mobile technology in France risks dampening the country's attractiveness to investors, French tycoon Xavier Niel said on Tuesday. "5G is an element of attractiveness for our country," Niel, founder of French broadband internet provider Iliad , said at a news conference. "There is a moment when we are going to have to generate jobs in this country, so we need foreigners and investors to come here." France plans to hold its much-awaited 5G spectrum auction at the end of September after several delays, including due to the coronavirus outbreak. Germany and Italy have already raised billions of euros through 5G spectrum auctions, raising questions in France over how much the French state will aim to raise. Orange , Altice Europe’s...

PARIS: The Grands Prix in the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Canada have been scrapped this year but three races in Europe have been added to the coronavirus-affected season, Formula One said Friday (Jul 24). There will be an F1 debut for Portugal's Portimao track and a return for Germany's Nurburgring and Imola in Italy. The US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, had been scheduled for Oct 23, with a race in Mexico City a week later and Brazil on Nov 13, but with coronavirus infections rising in all those countries, organisers have abandoned attempts to hold races there. The race in Canada had originally been scheduled for June, but plans to hold it later in the season have been scrapped due to Canadian travel restrictions. The race at the historic Nurburgring circuit, which last saw ...

Tesla Inc's shares extended their rally on Wednesday ahead of a quarterly report from the electric car maker that might clear the way for it to join the S&P 500 and attract over US$40 billion in new demand for the stock. REUTERS: Tesla Inc's shares extended their rally on Wednesday ahead of a quarterly report from the electric car maker that might clear the way for it to join the S&P 500 and attract over US$40 billion in new demand for the stock. Investors watching the company's quarterly report after the bell will be laser-focused on one question: Was Tesla profitable? A net profit, under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, would mark four consecutive profitable quarters, a first for Tesla and a key hurdle for it to be added to the benchmark S&P 500 index. While analysts on ...

MELBOURNE: Australia has joined the United States in stating that China's claims in the South China Sea do not comply with international law in a declaration likely to anger China and put more strain on their deteriorating relations. The United States this month rejected China's claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea, drawing criticism from China which said the US position raised tension in the region. Australia, in a declaration filed at the United Nations in New York on Friday (Jul 24), said it too rejected China’s maritime claims around contested islands in the South China Sea as being inconsistent with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. "Australia rejects China's claim to 'historic rights' or 'maritime rights and interests' as established in the 'long ...

The Mekong River has become a new front in the U.S.-China rivalry, environmentalists and officials say, with Beijing overtaking Washington in both spending and influence over downstream countries at the mercy of its control of the river’s waters. It’s a confrontation in which the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump — which has largely maintained funding for Barack Obama-era environmental and development programs in the Lower Mekong — is losing ground. The two powers’ struggle recently moved into the realm of science — with the U.S. and Chinese governments each touting different reports about whether China’s 11 dams on the river were harming nations downstream. China’s dams have given it extensive control of the waters that flow down to Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vie...