World

BEIJING: The UN rights envoy on Saturday (May 28) said her contentious visit to China was "not an investigation", and insisted she had unsupervised access during meetings in Xinjiang, where Beijing is accused of widespread human rights abuses. Michelle Bachelet's long-planned trip this week has taken her to the far-western region, where Beijing is accused of the detention of over a million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, forced sterilisation of women and coerced labour. The United States has labelled China's actions in Xinjiang a "genocide" and "crimes against humanity", allegations vehemently denied by Beijing which says its security crackdown was a necessary response to extremism. Bachelet has come under fire from rights groups and Uyghurs overseas, who say she has stumbled into ...

DETROIT : Assisted driving systems installed in Tesla Inc, Hyundai Motor Co and Subaru Corp vehicles failed to avoid head-on collisions in testing done by AAA, though Tesla's Autopilot system did slow the vehicle to a walking speed before striking an oncoming, foam model of a car. The AAA, a U.S. consumer and travel services organization, said the tests illustrate how current assisted driving and automated braking systems fall short of true autonomous driving, and require drivers to stay in control of vehicles. A fast-growing number of new vehicles are equipped with Automated Driver Assistance Systems, or AS, that partially automate functions such as steering, staying in a lane and braking. Tesla's Autopilot is one of the best-known such systems, but most major automakers offer similar t...

While he missed out on a medal in 2017, Loh would secure a silver two years later, losing to Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia in the final. "I've gotten bronze and silver in the individual event, but have never gotten gold before. Naturally, that is my goal, my target," he said. "It's been a long time since we last won a men's singles gold ... It definitely means a lot to me." The last time Singapore won the men's singles at the SEA Games was in 1983 on home soil, courtesy of Wong Shoon Keat. 'I DEFINITELY NEED TO IMPROVE' It has been an extremely packed 2022 for Loh, having competed in six tournaments in as many months. His most recent came in the Thomas Cup - where the Singapore men's team put up fell to three defeats - 1-4 to defending champions Indonesia, 2-3 to South Korea and 2-3 to Thail...

In this article TWTR Elon Musk, Founder and Chief Engineer of SpaceX, speaks during the Satellite 2020 Conference in Washington, DC, United States on March 9, 2020. Yasin Ozturk | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images The following is a selection from Big Technology, a newsletter by Alex Kantrowitz. To get it in your inbox each week, you can sign up here. Barring a messy, last-minute divorce, Elon Musk is on track to own Twitter (and yes, mea culpa). The mercurial, brilliant entrepreneur offloaded around $8.5 billion of Tesla stock this week as he prepared to pay for his $44 billion side project. And soon, he'll be free to change the service as he pleases. Musk hasn't yet presented a comprehensive plan for Twitter — he may never — but he's proposed several significant changes worth evaluating. M...

In this article AMP Luis Alvarez | Digitalvision | Getty Images In my long career of recruiting experienced financial advisors, I've seen how different economic cycles have impacted retention and attrition. In times of uncertainty, advisors crave stability and want to work with a firm with the financial foundation to weather the storm. Alternatively, when the economy is roaring, they might be drawn to bigger payouts and more flexibility. Today's environment isn't as clear-cut. There's heightened volatility stoked by troubling geopolitical tensions, but unemployment sits at only 3.6%. Investors have amassed huge gains from the stock market in recent years, but inflation is cutting into those returns in a way not seen for the last 40 years. At the same time, some health experts warn the ne...

SAO PAULO :Senior Brazilian economy ministry official Caio Mario Paes de Andrade will be the next chief executive of state-run oil company Petrobras, the government said on Monday, replacing a predecessor who served less than two months in the job. Paes de Andrade will take over from outgoing CEO Jose Mauro Coelho, picked to lead Brazil's leading oil company in early April, becoming its fourth chief executive in the past two years. The shakeup is President Jair Bolsonaro's latest bid to influence Petrobras' fuel pricing policy as he seeks to boost his re-election prospects amid galloping energy-driven inflation, according to analysts. The mines and energy ministry said in a statement announcing the leadership shakeup that Brazil is facing extreme volatility in the oil and gas market. It...

As countries across Asia reopen to international travelers, Japan — one of the continent's most popular destinations — remains firmly closed. That may soon change. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Thursday at a news conference in London that Japan will ease border controls in June. Locals often celebrate the easing of pandemic-related border restrictions, but some in Japan say they are fine keeping the measures in place. Even before the pandemic, many locals preferred to travel within the country, with domestic tourism totaling $21.9 trillion yen ($167 billion) in 2019, according to government-backed Japan Tourism Agency. Although Japanese people are currently allowed to travel abroad, many "don't want to go overseas" and choose to "travel inside the country" instead, said Dai Miyamo...

HONG KONG/HANOI :TikTok has been conducting tests so users can play games on its video-sharing app in Vietnam, part of plans for a major push into gaming, four people familiar with the matter said. Featuring games on its platform would boost advertising revenue as well as the amount of time users spend on the app - one of the world's most popular with more than 1 billion monthly active users. Boasting a tech-savvy population with 70 per cent of its citizens under the age of 35, Vietnam is an attractive market for social media platforms such as TikTok, Meta Platforms Inc's Facebook and Alphabet Inc's YouTube and Google. TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance, also plans to roll out gaming more widely in Southeast Asia, the people said. That move could come as early as the third quar...

BRUSSELS: The European Commission said on Thursday (May 12) it would work with EU governments to help Ukraine export millions of tonnes of grain stuck in the country because the Russian navy is blocking Ukrainian ports. Ukraine was the world's fourth-largest grain exporter in the 2020/21 season, International Grains Council data shows, selling 44.7 million tonnes abroad, mainly to China, Africa and Europe. It is also one of the biggest producers of sunflower oil. Before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb 24, 90 per cent of the grains and sunflower oil were shipped out through Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea - a route now closed off. Problems with getting the grain out of Ukraine threaten to cause a food crisis, especially in poorer regions like Africa. "20 million tonnes of grains have to l...

China's crude oil imports from top supplier Saudi Arabia soared 38 per cent in April from a year earlier, hitting the highest monthly volume since May 2020, according to Reuters' calculations based on official Chinese customs data. Saudi shipments amounted to 8.93 million tonnes last month, equivalent to 2.17 million barrels per day (bpd), according to data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs. The hefty purchases, with trades completed mostly in February, compared with 1.61 million bpd in March and 1.57 million bpd a year earlier. Imports from second-largest supplier Russia rose a more modest 4 per cent last month from a year earlier, with cargoes booked before western governments toughened sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February. Russian oil arrival...