Australia COVID vaccine woes weaken Morrison's political immunity
SYDNEY -- Australia's stumbling COVID-19 vaccination campaign is provoking howls of frustration from businesses and hurting Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the polls, clouding his electoral prospects.
Long seen as a rare pandemic success story, Australia's narrative is quickly shifting toward one about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Roughly 10% of the population is fully vaccinated -- last in the OECD and well behind Western counterparts like the U.K., at over 50%, and Canada, at
BOJ to offer interest-free loans under new climate facility
TOKYO -- The Bank of Japan on Friday outlined a new loan facility to banks lending to projects or companies tackling climate change, as the country tries to speed up its shift to clean energy and hasten efforts to reduce emissions.
The new climate lending facility will allow the central bank to lend to commercial banks at zero interest rates for up to one year. The loans will be renewable under the facility, which is scheduled to last through fiscal 2030.
As an incentive, the BOJ will ease the negative
Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City faces medical collapse as COVID surges
HANOI -- Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam, is on the verge of medical collapse as outbreaks of COVID-19 pandemic ravage the commercial and supply chain hub. The communist-led country was previously known for its successful handling of the virus. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held an emergency meeting Thursday calling for unity and mobilizing resources to fight the disease in the city.
"Ho Chi Minh City and the southern key economic region are experiencing very complicated epidemics," the prime minister said in
Taiwan to invest $300m in grad schools to stem chip brain drain
TAIPEI -- Taiwanese authorities and major chipmakers are investing at least $300 million to create graduate programs for the semiconductor industry over the next decade, in a move aimed at protecting the island's chip economy as the U.S. and China seek to cultivate their own talent and bring production onshore.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's biggest chipmaker, and local peers such as MediaTek and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. told Nikkei Asia they would endorse the campaign to build additional high-end
Chinese officials from 7 agencies join Didi investigation
HONG KONG -- China's cybersecurity agency said on Friday that a team of officials from seven national regulators was being dispatched for an on-site inspection of the operations of ride-hailing company Didi Global.
In addition to the Cyberspace Administration of China, other bodies represented in the group include the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of State Security, the Ministry of Transport and the State Administration of Taxation.
Earlier this month, the CAC ordered mobile app stores to remove 2
China's GDP growth in Q2 slows to 7.9%
SHANGHAI -- China's gross domestic product growth slowed to 7.9% in the April-to-June quarter after plateauing at 18.3% in the previous three months, signaling a halt to the V-shaped recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thursday's figure, published by the National Bureau of Statistics, beat the median 7.7% expansion forecast by 29 economists in a Nikkei poll.
The swift deceleration was underlined by a 0.5% cut to banks
Philippines' biggest bank seeks slice of mobile payment boom
MANILA -- The Philippines' largest bank is seeking a slice of the country's flourishing mobile payments business in a move that would increase competition in a field dominated by fintech apps backed by giants such as China's Ant Group and KKR.
BDO Unibank early this year launched BDO Pay, a mobile wallet for bills, merchant payments and money transfers. The service is currently available only to BDO account holders. However, the bank says on its website it is "working on making BDO Pay available [also to
Samsung suspends Vietnam factories hit by COVID: health ministry
HO CHI MINH CITY -- Vietnamese factories serving Samsung and a major Nike and Adidas supplier have suspended operations after detecting cases of coronavirus at their facilities, the country's health ministry said on Wednesday.
Samsung Electronics has halted work at three plants in Ho Chi Minh City out of 16 total and temporarily cut its workforce to 3,000 from 7,000, according to a post on the ministry website. It said the South Korean company, which makes roughly half its smartphones in Vietnam,
Chinese youth snub foreign brands in favor of 'China chic'
SHANGHAI -- During last month's 618 shopping festival, China's No. 2 e-retailer JD.com observed an unusual pattern amid its record 343.8 billion yuan ($53.1 billion) in sales.
Of the 236 brands that drew more than 100 million yuan in sales during the midyear event, over 70% were Chinese, the company said. Luxury products in particular enjoyed a boost from affluent shoppers looking local.
The support for
Infosys boosts revenue growth forecast on US reopening hopes
MUMBAI -- Infosys, India's second-largest software services exporter, on Wednesday raised its top line growth forecast for the current fiscal year, anticipating a post-pandemic rebound in contracts as U.S. and European companies accelerate their shift to mobile technology.
The New York- and Indian-listed company reported a 22.7% year-on-year rise in net profit for the April-June quarter to 51.95 billion rupees ($697 million). Revenue