WASHINGTON (XINHUA) – US businesses are not leaving the Chinese market despite “an unprecedented downturn” in US-China relations during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to an annual member survey released on Tuesday (Aug 11) by the US-China Business Council. “Both our data as well as conversations with member companies indicate that American companies remain committed to […]
SYDNEY (REUTERS) – Australian police have arrested two men on suspicion of moving tens of millions of dollars of illicit drug money through a Sydney-based “daigou”, a surrogate shopping business popular with Chinese. Investigators are looking into whether the daigou operators were aware that they might have been helping money-laundering organisations move “dirty money” offshore, […]
TAIPEI (AFP) – A US Cabinet member visited a shrine to Taiwan’s late president Lee Teng-hui on Wednesday (Aug 12), praising his role in steering the island’s transition to democracy, as he capped a historic trip to the island that has riled China. Health Secretary Alex Azar is on a three-day visit to Taiwan that […]
LONDON (Reuters) – People in Britain are increasingly worried about losing their jobs as the country’s economy struggles to cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, a survey published on Wednesday showed. Forty-two percent of respondents said their job was less safe than it was a year ago, an increase of five percentage points […]
WELLINGTON/SYDNEY (Reuters) – New Zealand’s central bank surprised markets on Wednesday by expanding its bond-buying programme and held out the prospect of negative interest rates in a bid to revive the coronavirus-battered economy as the country was plunged back into lockdown. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand left interest rates at an all-time low of […]
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian wages grew at the slowest pace on record last quarter in another hit to household spending power when the coronavirus pandemic has already ruptured consumer confidence and business conditions. The official wage price index rose 0.2% in the three months to end June, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported on […]
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) on Wednesday held its official cash rate at 0.25% in a widely expected decision and expanded its large scale asset purchase (LSAP) programme to as much as NZ$100 billion ($65.39 billion). Economists in a Reuters poll had unanimously expected RBNZ to hold rates. The decision […]
BANGKOK (NYTIMES) – Her hair is tucked back with rhinestone bobby pins. Owlish glasses frame her face, and her school uniform is neatly pressed. Benjamaporn Nivas, 15, hardly looks like a rebel. But she is on the forefront of a youth revolt in Thailand against the powerful military’s influence in schools and society in general. […]
BEIJING (NYTIMES) – After a succession of recent moves to crack down on democracy in Hong Kong, Beijing on Tuesday (Aug 11) appeared to show a little restraint and refrained from pushing out four of the city’s opposition lawmakers. The decision by a top legislative committee in Beijing means that the four pro-democracy lawmakers are […]
CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. farmers impacted by the economic shutdown as the coronavirus hammered the global economy have more time to apply for aid from the federal government. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday it is extending the deadline to apply for direct payments through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program to Sept. 11. […]