World

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden held a rare White House meeting with the head of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, on Tuesday (May 31) to discuss soaring inflation and White House attempts to tame the politically damaging price surge ahead of midterm elections. "I am meeting today to discuss my top priority: that is addressing inflation in order to transition from historic recovery to a steady growth," Biden said. Also joined in the Oval Office by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Biden stressed to reporters that while the Fed has a "laser focus" on inflation, he does not intend to infringe on the central bank's traditional independence. "It starts with a simple proposition: respect the Fed, respect the Fed's independence," he said. The White House said that the first Biden-Powell mee...

NEW YORK :Oil prices climbed about 3 per cent to a two-month high on Thursday on signs of tight supply ahead of U.S. summer driving season, as the European Union (EU) wrangled with Hungary over plans to ban crude imports from Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Traders also noted oil prices followed a rise in equities and some weakening of the U.S. dollar against a basket of currencies, which makes oil cheaper when purchased in other currencies. [.N] Brent futures rose $3.37, or 3.0 per cent, to settle at $117.40 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $3.76, or 3.4 per cent, to settle at $114.09. After rising for six days in a row, Brent closed at its highest since March 25. WTI settled at its highest since May 16. "Crude prices rose as a tight oil market was go...

LONDON: A familiar England batting collapse left the hosts 16 runs behind New Zealand as wickets tumbled on a frantic first day of the opening test at Lord's on Thursday. England made an excellent start to their new era under captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum by dismissing New Zealand for 132 inside two sessions. But their dismal batting continued as they lost seven wickets for 41 runs to limp to the close at 116 for seven after New Zealand seamers Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Kyle Jamieson picked up two wickets each. England openers Alex Lees and Zak Crawley shared a solid partnership of 59 before Crawley was caught behind off Jamieson for 43. Jamieson removed Ollie Pope for seven in his first innings at No. 3 and Colin De Grandhomme dismissed Joe Root for 11 when the form...

SINGAPORE: Just one day after employing a domestic helper, a woman jabbed the maid's head and punched her when she could not understand an instruction. These acts of abuse continued over almost a year, culminating in a final, sustained assault when the woman repeatedly kicked the maid's head and tried to drag her out of the flat. Bai Yihong, 34, was on Wednesday (May 25) jailed for eight months and six weeks after pleading guilty to two charges of voluntarily causing hurt and one charge of attempting to obstruct the course of justice. Another four charges were considered for sentencing. Bai, previously a Chinese language tutor, was unemployed and living with her mother, Hai Yulan, in a second-floor flat in Hougang at the time of the offences. Hai, then 57, was in December last year fi...

Even if you don't know what K-beauty — short for Korean beauty — is, chances are, you've seen the jade rollers, sheet masks and snail mucin creams promising radiant, mirror-like skin on your Instagram feed or the shelves of your local drugstore. Since its introduction to U.S. markets in 2011, K-beauty has become a mainstay of the global beauty industry, and it appears that people's obsession with it won't fade anytime soon: By 2029, the global K-beauty products market is projected to reach about $31.6 billion in sales, according to Prophecy Market Insights, a market research firm. One of the brands leading the Korean skin-care movement is Glow Recipe. Its founders and co-CEOs, Christine Chang and Sarah Lee first created Glow Recipe in 2014 as a curation of other K-beauty products imported ...

SINGAPORE: An Indonesian preacher who was denied entry to Singapore on Monday (May 16) said he will not give up trying to visit Singapore, describing the country as Malay land similar to Riau where he is from. In a YouTube video on Wednesday, Abdul Somad Batubara said people in Riau see Singapore as part of their land because Singapore was part of the Temasek Malay kingdom. "To say that I'm tired of going to Singapore is the same as saying I'm tired of going to Minangkabau. This is because Singapore is a Malay land. My grandmother has brothers, children and grandchildren who live in Singapore,” he added. Somad said his intention in visiting Singapore recently was to have his wife and children get to know their ancestors. Somad and six people who travelled with him arrived at Tanah Mera...

PARIS: French Open night sessions will remain despite the reservations of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic whose epic quarter-final clash ended at 1:15 Wednesday (Jun 1) morning in front of thousands of shivering fans, many of whom were huddled in blankets to keep out the biting cold. "Night sessions will stay, but obviously we are going to see whether we move the starting time or not," admitted tournament director Amelie Mauresmo, a two-time major winner and former world number one. Nadal's four-set win over defending champion Djokovic was one of 10 matches scheduled at 9pm at this year's French Open under an agreement with broadcaster Prime Video. Nadal, the 13-time champion, had wanted to play in the daytime and repeated his opposition to taking part in clay court tennis after dark. ...

SINGAPORE: Several eateries that specialise in chicken dishes said they will be heavily impacted by Malaysia's ban on exports of the poultry as they brace themselves for a shortage in supply of fresh chickens and a price hike. While business owners that sell dishes such as chicken rice and fried chicken said they are looking for alternative sources, they may have to turn to frozen chicken instead of fresh ones. This is likely to affect the quality of their food, they added. Mr Bernard Tay, director of Jinjja Chicken Singapore, said that all of the approximately 500kg of chicken sold across the company's five outlets are fresh chicken from Malaysia. “Since the first day we opened, we have committed to using only fresh and never frozen chicken wings. This is our promise to our customers ...

SHANGHAI: Shanghai's COVID-19 lockdown is wreaking havoc on companies' dividend-payment paperwork and bankers say it is delaying summertime dollar buying as some firms are unable to collect the signatures and company seals needed to process FX contracts. Offshore-listed Chinese firms usually have to buy dollars to pay overseas shareholders from June to August, and typically start buying in May. Delays this year will relieve pressure on the yuan and some traders say it is providing a cushion, preventing the currency from falling at an even faster pace. While some payments could be extracted from company balance sheets, many still need to go through banks to buy foreign exchange and three banking sources said COVID-19 mobility restrictions in Shanghai, China's financial and commercial hub,...

HONG KONG: China's property market, a key pillar of the world's second-largest economy, has weakened sharply in the past year as a result of a government clampdown on excessive borrowings by developers, and a COVID-19-induced economic slowdown. So far this year, more than 100 cities have taken steps to boost home purchase demand via cuts in mortgage rates, smaller down payments, and subsidies. However, the outlook remains bleak as the government enforces strict COVID-19 curbs in dozens of cities, weighing on consumer confidence. China's property market problems are likely to worsen this year, with no growth in home prices seen for the full year, according to the latest Reuters poll. Analysts said the national housing inventory is at a high level, particularly in tier-three and four citi...