‘They’ll have to pay’: Malaysia chip crunch triggers new era in supply deals
KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian electronics firms central to the supply of basic chips that drive the world’s cars, smartphones, and home devices say big-name...
Rice prices set to jump as fertilizer rally drives farming costs higher
THE MASSIVE rally in fertilizers is coming for rice, a staple food for half of the world’s population, with farmers in one of the top exporters bracing for exorbitant prices of crop nutrients in the coming planting season.
Gates Foundation allots $120M for poor nations to get COVID-19 drug
THE GATES FOUNDATION will allocate up to $120 million to help lower-income countries get an experimental COVID-19 drug being developed by US drugmaker Merck & Co, Inc. in the battle against coronavirus, it said on Wednesday.
India delays vaccine supplies to COVAX
NEW DELHI -— India has delayed committing supplies of vaccine to the COVAX global sharing effort, two sources told Reuters on Tuesday, a day after one of its key backers, the WHO, said the agency could not “cut corners” to approve a domestically developed vaccine.
N.Korea confirms submarine launch of new ballistic missile
By Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith
SEOUL - North Korea test-fired a new, smaller ballistic missile from a submarine, state media confirmed on Wednesday, a move that analysts said could...
China updates official news sources list to tighten information oversight
By Josh Horwitz and Brenda Goh
SHANGHAI - The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the country's top internet regulator, published an updated list on Wednesday of 1,358 internet news services,...
Tokyo aims to lift COVID-19 curbs on restaurants as cases fall – media
TOKYO - The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is aiming to ease COVID-19 restrictions on bars and restaurants next week as infections continue to decline, the...
U.S. surgeons successfully test pig kidney transplant in human patient
By Nancy Lapid
NEW YORK, Oct 19 (Reuters) - For the first time, a pig kidney has been transplanted into a human without triggering immediate rejection by...
MF cuts Asia Pacific growth outlook on Delta variant, vaccines
The International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for the Asia-Pacific region due to a surge of the delta variant of Covid-19 and lagging...
South Korea says North fired ballistic missile into the sea
SEOUL — North Korea fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from off its east coast on Tuesday, South Korea’s military said, pulling Japan’s new prime minister off the campaign trail and overshadowing the opening of a major arms fair in Seoul. The launch, reported by officials in South Korea and Japan, came after US and South Korean envoys met in Washington to discuss the nuclear standoff with North Korea on Monday. Spy chiefs from the United States, South Korea, and Japan were reported to be meeting in Seoul on Tuesday as well.
Japan economy’s reopening hobbled by lack of testing, vaccination passports
TOKYO — Japan’s lack of a vaccination passport and limited testing capacity is threatening ambitions to reopen the economy at a crucial year-end period when restaurants earn up to a half of their annual revenue and travel agencies are at their busiest.
Oil at $100 a barrel is ‘possible’ this winter, Mercuria says
It’s “possible” that oil will hit $100 a barrel this winter, but $80 to $90 is the expected range, said Marco Dunand, the chief...