World

NEW DELHI :The United States will not set any "red line" for India on its energy imports from Russia but does not want to see a "rapid acceleration" in purchases, a top U.S. official said on Thursday during a visit to New Delhi. Lured by steep discounts following Western sanctions on Russian entities, India has bought at least 13 million barrels of Russian crude oil since the country invaded Ukraine in late February. That compared with some 16 million barrels for the whole of last year, data compiled by Reuters shows. "Friends don't set red lines," Daleep Singh, U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics, told reporters, adding however that its partners in Europe and Asia had been urged to cut their reliance on "an unreliable energy supplier". Singh spoke ahead of...

China’s engagement in South Asia has increased significantly in recent years, going beyond economic and development projects to encompass geostrategic and security interests. And perhaps in no other country in the region has Beijing expanded its footprint more than in Pakistan, raising concerns in Washington and New Delhi about the geostrategic implications of this deepening partnership. The latest example of this was the Pakistan Day Parade in Islamabad in late March, which saw the country’s military display several recently acquired, Chinese-made platforms such as J-10CE multirole fighter aircraft, battle tanks, self-propelled howitzers and air-defense equipment. China’s supply of advanced military equipment to Pakistan — also including warships and submarines — is part of an intensif...

NEW DELHI: India sees the complete disengagement of Chinese and Indian troops from a face-off on their remote border as key to better relations, its foreign minister said on Friday (Mar 25), following talks in New Delhi with his Chinese counterpart. Wang Yi is the most senior Chinese official to visit India since border clashes in the northern Himalayan region of Ladakh in June 2020 led to a sharp deterioration in relations between the Asian giants. Both nations have deployed thousands of troops on the high-altitude border. But there has been little progress in more than a dozen rounds of talks between senior military officers to try and defuse the situation. "I was very honest in my discussions with the Chinese foreign minister, especially in conveying our national sentiments," India's...

The world's biggest gathering of energy industry leaders kicked off in Houston Monday, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine delivers an oil price shock to the global economy and embattled executives face growing criticism for the industry's role in climate change. Global oil prices have reached levels not seen since the 2008 financial crisis as disruption to crude and fuel exports from Russia has left the world short of supply, threatening the biggest disruption in energy markets worldwide in decades - one that oil producers say requires a swift response. "Everybody that is an oil producer has to accelerate efforts to bring more oil to the market," Hess Chief Executive John Hess said at a panel. This year's CERAWeek was expected to attract more than 4,500 attendees, with a program drawn up l...

SINGAPORE: Oil prices soared more than six per cent, touching their highest since 2008 on Monday (Mar 7) after the United States and European allies mull a Russian oil import ban while delays in the potential return of Iranian crude to global markets fuelled tight supply fears. Brent crude futures rose US$8.46, or 7.2 per cent, to US$126.57 a barrel by 0128 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose US$7.65, or 6.6 per cent, to US$123.33. In the first few minutes of trade on Monday, both benchmarks spiked more than US$10 a barrel to their highest since July 2008 with Brent at US$139.13 and WTI at $130.50. Monday's intraday highs are near record levels seen for both contracts in July 2008 when Brent hit US$147.50 a barrel and WTI touched US$147.27. The United States and Euro...

1. Stock futures lower as Dow rides 3-day win streak A Trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 8, 2022. Brendan McDermid | Reuters U.S. stock futures were slightly lower Thursday morning, one day after a whipsaw session on Wall Street as traders digested the Federal Reserve's moves. Dow futures implied an opening decline Thursday of around 115 points. Futures tied to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also were in the red. After Wednesday's strong rally, the major U.S. stock indexes are on pace for their best weekly performance of the year. The Dow finished higher by 519 points, or 1.55%, shaking off an intraday move into negative territory as investors processed the Fed's policy outlook. The 30-stock average is riding a three-day win streak for ...

SINGAPORE: Barely six months after its launch in Singapore in 2014, shopping and rewards platform ShopBack began to spread its wings to neighbouring Malaysia and Philippines. Its head of global expansion, Ms Josephine Chow, said that the company had wanted to quickly tap on growing opportunities across the Asia Pacific region because its business model had been built “to operate on such a scale”. Similarly, gaming chair company Secretlab was also expanding to neighbouring markets. But much like how avid gamers explore virtual world without having to leave the comfort of their chairs, Secretlab successfully broke into new markets while maintaining operations in Singapore. The company began to export its chairs to Malaysia in December 2015, just about a year after its founding. Fast forwa...

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. Amazon is the latest tech giant to dominate market headlines recently in its announcement of a 20-for-1 stock split. If you're left Googling, "what is a stock split," Select is here to help. What is a stock split? Companies typically engage in a stock split so that investors can more easily buy and sell shares, otherwise known as increasing the company's liquidity. Stock splits divide a company's shares into more shares, which in turn lowers a share's price and increases the number of shares available. For existing shareholders of that compa...

SINGAPORE: A man was sentenced to 27 months' jail on Wednesday (Mar 30) for helping scammers to launder more than half a million dollars' worth of criminal proceeds through email fraud. As police investigators from the Commercial Affairs Department closed in on him, Singaporean Mohd Jamail Khan Banakhani Shafi Khan sent them forged agreements to justify his receipt of the funds in 2016 and 2017. Jamail, 56, was the director of Jars Technology and Jars Investments and Holdings at the time of the offences. Out of the criminal proceeds he received, Jamail used about S$59,000 for his own benefit. THE OFFENCES The court heard that Jars Technology received two payments of about S$141,000 and S$325,000 in its Standard Chartered Bank account on May 23 and Jun 10, 2016 respectively. The transf...

SINGAPORE: Singapore's core inflation in February eased to 2.2 per cent on a year-on-year basis, down from the 2.4 per cent in January, official data released on Wednesday (Mar 23) showed. This was reflected in lower inflation for services, food and electricity and gas, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in a joint media release. February's consumer price index (CPI), or overall inflation, came in at 4.3 per cent year-on-year, up from 4 per cent in January. Core inflation excludes accommodation and private transport costs. These items are excluded as they tend to be significantly influenced by supply-side administrative policies and are volatile. "Global inflation is expected to stay high for some time before easing in the latter hal...