US and EU officials on Wednesday pledged to join forces to deal with a host of technology and trade issues to secure semiconductor supplies and counter China’s dominance.

The Covid-delayed Expo 2020 kicks off in Dubai on Thursday with an extravagant opening ceremony for what is expected to be the world’s biggest event since the start of the pandemic.

Charity food banks in Britain are  “preparing for the worst” as the government starts winding up emergency aid measures put in place to cushion the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on millions of workers and low-income households.

The US Senate wrangled Wednesday over a stopgap funding bill with just one day left to prevent a government shutdown, as lawmakers stare down a number of deadlines with massive stakes for the economy and President Joe Biden’s sweeping domestic agenda.

China Evergrande Group missed paying bond interest due on Wednesday, two bondholders said, its second unpaid offshore debt obligation in a week, although the cash-strapped company on Thursday made a partial payment to some of its onshore investors.

Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou’s return from Canada this week was lauded as a diplomatic triumph in China, but the celebrations left a bad taste for the expat business community, already rattled by the threat of  “hostage diplomacy”.

Supply constraints thwarting global economic growth could still get worse, keeping inflation elevated longer, even if the current spike in prices is still likely to remain temporary, the world’s top central bankers warned on Wednesday.

Myanmar’s ongoing economic problems were caused by  “outside factors” and two waves of Covid-19 infections, but the military government takes full responsibility and is working hard to address them, a spokesman said on Thursday.

China’s factory activity unexpectedly shrank in September due to wider curbs on electricity use and elevated input prices, while services returned to expansion as Covid-19 outbreaks receded, offering some relief to the world’s second-biggest economy.

Vietnam’s economy suffered its heaviest contraction on record in the third quarter, officials said Wednesday, after a devastating wave of Covid-19 forced the widespread suspension of manufacturing in the export-reliant country.

Oil prices jumped above $80 this week for the first time in almost three years, handing a major boost to producers -- but fuelling more inflationary pain for consumers, analysts say.

China on Wednesday demanded railway companies and local authorities raise their game in shipping vital coal supplies to utilities, as regions key to the world’s no. 2 economy grapple with power cuts that have crippled industrial output.

President Joe Biden postponed a Wednesday trip to Chicago to stay in Washington and fight for his domestic agenda, which hangs from a thread in Congress, the White House said.

Scrambling to avoid defaulting on its debts, cash-strapped China Evergrande Group said on Wednesday it plans to sell a 9.99 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) stake in Shengjing Bank Co Ltd to a state-owned asset management company.

Myanmar’s currency has lost more than 60% of its value since the beginning of September in a collapse that has driven up food and fuel prices in an economy that has tanked since a military coup eight months ago.

From shoes and sweaters to car parts and coffee, Vietnam’s strict and lengthy coronavirus lockdown has sparked product shortages among worldwide brands such as Nike and Gap which have grown increasingly dependent on the Southeast Asian nation’s manufacturers.

Bangladesh needs to maintain higher human rights and environmental standards in production to keep trading with Germany as the European nation is going to adopt a new due diligent laws from 2023, said business leaders yesterday.

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Tuesday the Chinese government was preventing its domestic airlines from buying  “tens of billions of dollars” of US-manufactured Boeing Co airplanes.

Central banks that launched massive emergency support to fight the pandemic last year are now planning a global turn in the other direction, with gaps already emerging in their perceived risk of inflation, the need to respond to it, and the pace of the likely return to normal monetary policy.

A sharply divided US Senate failed on Monday to advance a measure to suspend the federal debt ceiling and avoid a partial government shutdown, as Republican lawmakers denied the bill the votes necessary to move forward.