What the U.S. Can Learn From China's Industrial Policy Mistakes-and Successes

For years "industrial policy"-encouraging the growth of specific industries with government help-was a dirty word in the U.S. Now it is one of the few things many Democrats and Republicans agree on. Separate bills moving through the U.S. Congress with bipartisan support would lift federal spending on research and development, science education, and on grants for semiconductor plants by as much as $250 billion.

The reason for this sudden outbreak of bipartisanship is no secret: rising concerns over Chinese competition. A separate roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill is being sold along similar lines.

Credit Suisse Settles Spying Case With Ex-Executive Iqbal Khan

Credit Suisse Group AG said it reached a settlement with a former executive and private investigators over a spying scandal that rocked the bank.

In fall 2019, the Swiss bank hired investigators to spy on Iqbal Khan, a top wealth-management executive who was leaving to join rival UBS Group AG. Mr. Khan spotted one of the investigators and went to the police, setting off international headlines and leading to the ouster of the bank's chief executive over the reputational fallout.

The Delta Variant Upends the World's Pandemic Response

The Delta variant is changing calculations of governments around the world, raising doubts about how quickly they can leave the coronavirus pandemic behind, widening the gulf between highly vaccinated places and the rest, and infiltrating countries that had previously kept the virus at bay.

The variant's ability to spread more easily than previous dominant versions of the virus has driven rapidly rising Covid-19 caseloads even in highly vaccinated countries such as the U.K. and Israel. There, the vaccines have suppressed serious illness and deaths. But, in many parts of the rest of the world, the pandemic that has already sickened at least 200 million people and killed more than four million is intensifying.

Biden Administration Weighs New Sanctions Against Belarus

The Biden administration is considering a new round of economic sanctions targeting Belarus and its authoritarian leader after a leading dissident appealed to U.S. officials for stronger U.S. action, according to participants in meetings last week in Washington.

The new sanctions would be in addition to punitive measures imposed by the administration earlier this year and would aim to further isolate the leader, Alexander Lukashenko, nearly a year after he initiated a crackdown on a popular uprising in the country, according to a Belarusian political adviser.

Covid-19 Pill Race Heats Up as Japanese Firm Vies With Pfizer, Merck

A Japanese company has started human trials of the first once-a-day pill for Covid-19 patients, joining Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. in the race to find treatments for the disease.

Osaka-based Shionogi & Co., which helped develop the blockbuster cholesterol drug Crestor, said it designed its pill to attack the Covid-19 virus. It said the once-a-day dosing would be more convenient. The company said it is testing the drug and any side effects in trials that began this month and are likely to continue until next year.

U.S. Intensifies Airstrikes in Afghanistan as Taliban Offensive Nears Kandahar

The U.S. has stepped up airstrikes in southern Afghanistan amid growing apprehension over a Taliban offensive threatening Kandahar, the country's second-largest city and spiritual capital of the Taliban movement.

The fall of Kandahar would deal a heavy blow to the U.S.-backed government in Kabul, which is trying to impart calm to its citizens as the Taliban has seized swaths of the countryside, but so far failed to take a major city.

Write to sarka.halas@wsj.com

Expected Major Events for Monday

05:00/FIN: Jun PPI

07:00/CZE: Jul Business cycle survey (consumer/business confidence)

07:00/SPN: Jun PPI

08:00/GER: Jul Ifo Business Climate Index

09:00/LUX: May Trade

10:00/FRA: 1Q OECD Quarterly Employment Situation

13:00/BEL: Jul Business Confidence Survey

23:01/UK: Jun Zoopla House Price Index

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-26-21 0018ET