Author: News Desk

A major affiliate of Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp falsified emissions data on some engines going back to at least 2003, more than a decade earlier than previously indicated, a company-commissioned probe showed on Tuesday. The investigative committee tasked by truck and bus maker Hino Motors Ltd blamed the scandal on an environment where engineers did not feel able to challenge superiors, in a rare criticism of corporate culture in Japan. The committee, composed of lawyers and a corporate adviser, was set up by Hino this year after it admitted to falsifying data related to emissions and fuel performance of four engines. Its…

A ship carrying grain left the Ukrainian port of Odesa for Lebanon on Monday under a safe passage agreement, Ukrainian and Turkish officials said, the first departure since the Russian invasion blocked shipping through the Black Sea five months ago. Ukraine’s foreign minister called it “a day of relief for the world”, especially for countries threatened by food shortages and hunger because of the disrupted shipments. The sailing was made possible after Turkey and the United Nations brokered a grain-and-fertiliser export agreement between Russia and Ukraine last month. “The first grain ship since #RussianAggression has left port,” Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr…

India has confirmed its first death caused by monkeypox in the southern state of Kerala. A 22-year-old man, who had recently travelled to the state from the United Arab Emirates, died on Saturday. Kerala Health Minister Veena George said the man had initially tested positive for the virus abroad. Samples tested after his death also detected the virus, she said on Monday. This is the fourth monkeypox death reported globally, outside of Africa. Twenty close contacts of the man have been categorised as “high risk” and isolated, the minister told reporters. These include his friends, family and nine people he…

Dr Nayef Falah M. Al Hajraf, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stressed the importance of relations between the GCC and the Central Asian republics, highlighting the keenness and endeavor to bolster them in all fields to serve common interests. Dr. Al-Hajraf made the comments at the beginning of his tour that includes Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Dr Al Hajraf valued the distinguished historical relations that connect the GCC member states and these countries, expressing his aspiration that the tour would contribute to opening new horizons of joint work, cooperation and coordination in all fields between…

China’s factory activity contracted unexpectedly in July after bouncing back from COVID-19 lockdowns the month before, as fresh virus flare-ups and a darkening global outlook weighed on demand, a survey showed on Sunday. The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 49.0 in July from 50.2 in June, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, below the 50-point mark that separates contraction from growth and the lowest in three months, Reuters reported. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a reading of 50.4. “The level of economic prosperity in China has fallen, the foundation for recovery still needs consolidation,” NBS…

Chinese rocket debris has crashed to Earth over the Indian and Pacific oceans, US and Chinese officials say. China’s space agency said most remains of the Long March 5 burnt in the atmosphere, identifying the Sulu Sea in the Pacific as the re-entry location. Earlier, space experts had said the probability of the rocket landing in a populated area was extremely low. The uncontrolled return of rocket’s core stage has raised questions about responsibility for space junk. There have previously been calls by Nasa for the Chinese space agency to design rockets to disintegrate into smaller pieces upon re-entry, as is the…

Heavy Russian strikes hit the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv overnight and early on Sunday, killing the owner of one of the country’s largest grain producing and exporting companies, the local governor said. Oleksiy Vadatursky, founder and owner of agriculture company Nibulon and his wife, were killed in their home, Mykolaiv Governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram. Headquartered in Mykolaiv, a strategically important city that borders the Russia-occupied Kherson region, Nibulon specializes in the production and export of wheat, barley and corn, and it has its own fleet and shipyard. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described Vadatursky’s death as “a great…

President Vladimir Putin on Sunday signed a new naval doctrine which cast the United States as Russia’s main rival and set out Russia’s global maritime ambitions for crucial areas such as the Arctic and in the Black Sea. Speaking on Russia’s Navy Day in the former imperial capital of St Petersburg founded by Tsar Peter the Great, Putin praised Peter for making Russia a great sea power and increasing the global standing of the Russian state. After inspecting the navy, Putin made a short speech in which he promised that what he touted as Russia’s unique Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles,…

Ukraine’s president said on Sunday that the country’s harvest could be half its usual amount this year due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Ukrainian harvest this year is under the threat to be twice less,” suggesting half as much as usual, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote in English on Twitter. “Our main goal — to prevent global food crisis caused by Russian invasion. Still grains find a way to be delivered alternatively,” he added. Ukraine, a key global supplier of grains, has struggled to get its product to buyers due to a Russian naval blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.…

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi starts a tour of four Asian countries on Sunday, her office said, without mentioning Taiwan amid intense speculation she might visit the self-ruled island claimed by China. “Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leading a Congressional delegation to the Indo-Pacific region, including visits to Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan,” her office said in a press release. The release said the visit would include those countries, but did not specify whether Pelosi, who is number 3 in the line of presidential succession, might make other stops. “The trip will focus on mutual security, economic partnership and…