World

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 ...

Japan's household spending rose for a second consecutive month year-on-year in February, helped by a flattering comparison with last year's sharp pandemic-induced slump, but the consumer sector is now facing growing headwinds from soaring prices. Households cut spending from the previous month as pandemic curbs, rapid food and fuel price rises and the coronavirus kept wallets shut, casting a shadow over the world's third-largest economy. In a sign of trouble for consumer sentiment, real wage growth stagnated in February as global inflationary pressures weighed on household purchasing power. "Prices will outpace wage gains from now on, so consumption will be on a sluggish trend," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute. "While service spending is expected ...

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Twitter — Shares of the social media rose 5.7% on news that Twitter would accept a buyout from Elon Musk to take the company private for $54.20 per share. Penn National Gaming — Shares of the casino and online betting company rose 4.9% after an upgrade from Morgan Stanley. The investment firm hiked its rating to overweight, saying that the recent slump for Penn National's stock made it an attractive valuation and that the company has a better strategy for gaining sports-betting customers than its competitors. Oil stocks — Energy stocks dipped amid renewed fears of a global slowdown as the country grapples with a Covid outbreak. Shares of Chevron and Exxon Mobil fell 2.2% and 3.4%, respectively. Advanced Micro Devices, Marvell ...

Ahead of the November 2019 election, Sri Lankan presidential challenger Gotabaya Rajapaksa proposed sweeping tax cuts so reckless the incumbent government thought it must be a campaign gimmick. The finance minister at the time, Mangala Samaraweera, called a briefing to assail the “dangerous” pledge to reduce the value-added tax to 8% from 15% and scrap other levies. To him, it was simple math: Sri Lanka collected relatively less revenue than nearly any other country, and its high debt load had forced it to seek cash from the International Monetary Fund. “If these proposals are implemented like this not only will the entire country go bankrupt,” the minister warned, “but the entire country will become another Venezuela or another Greece.” It took about 30 months for his prediction to com...