GENEVA: Regulators that normally work within their own countries or regions will likely harmonise efforts on potential COVID-19 vaccines to speed up their approvals once they become available, WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on Friday (Jul 24). Swaminathan, answering questions on social media platforms, also said testing vaccines for […]
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China has one of the world’s most restrictive mechanisms for online censorship, blocking certain Western websites and apps. HONG KONG: China’s Alibaba is seizing on a new business opportunity thrown up by COVID-19: Helping foreign universities skirt China’s stringent Internet controls to keep classes going for their mainland […]
LONDON: British Airways-owner International Airlines Group said on Friday (Jul 24) American Express would pay it 750 million pounds (US$955 million) to renew their partnership, providing a welcome boost to the airline’s finances at a time when it is burning through cash. Since lockdowns have eased, flying has restarted, but […]
SINGAPORE: A former deputy group director with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) was charged on Friday (Jul 24) with taking about S$1.24 million in bribes in the form of loans to advance contractors or subcontractors’ business interests with LTA. Henry Foo Yung Thye, 46, was charged with 36 offences, including […]
TOKYO: Two decades after Japan rolled out an ambitious plan to go digital, the COVID-19 crisis has exposed the government’s deeply rooted technological shortcomings as ministries remain stuck in a paper-driven culture that experts say is hurting productivity. While Tokyo has made “digital transformation” its main policy plank this year, […]
PARIS: The EU called on Friday (Jul 24) on the United States to lift tariffs imposed in a long-running dispute over aircraft subsidies after Airbus said it had brought itself into compliance with World Trade Organization rulings. The billions of dollars in tariffs, which apply to a wide range of […]
SINGAPORE: Singapore’s manufacturing output continued its decline in June, with demand down in all clusters except electronics and precision engineering. Industrial production fell 6.7 per cent year-on-year in June, extending May’s revised 8.1 per cent decline, the Economic Development Board (EDB) said in a media release on Friday (Jul 24). […]
HONG KONG: Casinos in the world’s biggest gambling hub Macau are staring at heavy losses for the second quarter, with “not much hope” for a near-term recovery as a resurgence in coronavirus cases muddies the outlook for when China will reinstate travel visas. Visitors from greater China make up for […]
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia: Shares of Moderna fell nearly 10 per cent after it lost a bid to invalidate a US patent owned by Arbutus Biopharma that poses a potential obstacle to Moderna’s efforts to develop next-generation vaccines, including a COVID-19 vaccine. An administrative court run by the US Patent and Trademark […]
BEIJING: China said Friday (Jul 24) it had revoked the license for the US consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu, days after Washington ordered the closure of China’s Houston consulate. The tit-for-tat move is a “legitimate and necessary response to the unreasonable measures by the United States”, the foreign […]