World

SEOUL: North Korea's isolated economy will not be insulated from global economic headwinds caused by the Ukraine war and the COVID-19 lockdowns in China, analysts said, with recently resumed border trade taking a hit and inflation exacerbating food shortages. Strict international sanctions ban or restrict wide categories of North Korean imports and exports, and the country locked down its border for years to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks. Natural disasters such as flooding have also taken a toll on harvests and damaged infrastructure. The trickle of trade and aid that resumed over the land border with China in January probably did not alleviate reported food shortages - and trade was suspended again last week as COVID-19 cases rose in China, analysts said. Satellite imagery shows goods sitt...

BEIJING : China's first-quarter retail sales lagged in key coastal economic regions with areas hit by COVID-19 outbreaks showing particular weakness, according to regional data, pointing to further sluggishness in consumption in the second quarter. China's two biggest provincial economies - Guangdong province in the south and Jiangsu province near Shanghai - posted retail sales growth of 1.7 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively, from a year earlier, according to recent data from local statistics bureaus, below nationwide retail sales growth of 3.3 per cent. Retail sales in Shanghai, China's most populous city, dropped 3.8 per cent as the metropolis battled its most serious COVID-19 outbreak. Cases of the Omicron variant began emerging in the financial powerhouse in March, and the impa...

WASHINGTON: The United States government is appealing a court ruling that controversially lifted a federal mask mandate on US public transport earlier this week, the Justice Department said Wednesday (Apr 20). After the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the country's top health body, assessed "that an order requiring masking in the transportation corridor remains necessary to protect the public health, the Department has filed a notice of appeal," spokesman Anthony Coley said. A US federal judge on Monday struck down the COVID-19 mask mandate, stating that it exceeded the CDC's statutory authority. Policymakers in Washington had decided just the prior week to extend it through May 3. Although the public has a "strong interest" in combating the spread of COVID-19, the mask ...

SINGAPORE: A former manager of Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) who received more than S$51,000 in bribes was jailed for nine months on Wednesday (Mar 30). Chin Fong Yi, 44, accepted the bribes in exchange for her silence on a price-fixing scheme that had allegedly been running since 2005. The cases of the other individuals involved in the price-fixing, including a former director at the Singapore Zoo, which is a subsidiary of WRS, are still pending. Chin used a portion of the bribes she received to buy luxury bags, jewellery and shoes. These were seized during investigations and sold for proceeds amounting to S$9,275, which were paid to the Accountant-General. The judge also ordered Chin to pay a penalty of S$42,475, which was the balance left over after subtracting the proceeds of t...

1. Stock futures flat after Tuesday's intraday reversal Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 25, 2021 in New York City. Spencer Platt | Getty Images U.S. stock futures were essentially flat Wednesday morning, following Tuesday's intraday reversal that saw the major indexes finish in the red. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 both fell around 0.3%, their third straight negative session. They had been up as much as 2% and 1.3%, respectively, as Wall Street initially rallied on hopes inflation was peaking after March's consumer price index showed the largest annual increase since 1981. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined about 88 points, or 0.26%, giving up earlier gains of nearly 1.1%. All three indexes closed below their 50-day and 200...

HONG KONG : Melbourne City continued their unbeaten start to their first-ever Asian Champions League campaign on Thursday with a 2-1 win over South Korea's Jeonnam Dragons to move level on points with BG Pathum United in Group G. Former Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson saw his 12th minute opener in Pathum Thani Stadium cancelled out by Lee Kyu-hyuk, but Andrew Nabbout restored Melbourne's lead in the 22nd minute to give Patrick Kisnorbo's all three points. The result means City are level on seven points with BG Pathum United at the halfway point in the group phase following their 5-0 thumping of United City from the Philippines. Jenkinson put City in front with a low drive that beat Kim Da-sol but Lee Kyu-hyuk's deflected effort found a way past Tom Glover at the other end to level the s...

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida underscored the importance of upholding the rules-based international order amid China’s growing assertiveness and the Russian invasion of Ukraine as he met Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Friday on the first stop of his trip to Southeast Asia and Europe. Japan views Indonesia, this year’s host of the Group of 20 major economies’ summit to be held in November and a key economy in Southeast Asia, as a strategic partner sharing universal values such as democracy and the rule of law. Russia and China are both members of the G20. “We are facing many challenges including the situations in Ukraine, the East and South China seas and North Korea. Under such circumstances, maintaining and strengthening the rules-based, free and open international order ha...

As Hong Kong’s outbreak became the deadliest in the world, among the aid Beijing sent to the financial hub were 1 million packets of honeysuckle, rhubarb root, sweet wormwood herb and other natural ingredients, all mixed according to principles of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Practitioners of the centuries-old medicinal system argue such herbal combinations can be just as effective as antiviral pills like Pfizer Inc.’s Paxlovid. “Unlike Western medicine that targets the virus itself, the way TCM works against COVID is to first effect change in the environment of our human body,” said Liu Qingquan, dean of Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. “Once the environment changes, the virus can no longer survive.” President Xi Jinping wants other countries to give China’s her...

"My offer is my best and final offer." Elon Musk's $43 billion bid for Twitter takes a page out of Warren Buffett's take-it-or-leave-it playbook. But investment bankers, investors and analysts said he needed a blowout bid and more details on his financing for this strategy to work. They added that Musk's track record of reversing his positions also weighs against him. Buffett is known for clinching large deals through his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc, such as the $11.6 billion deal to buy property and casualty reinsurer Alleghany Corp and his $37 billion acquisition of aerospace equipment maker Precision Castparts Corp, by making only one offer and refusing to negotiate. These offers were viewed as fair by their acquisition targets and were backed by committed financing from Berk...

BRUSSELS: Belgian health authorities ordered Italian confectionery group Ferrero on Friday (Apr 8) to suspend production at its plant in Belgium, after an investigation into dozens of cases of salmonella linked to the company's Kinder chocolates. Ferrero, which recalled several batches of Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs and other products from shelves in Spain, Britain, Ireland and the United States, said other Kinder products made at its Arlon site had also been recalled. The company did not explicitly link the recall to the salmonella cases. Following the Belgian order to close the factory, Ferrero on Friday apologised, acknowledging internal failures. Italy's Ferrero "acknowledges there were internal failures" and said it "profoundly regrets" and "sincerely apologises" for the spate ...