Shares in Chinese food delivery giant Meituan have fallen sharply after its boss reportedly shared a 1,000-year-old poem on social media. The Book Burning Pit by Zhang Jie was posted, then deleted, by the firm’s billionaire chief executive, Wang Xing. The Tang dynasty poem was interpreted as a veiled criticism […]
Business
The Treasury Department on Monday (May 10) launched its US$350 billion program to distribute aid to state and local governments, giving the US economy an added boost as President Joe Biden sought to assure the country that stronger growth is coming. The aid is part of Biden’s larger US$1.9 trillion […]
MADRID: As its vaccination drive reaches a third of adults and Covid-19 infections ease, Europe is starting to reopen cities and beaches, raising hopes that this summer’s holiday season can be saved before it is too late. Exhilarated Spaniards chanting “freedom” danced in the streets as a Covid-19 curfew ended […]
NEW DELHI: India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu announced new lockdown measures today as officials reported a nationwide record number of single-day Covid-19 deaths as cases continue to surge. India’s health ministry reported 4,187 fatalities over the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to just under 240,000. Cases […]
TOKYO: Japan Airlines posted an annual net loss of US$2.6 billion on Friday (May 7) but did not release a forecast for the current financial year, citing uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic. The carrier, Japan’s second-largest by market share, suffered a net loss of 286.7 billion yen for the year […]
WASHINGTON: US lawmakers and nonprofit groups on Friday (Apr 23) heaped pressure on the Biden administration to back a temporary patent waiver for COVID-19 vaccines to help poor countries contain the pandemic. Senator Bernie Sanders said it was also in the United States’ own interest to ensure as many people were […]
LONDON: Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies suffered hefty losses on Friday (Apr 23) on concern that US President Joe Biden’s plan to raise capital gains taxes will curb investment in digital assets. The selloff came after reports that the Biden administration is planning a raft of proposed changes to the US […]
TOKYO: Japanese car giant Honda said on Friday (Apr 23) that it would aim to have electric and fuel cell vehicles account for 100 per cent of all sales by 2040 to promote climate goals. The automaker’s newly appointed CEO Toshihiro Mibe described the target as “challenging” but said the […]
NEW YORK: Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Thursday (Apr 22) offered inventors US$100 million in prize money to develop ways to fight global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or ocean. “Right now we’ve only got one planet,” said Musk, CEO of electric carmaker Tesla. “Even a 0.1 […]
TOKYO: Tokyo will not host its motor show this year because of the global pandemic, organizers said on Thursday (Apr 22), underscoring Japan’s struggle to contain both a resurgent outbreak and the widening economic fall-out. The cancellation comes as the government is expected to issue a third state of emergency […]