World

This image from February 2022 shows Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Foreign Minister of India, speaking on the second day of the Munich Security Conference. Jaishankar's visit Colombo on Monday comes as Sri Lanka is in the throes of an economic crisis. Sven Hoppe | picture alliance via Getty Images India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was in Sri Lanka this week to offer help to the struggling Sri Lankan economy in an attempt to pry it away from a decades-long Chinese embrace. Sri Lanka's two-year-old economic crisis comes after two decades of heavy Chinese investment, under what a geopolitical expert called "strategic trap diplomacy." Having a giant, increasingly assertive neighbor so closely intertwined with Sri Lanka has unsettled India, which is locked in a standoff with China at ...

BANGKOK : Thailand's central bank will focus monetary policy efforts on shoring up sluggish growth in Southeast Asia'a second-largest economy, its chief said on Monday, even as surging global price pressures force its peers to raise interest rates. The central bank is among a shrinking number globally that continue to see inflationary pressures as transitory, with more concern given to a collapse in foreign tourist arrivals caused by the pandemic and its long-term hit to the growth. Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput told Reuters in an interview he expects the economy to have grown 1.8per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year and that the Russia-Ukraine war would not derail the recovery. Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput told Reuters in an interview he expects the econo...

WASHINGTON: European governments have approached the US government and defense contractors with a shopping list of arms including drones, missiles and missile defenses as the Russian invasion of Ukraine drives renewed demand for US weaponry. Germany, which is nearing a deal for 35 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 jet fighters, has inquired about systems to defend against ballistic missiles, sources familiar with the situation said. Meanwhile, Poland urgently wants to purchase sophisticated Reaper drone systems from the United States, a Polish government official said this week. Requests are also coming in from other countries in Eastern Europe, where allies are keen to acquire weaponry that Ukraine has successfully used against Russia forces, two people familiar with the demand said, including...

A boy searches for remaining food in polythene packets at roadside in Allahabad, India, on May 11, 2018. In 2021, over 57 million people were affected by climate disasters in Asia, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies reported. Sanjay Kanojia | Afp | Getty Images And yet, efforts to mitigate that risk haven't been adequate on several fronts — especially when it comes to China and India, two of the top three contributors to global emissions in addition to the U.S. Asia plays a crucial role in global efforts to decarbonize because it accounts for almost half of global greenhouse gas emissions. However, the region presents an uneven picture, with culpability and vulnerability varying significantly with each country. China and India At the U.N. COP26 summit l...

Select’s editorial team works independently to review financial products and write articles we think our readers will find useful. We earn a commission from affiliate partners on many offers, but not all offers on Select are from affiliate partners. Getting out of debt is usually a much harder thing to do than getting into debt, especially if you end up with a large balance and a high interest rate which makes it feel like it'll take over a decade to pay off. As a result, many people turn to debt consolidation loans to help pay off their balance faster. There are many advantages — as well as a few caveats — to keep in mind if you're considering consolidating your debt. Of course, everyone's situation is different so you should always double check with a financial advisor to ensure your un...

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a "candid exchange of views" on the Ukraine crisis at a virtual summit on Monday (Apr 11), a senior administration official said, amid US frustration over New Delhi's neutral stance on Russia's invasion. The hour-long talks were "warm and productive", the official said, although Biden made no major demands of India and there was no indication of significant progress toward a unified posture on the conflict. The South Asian nation has tried to walk a tightrope between maintaining relations with the West and avoiding alienating Russia, but has raised concerns in Washington by continuing to buy Russian oil. Biden has been pressuring world leaders to take a hard line against Moscow, although the administration offic...

Technology has permeated just about every facet of everyday life. Is it any surprise that sensors powered by the Internet of Things (IoT) have a hand in ensuring how clean a mall toilet is, and whether it has sufficient supplies of toilet rolls and soap? As part of its sustainability goals set at the beginning of 2021, Frasers Property Retail looked to digitalisation to support sustainable operations and mall management. One of its tasks was the implementation of IoT sensors in toilets, and this was executed successfully with the help of outcome-based contracting (OBC), an initiative spearheaded by the National Environment Agency (NEA). OBC encourages the adoption of technology to improve productivity and enhance processes to deliver desired outcomes, instead of taking a headcount approa...

TOKYO : Japanese manufacturers' business confidence improved for a second month in April as material industries remained resilient in the face of the Ukraine crisis, although production cuts dampened automakers' optimism, the Reuters Tankan poll showed. The service sector index rebounded strongly to a three-month high after COVID-19 curbs were eased late last month, although managers in the poll expected a slower recovery ahead, citing inflationary pressures. While the readings were up from the month before, Japanese firms remained wary of fresh risks to their recovery plans, according to the March 30 - April 8 poll, which tracks the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) closely watched "tankan" quarterly survey. "In addition to the coronavirus, the trends in foreign exchange and raw material prices fo...

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on Saturday condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a serious breach of international law. The ministers affirmed that Russia's military actions violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and international law that bans the use of force, Hayashi said at a joint news conference with Cavusoglu after their talks in Antalya, southwestern Turkey. They affirmed coordination in reforming the United Nations, given that veto power by Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, has made the top U.N. decision-making body ineffective in addressing the war in Ukraine, according to Cavusoglu. "It is important that the international community respond to Russia in unison," Hayashi said. The mini...

SAN FRANCISCO: Tesla will on Thursday (Apr 7) hold an event to mark the opening of its US$1.1 billion factory in Texas, which will help ramp up production of electric vehicles and batteries critical to its growth ambitions. The event, called "Cyber Rodeo", comes after billionaire CEO Elon Musk this week surprised the market by disclosing that he had bought a 9 per cent stake in Twitter and will join the board of the social media platform. Combined with a new Berlin factory, the Austin factory is expected to double the company's annual production capacity to 2 million vehicles. Tesla said it would also expand production at factories in California and Shanghai. Tesla has said it expects 50 per cent annual increases in deliveries over a multiyear period. "There will be always be the potent...