South Korea was the world's largest spender on chip equipment in the first quarter of the year, a report showed, amid a global semiconductor shortage. 　South Korea, home to major memory chip producers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, spent $7.31 billion in chipmaking equipment in the January-March period, up 118 percent from a year ago, according to quarterly billings data from SEMI, a global industry association representing companies in the electronics design and manufacturing supply c

　The image of the United States throughout the world has changed significantly since the election of Joe Biden to replace former President Donald Trump, according to a new Pew Research Center survey released. 　Pew Research examination of 16 public surveys found a noteworthy increase in the image of the United States, pointing to the election of Biden and several of his major policy initiatives. 　The center said more than 6 in 10 people surveyed said they had confidence in Biden to make the

  GENEVA (AFP) -- The UN rights chief called Monday for "concerted action" to help recover from the worst global deterioration of rights seen in decades, highlighting situations in China, Russia and Ethiopia among others. "To recover from the most wide-reaching and severe cascade of human rights setbacks in our lifetimes, we need a life-changing vision, and concerted action," Michelle Bachelet told the opening of the UN Human Rights Council‘s 47th session.

Tokyo 2020 organisers threw open the doors of the Olympic Village to the media on Sunday, showcasing virus upgrades including a fever clinic just over a month before the Games begin. Organisers are in the home stretch before the July 23 opening ceremony, and are trying to build confidence that the mega-event will be safe for athletes and the Japanese public. On Sunday, they unveiled the dedicated virus clinic, warned that drinking in groups at the village would be prohibited and said a mixed z

Iran's ultraconservatives Sunday hailed the election victory of their candidate Ebrahim Raisi, after Washington charged the vote was unfair and Tehran's arch-foe Israel labelled him the "most extremist" president yet. Raisi, 60, won Friday's election in which more than half the voters stayed away after many political heavyweights had been barred from running and as an economic crisis driven by US sanctions has battered the country. An austere figure from the Shiite Muslim clerical es

　Mixed martial arts superstar Conor McGregor was the sporting world’s highest-paid athlete in 2020, raking in around $180 million with earnings boosted by commercial ventures, a Forbes report showed. 　The 32-year-old Irishman only fought once in 2020, earning around $22 million from his victory over Donald Cerrone in January. 　The bulk of the former plumber’s pay - an estimated $158 million - came via his successful business activities, which included the sale of his Proper Twel

GENEVA (AP) -- US President Joe Biden and Russia's Vladimir Putin exchanged cordial words and plotted modest steps on arms control and diplomacy but emerged from their much-anticipated Swiss summit Wednesday largely where they started -- with deep differences on human rights, cyberattacks, election interference and more. The two leaders reached an important, but hardly relationship-changing agreement to return their chief diplomats to Moscow and Washington after they were called home as the rel

　Samsung Electronics was the world’s second-largest semiconductor vendor in the first quarter of the year, a report showed, after posting double-digit year-on-year sales growth. 　The South Korean tech juggernaut logged $17.07 billion in chip sales in the January-March period, up 15 percent from a year earlier, according to the latest McClean Report released by market researcher IC Insights. 　Samsung, the world’s largest memory chip supplier, racked up $16.15 billion in integr

PARIS (AFP) - France on Wednesday said it was ending the obligation to wear masks outside and would bring forwards by 10 days the lifting of a nighttime curfew, as Covid infections fall and the country‘s vaccine drive picks up. 　Prime Minister Jean Castex said the requirement for people to wear masks outdoors would be lifted from Thursday, with some exceptions, while an unpopular Covid curfew will be scrapped on June 20. 　The 11:00 pm curfew will be lifted 10 days earlier than initially

　Taiwan, Mexico and Costa Rica have been ranked as the top spots to live and work abroad in 2021, based on their cost of living, ease of settling in and overall quality of life. 　The US was ranked only 34th out of 59 places, largely because of how expats viewed quality of life in America, according to a new survey published. 　Taiwan topped the charts for the third year in a row in the survey of 12,420 expats conducted by InterNations, a Munich-based expat network with about 4 million memb

GENEVA (AFP) -- The pandemic has taken a harsh toll on domestic workers who have lost far more jobs than others despite a decade-old international pact guaranteeing their rights, the UN said Tuesday. In a fresh report, the International Labour Organization warned that working conditions for many of the world‘s 75.6 million domestic workers had not improved since the adoption in 2011 of a convention entitling them to the same protections as other workers. And the situation has been made

PARIS (AFP) -- Fossil fuels have held their share of the energy mix over the past decade, a report published Tuesday found, despite a drop in the cost of electricity from renewable wind and solar. Coal, oil and gas -- fossil fuels which are the main cause of global warming, accounted for 80.2 percent of final energy consumption in 2019, according to a report by the REN21 think tank. That compared with 80.3 percent in 2009. That doesn‘t mean renewables didn’t increase: they rose b

The United States plans to push democratic allies on Saturday to publicly call out China for forced labor practices as the Group of Seven leaders gather at a summit where they will also unveil an infrastructure plan meant to compete with Beijing's efforts in the developing world. The provocative proposal is part of President Joe Biden's escalating campaign to get fellow democratic leaders to present a more unified front to compete economically with China in the century ahead, according to two s

Global plastics production declined slightly in 2020 as a result of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, only the third time since World War II that output has fallen, an industry body said Thursday. Previously, only as a result of the oil crisis in 1973 and during the financial crisis in 2008 had plastics production fallen since the start of the 20th century. But last year, worldwide output slipped to 367 million tonnes from 368 million in 2019, a decline of 0.3 percent, the h

A well-known senior Buddhist monk was among at least 12 people who died when a plane belonging to Myanmar's military crashed Thursday in the country's central Mandalay region, state media reported. Army-run Myawaddy TV said a boy was one of two survivors on the flight from the capital, Naypyitaw, to Pyin Oo Lwin, also known as Maymyo. The other person taken to a hospital was reported to be a member of the military, but several other unconfirmed reports said he later died. The plane was carryin