BEIJING, July 8 — The global supply of heavy rare earths hinges in part on the outcome of a months-long battle between a rebel army and the Chinese-backed military junta in the hills of northern Myanmar.

SEOUL, July 8 — Samsung Electronics today projected a far worse than expected 56 per cent plunge in second-quarter operating profit due to weak AI chip sales, deepening investor concerns over the tech giant's ability to revive its struggling semiconductor business.

KERRVILLE, Texas, July 8 — Search teams plodded through muddy riverbanks and flew aircraft over a flood-ravaged central Texas landscape yesterday as hopes dimmed for finding more survivors among dozens still missing from a disaster that has claimed at least 96 lives, many of them children.

WASHINGTON, July 8 — US President Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday that extends the date on which reciprocal tariffs will take effect to August 1, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported.

AUSTIN, July 7 — Tesla shares fell nearly eight per cent on Monday after its chief executive officer (CEO) Elon Musk plans to launch a new United States (US) political party reignited concerns about his commitment to the company's future as it struggles with declining sales.

WASHINGTON, July 7 — United States (US) Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Malaysia later this week to attend a meeting of Southeast Asian Nations in his first visit to the Indo-Pacific region as America's top diplomat.

JAKARTA, July 7 — Indonesia will send its main negotiator to the United States (US) on Monday ahead of Washington's deadline for tariff agreements on July 9, with the two countries also due to sign a US$34 billion (RM143.9 billion) deal involving higher imports of US wheat, soybean, corn, cotton, and energy products.

SYDNEY, July 7 — An Australian woman has been convicted of murdering three elderly relatives of her estranged husband with a meal laced with poisonous mushrooms, and attempting to murder a fourth, in a case that gripped the country.

BANGKOK, July 7 — The Thai government has placed 33 provinces on high alert this week, bracing for flash floods and landslides amid forecasts of continued heavy rainfall.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 — Japan has reaffirmed its full support for Asean's central role in addressing the protracted crisis in Myanmar, while expressing readiness to deepen regional cooperation through its Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) strategy aligned with Asean's own Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP).

BENGALURU, July 7 — US President Donald Trump yesterday said that countries aligning themselves with the "Anti-American policies" of BRICS, will be charged an additional 10 per cent of tariff.

KARACHI, July 7 — As soon as eight-year-old Sidra Al Bordeeni returned from the clinic with her prosthetic arm, she jumped on a bicycle in the Jordanian refugee camp where she lives, riding for the first time since a missile strike in Gaza took her arm a year ago.

HUNT, Texas, July 7 — The death toll from catastrophic floods in Texas reached at least 67 yesterday, including 21 children, as the search for girls missing from a summer camp entered a third day.

BANGKOK, July 7 — Thailand, in its latest proposal to avert steep US tariffs, is aiming to boost bilateral trade volumes with the US and reduce its US$46 billion (RM198 billion) trade surplus by 70 per cent within five years, reaching balance in seven to eight years, Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira told Bloomberg News yesterday.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 — Asean is currently conducting a technical review of the participation of major powers in the Protocol to the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ), including the possibility of them placing ‘reservations’ on their commitments to the treaty.

HONG KONG, July 6 — China's Finance Ministry has announced that it is is restricting government purchases of medical devices from the European Union (EU) that exceed 45 million yuan (RM26.51 million) in value, in retaliation to Brussels' own curbs last month.

HANOI, July 6 — Vietnam's economy grew at a faster pace in the second quarter of this year led by strong exports, in an encouraging sign just days after United States (US) President Donald Trump said he would place lower-than-threatened 20 per cent tariffs on many Vietnamese products.

BEIJING, July 6 — China, Myanmar, and Thailand have agreed to intensify cooperation to dismantle all telecom scam compounds and arrest all suspects in Myawaddy and other telecom fraud hubs, China's Ministry of Public Security announced today, reported Xinhua.

WASHINGTON, July 6 — The dispute between Republican President Donald Trump and his main campaign financier Elon Musk took another fractious turn on Saturday when the space and automotive billionaire announced the formation of a new political party, saying Trump's "big, beautiful" tax bill would bankrupt the United States (US).

TOKYO, July 6 — Japan will export used navy destroyers to the Philippines to strengthen its deterrence against China's maritime expansion, the Yomiuri newspaper reported today, as the two United States allies increase cooperation to counter Beijing.