Beirut, Dec 21: A "soldier" of the Islamic State group carried out a truck attack that killed 12 people at a Berlin Christmas market, a news agency linked to the jihadists said today.
"A soldier of the Islamic State carried out the Berlin operation in response to appeals to target citizens of coalition countries," the IS-linked Amaq news agency said in a statement posted online.
Tokyo, Jul 27: Gold hit an all-time high on Monday as tit-for-tat consulate closures in China and the United States rattled investors, boosting the allure of safe-haven assets, although sentiment was mixed with tech gains supporting some Asian stocks.
MSCI's ex-Japan Asia-Pacific index rose 1.3 percent as Taiwan's TSMC, Asia's third-largest company by market capitalisation, rose almost 10 percent.
The chipmaker's gains boosted other tech stocks in the region and came after rival Intel signalled it may give up manufacturing its own components due to delays in new 7-nanometer chip technology.
Also soothing sentiment, Chinese shares eked out gains after big falls late last week, with CSI300 index rising 0.5 percent.
S&P500 futures were last up 0.4 percent in choppy trade while Japan's Nikkei fell 0.5 percent, resuming trade after a long weekend and catching up with falls in global shares late last week.
Global shares had lost steam last week after Washington ordered China's consulate in Houston to close, prompting Beijing to react in kind by closing the US consulate in Chengdu.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took fresh aim at China last week, saying Washington and its allies must use "more creative and assertive ways" to press the Chinese Communist Party to change its ways.
"US President (Donald) Trump used to say China's President Xi Jinping is a great leader. But now Pompeo's wording is becoming so aggressive that markets are starting to worry about further escalation," said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi Securities.
Gold rose 1.0 percent to a record high of $1,920.9 per ounce, surpassing a peak touched in September 2011, as Sino-US tensions boosted the allure of safe-haven assets, especially those not tied to any specific country.
The yellow metal is also helped by aggressive monetary easing adopted by many central banks around the world since the pandemic plunged the global economy into a recession.
Some investors fret such an unprecedented level of money-printing could eventually lead to inflation.
MORE STIMULUS
Hopes of a quick US economic recovery are fading as coronavirus infections showed few signs of slowing.
That means the economy could capitulate without fresh support from the government, with some of earlier steps such as enhanced jobless benefits due to expire this month.
Investors hope US Congress will agree on a deal before its summer recess but there are some sticking points including the size of the stimulus and enhanced unemployment benefits.
US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the package will contain extended unemployment benefits with 70 percent "wage replacement".
Democrats, who control the House of Representatives, want enhanced benefits of $600 per week to be extended and look to much bigger stimulus compared with the Republicans' $1 trillion plan.
Investors are looking to corporate earnings from around the world for hints on the pace of recovery in the global economy.
"It looks like rising coronavirus cases are starting to slow down recovery in many countries," said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management.
Concerns about the US economic outlook started to weigh on the dollar, reversing its inverse correlation with the economic well-being over the past few months.
The dollar index dropped 0.3 percent to its lowest level in nearly two years.
The euro gained 0.3 percent to $1.1693, hitting a 22-month high of $1.16590 as sentiment on the common currency improved after European leaders reached a deal on a recovery fund in a major step towards more fiscal co-operation.
Against the yen, the dollar slipped 0.5 percent to 105.605 yen, a four-month low while the British pound hit a 4 1/2-month high of $1.2832.
Oil prices dipped on worries about the worsening Sino-US relations.
Brent futures fell 0.46 percent to $43.14 per barrel while US crude futures lost 0.44 percent to $41.11.
The death toll in China's coronavirus rose sharply to 425 with 64 deaths on Monday alone while 3,235 new confirmed cases were reported, taking the number of those infected with the deadly disease to 20,438, Chinese health authorities said on Tuesday.
The 64 people who died on Monday were all from the Hubei province, the epicentre of the virus, China's National Health Commission said.
Also, 3,235 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection were reported, a big increase in a day.
Another 5,072 new suspected cases were reported on Monday, said the commission, adding that 492 patients became seriously ill.
The commission said that 2,788 patients remained in severe condition and 23,214 people were suspected of being infected with the virus, a pointer that it is increasingly turning virulent.
The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 20,438 by the end of Monday, the commission said, noting that a total of 425 people had died of the disease.
A total of 632 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery, state-run Xinhua news agency reported As the virus spreads from human to human, 221,015 close contacts had been traced, with 171,329 others still under medical observation.
By the end of Monday, 15 confirmed cases had been reported in Hong Kong, eight in the Macao and 10 in Taiwan.
The Philippines reported the first overseas death from the virus on Sunday while 148 cases have been reported from abroad.
India has reported three cases of the coronavirus. All the three patients from Kerala recently returned from the affected Wuhan city.
Currently, 647 Indians and seven Maldivians who have been evacuated from Wuhan and Hubei are in 14-day quarantine at a medical camp in Manesar, near Delhi.
As the virus continued to spread at an alarming rate, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday warned officials of punishment if they shirked responsibility in tackling the virus outbreak.
On Monday, China has opened a 1,000-bed hospital built in record nine days in Wuhan city and started trials for new drug to contain the virus and is set to open another 1,300 bed hospital next to it on Wednesday.
The ruling Communist Party of China on Monday held its political bureau meeting presided by President Xi to review the steps being taken on various fronts to halt the spread of the deadly virus.
The outcome of the epidemic prevention and control directly affects people's lives and health, the overall economic and social stability and the country's opening-up, Xi said.
"Those who disobey the unified command or shirk off responsibilities will be punished," Xi was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Xi said that the party and government leaders supervising them would also be held accountable in severe cases.
Chinese armament firms, including those building aircraft carrier and military aircraft, have postponed planned work in order to concentrate on controlling the risk of coronavirus, state-run Global Times reported.
Noted Chinese health expert Zhong Nanshan has said that based on the fresh evidence, the novel coronavirus, which is spreading rapidly in China and the world, may reach its peak in the next 10 to 14 days, contrary to earlier estimates of climaxing sooner.
This means that the cases would drastically increase in the next two weeks before slowing down.
Also, China has begun clinical trials to test a drug to treat the patients of the coronavirus which till now has no cure.
Currently, patients are being treated with a combination of antivirals and other measures, as scientists race to find a vaccine.
Some reports said drugs to treat HIV too was being tried to treat the patients.
The experimental antiviral drug, Remdesivir, to be tested in field trials is developed by US-based Gilead Sciences. It is aimed at treating infectious diseases such as Ebola and SARS, South China Morning Post reported.
It was given to the first US patient last week - a 35-year-old man whose condition appeared to improve within a day, it said.
British lawmaker Debbie Abrahams' e-Business visa was revoked as she was involved in anti-India activities and the cancellation was conveyed to her on February 14, government sources said on Tuesday.
Asserting that the grant, rejection or revocation of a visa or electronic travel authorisation is the sovereign right of a country, the sources said Abrahams was issued an e-Business visa on October 7 last year which was valid till October 5, 2020 for attending business meetings.
"Her e-Business visa was revoked on February 14, 2020 on account of her indulging in activities which went against India's national interest. The rejection of the e-Business visa was intimated to her on February 14," a source said.
Abrahams, who chairs a British parliamentary group on Kashmir, was denied entry into India upon her arrival at the New Delhi airport on Monday.
Government officials had said on Monday also that she was informed in advance that her e-visa had been cancelled.
Comments
Very hard to believe. However, this is highly regretted and condemned in strong words. If some one did it, he might be a fool or mentally disturbed.
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