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HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani met Tuesday with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense of Australia Richard Marles.During the meeting, they discussed co-operation relations and ways to support and enhance them at the defense level between the two countries.The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense of Australia voiced his country's appreciation for Qatar's support for regional and international efforts aimed at achieving security and stability in the Middle East.HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani met Tuesday with Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia Penny Wong.The meeting discussed bilateral co-operation relations and ways to support and develop them in the fields of economy, trade exchange, clean energy and technology.Moreover, it discussed a number of regional and international issues, especially developments in the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories and ways to reduce tension in the Middle East region in such a way as to enhance regional and international security and stability, along with discussing the latest developments in Afghanistan.During the meeting, the Australian Foreign Minister expressed her country's support for the joint efforts to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. She also commended Qatar's efforts in repatriating Australian citizens stranded during the Covid-19 Pandemic via Qatar Airways, in addition to its role in evacuating Australians from Afghanistan and the Gaza Strip.HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani started Tuesday a tour of Australia and New Zealand, Official Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr Majed bin Mohammed al-Ansari said.Dr al-Ansari said that HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs will hold extensive talks with leaders and senior officials in both countries, aimed at bolstering and elevating the relations to broader horizons of cooperation and partnership, mainly in economy, energy, investment and trade. The talks will also touch on regional and international issues of common concern.HE Sheikh Mohammed's tour adds to his previous visits of a number of countries in the region in light of Qatar's openness to various continents, stemming from its foreign policy based on strengthening common interests, promoting international co-operation, and contributing to consolidating peace, security and stability at the regional and global levels, the official spokesperson said.

David Mattison, a retired postal worker, had spent nearly all of his life in this remote corner of Wisconsin, watching family farms fail and small businesses go under with the hollowing out of the rural economy. So he had approached this year’s presidential election with a sense of detachment, not yet convinced either the Democratic or Republican candidates spoke to his concerns as a voter in rural America — until Minnesota Governor Tim Walz joined the Democratic ticket as Kamala Harris’ running mate. Mattison, who has voted for Republicans and Democrats, would have been open to a more conservative candidate. But he said he did not like Republican contender Donald Trump’s divisiveness. And, while Mattison admitted he was unfamiliar with Walz’s policies, he identified with the governor’s background as a Midwesterner who was also raised in farm country.“He’s kind of a homegrown boy,” Mattison, 68, told Reuters outside of a Walmart Supercenter in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, a city with a population of around 3,500 about 60 miles from the Minnesota state border. Harris campaign officials are betting Walz’s folksy style, Midwestern roots and life story as a former farmer, teacher and National Guard member, will appeal to some of the white men in rural areas who voted for Trump by huge margins in the last two elections — and help deliver the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania for the Democrats.But that is a tall order, especially in the Midwestern states where the electorate skews older, whiter and more blue collar: Trump’s strongest demographic.Reuters interviewed about 40 voters in northwest Wisconsin, one of the most closely fought areas of the state, about the candidates and their running mates, speaking to Democratic, Republican and undecided voters. Many of those voters said they had made up their minds before Harris tapped Walz as her running mate.But Mattison and one other independent voter said Harris’ choice of Walz has pushed them toward the Democratic ticket this year. One former Trump voter had a favourable view of Walz but wasn’t sure how he would vote. Another handful said they remained undecided.Such incremental movements could be decisive in battleground states. Modest gains in a few segments of the electorate — such as white, working class voters — could make all the difference, said Chris Borick, a pollster and professor at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania. President Joe Biden secured his 2020 election victory over Trump in part because he outperformed Hillary Clinton’s 2016 performance among white, working class voters.Biden still lost the segment overall, Borick said, “but he was able to nudge the dial up a few points and that made a big difference.”Still, it remains difficult for the Harris campaign to galvanise sceptical voters, even those who dislike Trump.Kevin Dunning, 65, a Republican voter who previously owned a commercial painting company, told Reuters that he has never cast a vote for Trump and never would.But he disliked Walz’s actions as governor during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he ordered the temporary closures of dine-in restaurants, fitness centres and other businesses.“Walz has destroyed Minnesota,” Dunning said.Instead, Dunning plans to write in his own name and that of his niece for president and vice president, while casting votes for candidates in other races.The majority of states sway solidly Republican or Democrat, leaving the presidential race to be decided by a handful of battleground states that are legitimately up for grabs.While Harris and Trump are largely tied in national opinion polls, they draw from very different demographics.Harris significantly leads Trump among voters with college degrees, as well as Black and young voters, polls show. Trump has an outsize advantage among white voters who didn’t go to college, leading Harris 59% to 29% in July, according to an analysis of four Reuters/Ipsos polls.That also gives him an edge in former industrial states Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, which are older and whiter than the rest of the country.While campaign officials expect Harris to drive up energy and turnout in diverse cities like Philadelphia and Detroit and reproduce Biden’s huge margins in the suburbs, early polls show she faces more scepticism than Biden among white, working class voters. On the Republican ticket, US Senator J D Vance from Ohio shares Trump’s political beliefs, which mix isolationism and economic populism. Though Vance may help boost the Trump campaign in Pennsylvania and Michigan, his conservative views may be a turn-off for less extreme voters.Walz learned how to sell the Democratic Party’s liberal policies to sceptical white working-class voters when he was first elected to Congress in a conservative district in 2006.In 2010, Walz was re-elected to Congress against a Republican landslide that sunk many other Democrats. Six years later he escaped with a win despite Trump’s 15-point victory over Clinton.Walz’s performance against the backdrop of Republican landslides drew Harris advisers’ attention when vetting vice presidential candidates, according to two sources familiar with the process.Walz’s district flipped to the Republican Party immediately after he left to run for governor in 2018.Mary Brown, 69 and a job coach in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, was the second voter Reuters spoke with who swayed toward Harris after Walz joined the ticket.She said she would never vote for Trump and had been leaning toward voting Democratic in the presidential race. But she had been waiting to see Harris’ choice as vice president; Brown liked that Walz, like her, was a former teacher.In other races, Brown will vote based on the candidate instead of along party lines, she said.Peter Norvold, a 68-year-old retiree with Democratic views, said he was “fan enough” of Harris, but appreciated Walz’s steady demeanour.Norvold’s hometown of Hudson, Wisconsin is separated from Minnesota by the St. Croix River, and he said he had seen Walz on television.“He just always appears to be normal,” Norvold said. “He just seems calm and secure, not worried. Doesn’t seem to me to get angry, it doesn’t look like.”Jason Nachreiner, 39 and a heating and air conditioning technician, has not been persuaded by either Harris or Trump. Harris is unproven, he said, while he thinks Trump might make the economy better but does not like the “turmoil” he brings.He had voted for Trump in the last election, and for Clinton in 2016. He is going to vote this time around, but he has no idea how he will decide.What could influence him?“I don’t even know,” Nachreiner said, laughing. “An epiphany? — Reuters

Donald Trump launched fresh personal attacks against White House rival Kamala Harris on Saturday, as new polling showed her making major gains in key battleground states ahead of next week’s Democratic National Convention.Speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump began by blaming Vice-President Harris for unleashing “devastating” inflation – one of the biggest issues of the campaign – but he soon drifted off script, mocking Harris’s laugh and calling her a “communist” and a “lunatic”.At one point, criticising a portrait of Harris on the cover of Time magazine, Trump insisted he was “much better looking than her”.Republicans and Trump advisers – concerned by Harris’s energised campaign – have publicly urged him to stick to the issues and lay off the personal attacks which they believe play badly with the undecided and independent voters he needs to win the November 5 election.However, the former president has shown no sign of changing his populist, confrontational style.“You don’t mind if I go off teleprompter for a second, do you?” he asked the crowd about 15 minutes into his speech, before proceeding to reel off a now familiar list of insults at Harris.“People say, please don’t use bad language. Please don’t call people stupid,” Trump declared, adding: “Please, don’t call her a lunatic. And I said, but that’s what she is, she’s a lunatic.”He also said that he believed Harris will be easier to beat than President Joe Biden, even as some polls showed her edging ahead in the race for the November 5 presidential election.“I believe she will be easier to beat than him,” said Trump.The momentum in the White House race has shifted dramatically since Biden abruptly pulled out on July 21, with Harris’s whirlwind entry enthusing the Democratic Party base.A survey by the New York Times and Siena College published on Saturday had Harris storming back into contention in four critical battleground states that Trump had looked set to win comfortably against Biden.The poll will likely trigger further consternation in Trump’s campaign team, with the vice-president now ahead in Arizona and North Carolina, and getting closer in Nevada and Georgia.At the rally on Saturday in Wilkes-Barre, Trump skewered Harris on her historic opposition to fracking – an unpopular stance in Pennsylvania which is the second-largest natural gas-producing US state after Texas.However, he spent far longer reviewing his debate performance against Biden back in June, and on meandering anecdotes about everyone from Italian screen legend Sophia Loren to French President Emmanuel Macron.In a meandering speech, Trump repeated his false claim that he lost the 2020 election due to fraud, dismissed the threat of climate change and said his plan to impose across-the-board tariffs on foreign goods would not act as a tax on US consumers, an assertion that most economists contest.The Mohegan Sun Arena, where Trump appeared, has a capacity of roughly 8,000 and was nearly full when he started speaking.However, the crowd began to thin after the one-hour mark. He spoke for more than 100 minutes in total.With polls showing the head-to-head race very close, it is the swing states – especially Pennsylvania – that will decide the final result under the US electoral college system.Trump lost the state by a narrow margin against Biden in 2020 but has strong support in rural areas and small towns.A separate New York Times/Siena poll last week showed Harris narrowly ahead in Pennsylvania and the two other northern battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin.Harris was in Pennsylvania yesterday, making several stops on her campaign bus near Pittsburgh before heading to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention that opens today (see lead story above).She will be hoping to sustain her poll momentum at the four-day event which will include keynote speeches from party leaders like Biden and former president Barack Obama.Harris will round out the proceedings on Thursday evening, with her own speech to formally accept the party nomination.Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016 by about 44,000 votes, a margin of less than one percentage point, while Biden prevailed by just over 80,000 votes in 2020, a 1.2-point margin.Both campaigns have made the state a top priority, blanketing the airwaves with advertisements.Of the more than $110mn spent on advertising in seven battleground states since Biden dropped out in late July, roughly $42mn was in Pennsylvania, more than twice any other state, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing data from the tracking site AdImpact.Democratic and Republican groups have already reserved $114mn in ad time in Pennsylvania from late August through the election, more than twice as much as the $55mn reserved in Arizona, the next highest total, according to AdImpact.The Harris campaign said on Saturday that it planned to spend at least $370mn on digital and television ads nationwide between the Labour Day holiday on September 2 and Election Day.With election day rapidly approaching, Harris is trying to distance herself from unpopular Biden policies, while getting ahead of Trump’s attempts to brand her a liberal extremist.The past week has seen the two sides home in on voters’ worries about the economy.Trump hammered the vice-president on Saturday, saying that her push for a federal ban on price-gouging by companies that unfairly raise prices was the sort of policy favoured by communist countries.On Friday, Harris held an event in North Carolina to unveil a series of proposals to ease the burden of post-coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic inflation.She noted that the US economy was booming while conceding that “many Americans don’t yet feel that progress in their daily lives”.“Donald Trump fights for billionaires and large corporations,” she said. “I will fight to give money back to working- and middle-class Americans.”

United Development Company (UDC), the master developer of The Pearl and Gewan islands, has been honoured with the international ‘Business Continuity Global award’ by the Continuity Insurance & Risk ‘CIR Magazine’, United Kingdom.The award recognises UDC's exceptional achievements in Business Continuity and Resilience, crucial for ensuring uninterrupted delivery of high-quality products and services to the company’s stakeholders at The Pearl Island.The ceremony took place recently at the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square, in London, where UDC was distinguished following a comprehensive external review of its business operations.This assessment encompassed the management of engineering and construction activities, residential and retail management, community services, and the maintenance of commercial and residential infrastructure, facilities, buildings, and assets owned and operated by UDC.This accolade establishes UDC as the pioneering developer and The Pearl Island as Qatar's first community to be recognised for implementing robust Business Continuity Management systems and strategies.These systems ensure the timely update, control, and deployment of effective plans, accounting for contingencies, capabilities, and business needs to manage disruptive incidents while continuing essential functions.Additionally, the certification underscores UDC’s commitment to operational excellence and resilience amid unprecedented challenges, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change, highlighting its ability to efficiently manage business interruption, disaster recovery, and uphold The Pearl Island's status as a premier lifestyle destination.Having initiated the implementation of its Business Continuity Management System in 2017, UDC’s receipt of the related ISO award (ISO 22301:2019) further assures residents, customers, and business partners of its reliability during crises.The award reinforces UDC’s dedication to business continuity and resilience, supported by rigorous testing and exercising activities including announced and unannounced drills. UDC’s collaboration with the National Cyber Security Agency at the national level further enhances its resilience and recovery time objectives.

Indonesia celebrated its independence anniversary at the site of its planned new capital, Nusantara, for the first time on Saturday, in a scaled-back ceremony as the still-under-construction city is beset by problems and faces delays.A legacy project of outgoing President Joko Widodo, Nusantara has suffered construction delays and funding shortages due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a lack of foreign investment, and more recently, resignations of project leaders.In yesterday’s celebration of the country’s independence from Japanese rule that ended in 1945, the number of attendees was cut to 1,300 guests, down from 8,000 initially, as lodgings and food supply were limited, Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, said earlier this week.Hundreds of attendees from local communities and construction workers joined the ceremony under red umbrellas, with several under-construction buildings behind them.Mulyana, a 38-year-old construction worker at the new capital, said he spent the last nine months to build a ministry office building which was partially used on Saturday for the celebration amid limited infrastructure to move the materials.“For five months we work in 24-hour shifts, due to limited access we need two to three hours (daily) to move the concrete using heavy equipment,” Mulyana, who like many Indonesians has a single name, told Reuters on Friday, adding that when he came a year ago, water and electricity supply were limited at the site.Nusantara is being built in a forested pocket in the eastern side of Borneo island, about 1,200km from the current capital, Jakarta, on Java island. Jokowi has sought to shore up confidence in the $32bn mega-project in recent months, breaking ground for hotels and office buildings and holding the first cabinet meeting in the eagle-shaped new state palace.But he has also said plans to relocate thousands of civil servants to Nusantara could be postponed, subject to the readiness of the capital city, after previously ordering them to pack up and move in September.Incoming president Prabowo Subianto, who also attended Saturday’s ceremony, has promised to continue Nusantara. A parallel celebration was also held in Jakarta, where most of the music and dances were performed.

The 37-year-old daughter of billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra became Thailand’s prime minister on Friday, the third member of the influential but divisive clan to lead the country.Paetongtarn Shinawatra - the youngest leader in Thailand’s history as a constitutional monarchy and the second woman premier after her aunt Yingluck - assumes office after two court rulings that threw the kingdom’s politics into turmoil.She will hope to avoid the fate of her father and aunt, both of whom were ousted as PM by the army during a two-decade power struggle between Thaksin and the kingdom’s conservative pro-military, pro-royalist establishment.Lawmakers approved Paetongtarn of the Pheu Thai party as premier by 319 votes to 145, House of Representatives Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said on live TV. Paetongtarn said she was “very honoured and happy”. “I really hope that I can make people feel confident. I hope to improve the quality of lives and empower all Thais,” she told reporters.“I decided that it’s about time to do something for the country and the party. I hope that I can do my best to make the country go forward.”Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet - like Paetongtarn, the child of a previous premier - sent congratulations. China also congratulated Paetongtarn, with a foreign ministry spokesperson saying Beijing stood “ready to work with Thailand to carry forward” the two nations’ longstanding ties.Paetongtarn’s elevation to the top job came about after the kingdom’s Constitutional Court sacked previous premier Srettha Thavisin for appointing a cabinet minister with a criminal conviction.Srettha’s ouster on Wednesday in a case brought by army-appointed former senators was the latest round in the long-running scrap between the Thai elite and populist parties linked to Thaksin, a telecoms tycoon and one-time Manchester City owner.Paetongtarn helped run the hotel arm of the family’s business empire before entering politics in late 2022, and she was a near-constant presence on the campaign trail during last year’s general election. That vote saw the upstart progressive Move Forward Party (MFP) win the most seats after pledging to review the country’s strict lese-majeste laws and break up powerful business monopolies.But conservative senators - all appointed by the last junta - blocked MFP’s attempt to form a government. Pheu Thai subsequently struck an alliance with pro-military parties once staunchly opposed to Thaksin and his followers, leading to Srettha’s ascension.Less than a year later, he became the third Pheu Thai prime minister to be kicked out by the Constitutional Court.Srettha was ousted over his appointment of Pichit Chuenban, a former lawyer associated with Thaksin’s family who had a corruption-related conviction. Last week, the top court also voted to dissolve MFP and ban its executive board members from politics for 10 years, though the party swiftly relaunched itself as the People’s Party.Political analyst Prinya Thaewanarumitkul of Thammasat University told AFP Paetongtarn would have to be careful not to be seen as too much under her father’s influence. The 75-year-old has cast a remarkable shadow over the kingdom’s politics for more than two decades.He transformed Thai politics in the early 2000s with populist policies that won him and his party enduring loyalty from the rural masses -- and two elections. But that success came at a cost: he was despised by Thailand’s powerful elites and conservative establishment, who saw his rule as corrupt, authoritarian and socially destabilising.Ousted as prime minister by the army in 2006, Thaksin went into exile two years later but never stopped commenting on national affairs - or meddling in them, according to his critics. He returned to the country last year on the very day that Srettha became prime minister.Thaksin was swiftly jailed on graft and abuse of office charges dating back to his time in power but was released early, fuelling rumours of a backroom deal.Aside from tussling with the establishment, Paetongtarn also faces a tough task in revitalising a sluggish economy that has struggled to bounce back since the Covid-19 pandemic.“All Thais want is for the economic crisis to be solved, and if she and her government do well at that, she and her party will be able to compete with the People’s Party in the next election,” analyst Prinya told AFP.

Four years ago, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, governments were scrambling to protect their populations and prevent an economic meltdown. No one would dispute that addressing this existential threat was the top political priority back then.As a former prime minister and director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), I was impressed by the co-ordinated international response to Covid-19. To be sure, there were large inequalities within and between countries, resulting in society’s most vulnerable paying too high a price, especially when it came to vaccine access. But I saw reason to hope that the pandemic’s devastating impact would prompt a political sea change and lead to a greater commitment to future preparedness, prevention, and response.I was wrong. It is depressingly obvious that the lessons of Covid-19 are being forgotten. The world remains stuck in the familiar cycle of panic and neglect that has characterised this past pandemic. Political leaders are largely ignoring current threats, including Covid-19 (which has not been consigned to the history books, despite no longer being a public-health emergency), H5N1 bird flu, and dengue fever. And new pandemics with potentially catastrophic outcomes will almost surely occur, especially as climate change and environmental degradation worsen.These are not hypothetical risks. On Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the latest outbreak of mpox in East Africa a “public-health emergency of international concern.” Not only must the international community now rally behind affected African countries and those at highest risk; it must also prepare itself for potential spread into more countries and across the globe.Even before Covid-19 hit, I had been warning that our failure to break this vicious cycle was putting us at grave risk. In September 2019, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (which I co-chair) issued a report highlighting the acute risk of a devastating global epidemic or pandemic. Little did we know how prescient our warnings were.And now we find ourselves in a new phase of neglect, which can only be understood as a failure of political will. For all the pious words uttered in the Covid-19 era, heads of state and governments are failing to address the inequalities that stymied recovery efforts. It is unacceptable that rich countries have done so little to make the next pandemic response more equitable – and therefore more effective.In June, for example, the 77th World Health Assembly failed to finalise a new pandemic accord, even though the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) had been working on the global pact, which aims to prevent a repeat of Covid-19, for two years. Member states have extended talks for up to 12 months. But, crucially, they still seem unwilling to provide negotiators with the political support needed to agree on measures that can address inequities in pandemic readiness, response, and recovery.The failure to find consensus on substantive matters is symptomatic of the growing trust deficit between advanced and emerging economies, and of the ineffectiveness of the multilateral system in an era of deepening geopolitical tensions. But this cannot be an excuse to delay action on one of the biggest threats of our time. The INB needs a new approach that enables maximum engagement from independent experts and civil-society organisations, while ensuring that member states stay focused on improving – instead of just paying lip service to – global equity.Moreover, if the past four years have taught us anything, it is that WHO-led processes alone are not enough to tackle the existential threat of pandemics. Other multilateral institutions should take up the cause of improving preparedness. The United Nations’ Summit of the Future in September, as well as the upcoming meetings of the G7 and the G20, must highlight the urgency of this challenge and encourage world leaders to act. More visible advocacy for global health security in these fora could be crucial in securing the political leadership and financing needed to bring about meaningful change.To that end, the group of former political leaders known as The Elders support the adoption of an emergency platform – a set of protocols that would allow UN leaders to respond quickly to global shocks – at the Summit of the Future. World Trade Organisation members should also agree to review, as proposed by Colombia, the implementation of the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The TRIPS agreement governs patent protection for vaccines and treatments, and thus plays a key role in pandemic-response efforts.Recommitting to pandemic preparedness is essential. But it also should be part of a broader revival of multilateralism. Only through compromise and collaboration can we confront humanity’s gravest challenges. – Project SyndicateGro Harlem Brundtland, a former prime minister of Norway and director-general of the World Health Organisation, is a co-chair of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board and a member of The Elders.

The political turmoil unleashed by the dismissal of Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is likely to deal another blow to the already struggling economy, where millions of people drowning in debt have been waiting for long-delayed cash handouts.Southeast Asia’s second largest economy grew 1.5% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to a year earlier, slowing from the prior quarter’s 1.7% expansion and lagging regional peers.The tourism-dependent country of 66mn people has struggled to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, and major growth engines, including an automobiles sector that is the largest in the region, are still spluttering.Tim Leelahaphan, senior economist at Standard Chartered Bank, said the political upheaval had cast doubts about the passage of the 3.75tn baht ($107bn) national budget for fiscal 2025, as well as the 500bn baht nationwide cash handout that was a flagship Srettha policy.“Political uncertainty and an unclear political outlook could have adverse implications for fiscal policy,” he said. The caretaker deputy finance minister said on Thursday the budget would not be delayed.Srettha’s ouster by the constitutional court on Wednesday came a fortnight after his government opened registrations for a scheme to give away 10,000 baht to 50mn Thais, a key election promise of his Pheu Thai party.Over 16mn people had applied to receive the “digital wallet” handout on the day registrations opened, crashing the system but signalling huge demand for the controversial scheme among ordinary Thais hurting from the slowing economy and high levels of personal debt.Household debt stood at 16.4tn baht, or 90.8% of GDP, at the end of March, among the highest in Asia.The central bank, which had bickered with Srettha’s administration over the scale of the handout, left its key interest rate unchanged at a more than decade-high of 2.50% for a fourth straight meeting in June.It is expected to hold the rate again when it meets on August 21.Ballooning household debt has also hit the car industry. Thailand is home to the factories of Toyota Motor and Honda Motor, and overall production in the sector has dropped for 11 straight months into June as local sales slumped.Exports of car and car parts also dropped 0.4% in the first half of 2024 from a year earlier, with main markets Malaysia and Vietnam down nearly 30% on the year, commerce ministry data showed.Srettha’s removal underlines the deep fissures between the conservative-royalist establishment, backed by the military, and populist parties like the Pheu Thai. Both camps have been locked in a decades-long tussle, triggering coups and bouts of unrest.In the absence of a lasting resolution to the conflict, Thailand’s long-term prospects remain uncertain, analysts say.“Thailand has still not found a formula to bridge the country’s deep political divide,” said Gareth Leather, Senior Asia Economist at Capital Economics.“Without one, uncertainty looks set to remain entrenched while economic populism is likely to become worse, with negative repercussions for investor confidence.” Thailand’s stock market has been the worst performing bourse in Asia so far this year, down 9.3%.Industrial sentiment also hit its lowest in two years in June, while consumer confidence reached an 11 month low in July.Parliament convened on Friday to elect a new prime minister, less than 48 hours after Srettha’s dismissal.A Pheu Thai-led 11-party alliance holds 314 house seats, allowing it elect a prime minister on Friday, providing the coalition remains intact. While on the streets Bangkok there is calm, analysts say the ongoing political drama could raise the risk of unrest. For now, some Thais are simply despondent.“Just look at the economy now,” said Wilai, 60, a book shop owner who gave only one name. “I think if politics continue like this, the economy won’t be able to move forward.” — Reuters

Twickenham, United Kingdom: England Women’s head coach John Mitchell has insisted the expectations surrounding his squad are as nothing compared to the “internal pressure” driving the team ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup.The Red Roses have been standard setters in preparation, payment and squad development as the women’s game has become increasingly professional, with England winning a record 30 consecutive Tests from 2019-2022.But that remarkable run ended with the bitter disappointment of an agonising 34-31 loss in Auckland to arch-rivals New Zealand in the Covid-delayed World Cup final of two years ago.Next year’s World Cup, however, takes place in England, with officials at the Rugby Football Union, the national governing body, determined to break new ground by having their 82,000 capacity Twickenham headquarters in southwest London sell-out for the final.But just reaching the showpiece match is unlikely to be enough to satisfy England or their supporters given the Red Roses have lost the last two World Cup finals to New Zealand’s Black Ferns.England begin their 2024/25 season with Tests at home to France and New Zealand next month before travelling to Canada for the top tier of the WXV women’s tournament, where they take on the hosts and the United States before facing the Black Ferns again.Their upcoming schedule means that four of England’s next five matches will see them playing three of their major World Cup rivals, with France first up in Gloucester on September 7.Then, before the World Cup, there is the Six Nations, with England - the dominant force in European women’s rugby union - bidding for a seventh straight title after Mitchell’s first campaign in charge earlier this year yielded a third consecutive Grand Slam.‘Unfairness’The Red Roses’ bid for World Cup glory fell at the final hurdle three years ago when, at 14-0 up in the showpiece match and seemingly in complete command, wing Lydia Thompson was sent off for a high tackle on Black Ferns star Portia Woodman.Mitchell said England were trying to create as much “unfairness” in training as possible to leave them better prepared should they find themselves in a similar situation next year. “You look at the last World Cup where there was a red card, and you saw red cards in our last (Six Nations) competition,” Mitchell told reporters at Twickenham on Thursday.“So there’s all those things that you’ve got to factor in and you’ve got to rehearse for, and between players and staff we co-create a lot of these situations so that when it comes to, I guess, it happening, we’ve probably got a better chance of dealing with it.”Mitchell, also a former defence coach with the England and Japan men’s teams, added: “We don’t really need to worry about the pressure on the outside because we’ve got enough on the inside to be able to keep us motivated and continue to challenge ourselves.”England have won just two Women’s Rugby World Cup titles, the last in 2014.

Britain’s economy recorded a second quarter of strong growth as it recovered from last year’s shallow recession but it lost momentum as it entered the second half of 2024, suggesting the Bank of England (BoE) remains on course to cut interest rates again.Gross domestic product grew 0.6% in the second quarter of 2024 after a 0.7% expansion in the first quarter which was the fastest in more than two years, the Office for National Statistics said. But in June alone monthly output growth slowed to zero from 0.4% in May, as heavy rain hurt retail sales and a doctor’s strike contributed to a 1.5% drop in healthcare activity.Sterling edged up marginally after the data, which did little to shift financial markets’ expectations that the BoE will cut rates once or twice more this year.Uncertainty in the run-up to July 4’s election — which saw the Labour Party win a large majority after 14 years in opposition — might also have weighed on growth in June, said Thomas Pugh, economist at accountancy firm RSM UK.“Overall, the UK economy has shown a solid performance in the first half of the year, but we need to see signs of rising incomes and confidence feeding through into actual spending and investment to drive growth over the next year,” he said.Suren Thiru, economics director at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, expected quarterly growth to slow as interest rates remained near a 16-year high, despite this month’s BoE cut. Wage growth was also likely to moderate and a long-term productivity problem persisted, he said.At the start of the month the BoE raised its annual growth forecast for 2024 to 1.25% from 0.5% due to a stronger-than-expected start to the year and an expectation of 0.7% quarter-on-quarter growth in the three months to June.But it was less upbeat about the outlook for the remainder of 2024, seeing growth slow to 0.4% in the third quarter and 0.2% in the final three months of the year — which it views as closer to the economy’s underlying growth rate.Britain’s economy has grown slowly since the Covid-19 pandemic, expanding just 2.3% between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the second quarter of 2024.Only Germany, which was also hit hard by surging energy costs after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has done worse among the world’s largest advanced economies.Output per head has risen in the past two quarters but is 0.8% lower than before the pandemic as economic growth has been too weak to keep up with a rising population driven by record levels of immigration.Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he wanted the economy to achieve annual growth of 2.5% when campaigning in the run-up to July 4’s election — a rate that Britain has not regularly reached since before the 2008 financial crisis.Finance minister Rachel Reeves set a more formal target that Britain should enjoy the fastest per capita growth in gross domestic product among the Group of Seven advanced economies for two consecutive years.Reeves said the latest data showed the challenge facing the new government and repeated her position that she would need to take tough decisions to improve economic fundamentals.James Smith, UK economist at ING, said the strong quarterly growth was unlikely to give Reeves more spending power for her October 30 budget, as official forecasters were unlikely to revise up their assessment of Britain’s longer-term potential.Growth in output per hour worked has slowed in most advanced economies since the late 2000s — limiting increases in living standards — and Britain’s long-standing problem of low business investment was exacerbated by the public’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union.

The popular insurrection that ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League government offers important lessons for the international community and neighbouring India. While the unrest was undoubtedly fuelled by the regime’s repressive and increasingly anti-democratic tactics, exemplified by its brutal crackdown on largely peaceful student protesters, the underlying causes of public discontent are often overlooked.The student protests initially focused on ending the job-quota system that reserved 30% of government jobs for veterans of Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Independence and their descendants. Although Hasina’s government abolished all quotas through an executive order in 2018, the High Court reinstated it in June this year, triggering mass demonstrations. A month later, the Supreme Court intervened, overturning the lower court’s decision and ruling that quotas must be reduced to 5% and that 93% of government jobs must be filled on the basis of merit.By then, however, the government’s brutal crackdown had claimed the lives of more than 300 protesters, including student activist Abu Sayed, fuelling public outrage and calls for Hasina’s resignation. On August 5, Hasina resigned and fled to India after the military refused her demand for even harsher measures.The sad irony is that Hasina – the daughter of Bangladesh’s first president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – was once a student leader and pro-democracy activist opposing a military regime. During her four terms as prime minister, she presided over a remarkable economic transformation, driven by a dramatic surge in garment exports and significant infrastructure investments that also spurred a sharp increase in women’s employment. Over the past two decades, poverty rates have been halved, and Bangladesh’s per capita GDP (in current US dollars) surpassed that of India in 2019. The country is poised to graduate from “least developed country” status in 2026.But Hasina’s authoritarian tendencies ultimately overshadowed her economic achievements. The execution of alleged “extremists”, along with the arrests and disappearances of lawyers, journalists, and indigenous-rights activists who dared to criticise the government, creating a climate of fear that intensified during the 2018 election.After further erosion of Bangladesh’s democratic institutions, the 2024 election was an outright sham. With most opposition parties either boycotting the vote or effectively barred from participating, Hasina won an overwhelming majority and secured a fourth consecutive term. Despite her government’s lack of popular legitimacy, the outcome was quickly recognised by India and other major powers.The country’s sputtering economy also played a pivotal role in the recent uprising. Over the past decade, rising inequality and unemployment, together with skyrocketing prices for essential goods, have intensified public anger over nepotism and rampant corruption. The government’s stubborn refusal to confront or even acknowledge these issues aggravated popular sentiment further.A key lesson from Bangladesh’s experience is that rapid GDP growth and robust exports alone cannot ensure broad-based prosperity. When the benefits of economic growth are concentrated at the top, most citizens see little improvement or even find themselves worse off, frustrating their rising expectations and underscoring the need for a fairer distribution of wealth and income.Another crucial lesson is that employment matters. Creating jobs is important, especially for young people, but so is ensuring fair wages and decent working conditions. When most people’s incomes stagnate or decline, the public tends to lose faith in official narratives of economic dynamism.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government would be wise to heed these lessons, given India’s glaring inequalities of income, wealth, and opportunities. But Bangladesh should also serve as a warning to international organisations and external observers, who are often overly influenced by aggregate growth figures and openness to foreign investors.Crucially, analysts often overlook the role that the International Monetary Fund has played in Bangladesh’s recent economic struggles. In 2023, Bangladesh secured a $4.7bn bailout from the IMF, a move that some observers argued was unnecessary. Initially, these funds were intended to shore up the country’s foreign-exchange reserves, which had been depleted by the Covid-19 shock and the global spike in food and fuel prices.But the conditions attached to the IMF loan, which included greater exchange-rate flexibility, led to a sharp depreciation of the Bangladeshi taka and the introduction of a new pricing policy for petroleum products, both of which triggered a surge in domestic inflation.The IMF also demanded that Bangladesh reduce its budget deficit, leading to fiscal retrenchment that affected essential public services, including critical social programmes. Meanwhile, the central bank tightened monetary policy and raised interest rates to curb inflation, putting enormous pressure on small and medium-size enterprises and exacerbating the employment crisis. In June, the IMF approved the loan’s third instalment, totalling $1.2bn, and imposed 33 new conditions that Bangladesh must meet to receive the remaining disbursements.While these measures are purportedly designed to enhance economic “efficiency” and bolster investor confidence, history suggests that such outcomes are highly unlikely. On the contrary, the austerity policies championed by the IMF have fuelled economic insecurity and public anger across the developing world. The mass protests and political instability that have roiled countries like Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana – all of which have implemented IMF programs – underscore the urgent need for the Fund to reconsider its approach.But the key political lesson here is that authoritarian leaders like Hasina are not invincible. They may suppress democratic protests, muzzle the media, undermine independent institutions, and attempt to control the judiciary, but they cannot remain in power indefinitely. In fact, the more ruthless such regimes become, the more they risk a popular backlash.Thus, Hasina’s downfall should serve as a wake-up call for leaders with authoritarian tendencies of his own. They should also take note: the long-term costs of aligning with undemocratic regimes for geopolitical gain often outweigh the short-term benefits.— Project SyndicateJayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is a member of the Club of Rome’s Transformational Economics Commission and Co-Chair of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation.

Britain's economy recorded a second quarter of strong growth as it recovered from last year's shallow recession but it lost momentum as it entered the second half of 2024, suggesting the Bank of England (BoE) remains on course to cut interest rates again.Gross domestic product grew 0.6% in the second quarter of 2024 after a 0.7% expansion in the first quarter which was the fastest in more than two years, the Office for National Statistics said.But in June alone monthly output growth slowed to zero from 0.4% in May, as heavy rain hurt retail sales and a doctor's strike contributed to a 1.5% drop in healthcare activity.Sterling edged up marginally after the data, which did little to shift financial markets' expectations that the BoE will cut rates once or twice more this year.Uncertainty in the run-up to July 4's election — which saw the Labour Party win a large majority after 14 years in opposition — might also have weighed on growth in June, said Thomas Pugh, economist at accountancy firm RSM UK."Overall, the UK economy has shown a solid performance in the first half of the year, but we need to see signs of rising incomes and confidence feeding through into actual spending and investment to drive growth over the next year," he said.Suren Thiru, economics director at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, expected quarterly growth to slow as interest rates remained near a 16-year high, despite this month's BoE cut. Wage growth was also likely to moderate and a long-term productivity problem persisted, he said.At the start of the month the BoE raised its annual growth forecast for 2024 to 1.25% from 0.5% due to a stronger-than-expected start to the year and an expectation of 0.7% quarter-on-quarter growth in the three months to June.But it was less upbeat about the outlook for the remainder of 2024, seeing growth slow to 0.4% in the third quarter and 0.2% in the final three months of the year — which it views as closer to the economy's underlying growth rate.Britain's economy has grown slowly since the Covid-19 pandemic, expanding just 2.3% between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the second quarter of 2024.Only Germany, which was also hit hard by surging energy costs after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has done worse among the world's largest advanced economies.Output per head has risen in the past two quarters but is 0.8% lower than before the pandemic as economic growth has been too weak to keep up with a rising population driven by record levels of immigration.Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he wanted the economy to achieve annual growth of 2.5% when campaigning in the run-up to July 4's election — a rate that Britain has not regularly reached since before the 2008 financial crisis.Finance minister Rachel Reeves set a more formal target that Britain should enjoy the fastest per capita growth in gross domestic product among the Group of Seven advanced economies for two consecutive years.Reeves said the latest data showed the challenge facing the new government and repeated her position that she would need to take tough decisions to improve economic fundamentals.James Smith, UK economist at ING, said the strong quarterly growth was unlikely to give Reeves more spending power for her October 30 budget, as official forecasters were unlikely to revise up their assessment of Britain's longer-term potential.Growth in output per hour worked has slowed in most advanced economies since the late 2000s — limiting increases in living standards — and Britain's long-standing problem of low business investment was exacerbated by the public's 2016 vote to leave the European Union.Thursday's data showed business investment in the second quarter was 1.1% lower than a year earlier.