CANBERRA -- The Australian government has announced billions of dollars in funding for infrastructure projects to create jobs in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Michael McCormack, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, on Monday announced that the federal budget for the financial year 2021-22, which will be handed down on Tuesday night, will feature 10 billion Australian dollars (7.8 billion U.S. dollars) of additional investment over the next 10 years for major infrastructure projects. (Australia-Infrastructure-Budget)

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BEIJING -- America's latest policies toward China, including the trade war, will prove self-defeating, said former senior U.S. diplomat Charles W. Freeman Jr. in an article in the East Asia Forum online research platform Sunday.

The trade war launched by the United States has backfired, said Freeman, who argued that U.S. farmers, companies and families are paying the price by losing the Chinese market, profits and jobs.

The country can expect job losses of 320,000 by 2025 and a gross domestic production 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars less than it would have been, he said. (US-China-Trade)

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JERUSALEM -- Israel's annual budget deficit dropped to 158.9 billion new shekels, or about 48.8 billion U.S. dollars, according to a report issued by the state's Ministry of Finance on Sunday.

The annual deficit gradually rose from March 2020, reaching a peak of 173.9 billion new shekels in February 2021, and since then decreased to the current figure. (Israel-Budget Deficit) Enditem

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