Japanese drinks giant Kirin said Thursday it has agreed to a buyout of its shares in a Myanmar joint venture with a junta-linked conglomerate, completing its exit from the market over the 2021 coup.. Days after the putsch in February 2021, Kirin announced it would end its joint venture Myanmar Brewery with the junta-linked MEHPCL, saying it was "deeply concerned by the recent actions of the military in Myanmar".
Most Asian markets fell again Thursday as traders fear that hefty rate hikes to rein in soaring inflation will spark a recession, though a slight improvement in Chinese data did provide some cheer.. The threat of an extended period of elevated inflation and rate hikes has left traders weary, and markets in the red.
China's factory and services activity picked up in June, official data showed Thursday, fuelled by the easing of Covid-19 restrictions in major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing.. As work resumed after Covid lockdowns, production and demand in the sector picked up and delivery times improved, according to the NBS. China is the only major economy still pursuing a zero-Covid approach of eliminating outbreaks as they emerge, using snap lockdowns and mass testing.
Dozens of vibrantly coloured floating homes have for decades dotted the banks of the River Nile, rare havens of leafy seclusion in the Egyptian capital's hustle and bustle -- but maybe not for much longer.. Residents of the 30 or so houseboats that remain moored on the banks of the Nile last week received eviction orders, giving them less than two weeks before their homes are taken away to be demolished.
Major oil producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia are expected to stick to a previously decided output boost at their meeting on Thursday, despite pressure to further increase production.. The 13 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, chaired by Saudi Arabia, and their 10 partners, led by Russia, drastically slashed output in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lockdowns sent demand plummeting.
Indirect talks in Qatar's capital between Iran and the US on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal have concluded with "no progress made", a State Department spokesperson said late Wednesday.. But by Wednesday night, a US State Department spokesperson said the "indirect discussions in Doha have concluded".
For all its tough talk against Russia, the UK's government is failing to enforce its promises to clean up dirty foreign money, a hard-hitting report by MPs said Thursday.. "The UK's status as a safe haven for dirty money is a stain on our reputation," the Foreign Affairs Committee's Conservative chairman, Tom Tugendhat, said.
The United States on Wednesday announced an agreement with Pfizer and BioNTech for 105 million doses of Covid vaccine for Americans this fall.. The contract gives the US the option to procure up to 300 million doses.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson said Wednesday the agency will reveal the "deepest image of our Universe that has ever been taken" on July 12, thanks to the newly operational James Webb Space Telescope.. NASA also intends to share Webb's first spectroscopy of a faraway planet, known as an exoplanet, on July 12, said NASA's top scientist Thomas Zurbuchen.
US tech firm Snap on Wednesday launched a subscription version of Snapchat as it looks to generate more money from the image-centric, ephemeral messaging app.. The subscription version of the service is making its debut in Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States, Snap said.
