World

Growing calls for the European Union to ban Russian oil imports may be overlooking a crucial flaw in its strategy to punish Moscow: India. The South Asian nation is becoming a huge buyer of Russian oil, snapping up crude cargoes that are going unwanted by European importers. And with several European countries and oil majors self-sanctioning Russian purchases and starving themselves of fuel, India is already profiting from selling diesel onward to Europe. If Europe adopts official sanctions on Russian crude and fuel, prices will likely surge, and India could profit even more from refining Russian oil to fuels it then sells to Europe for more money. It’s a plot twist that reflects how complex it is for the EU to untangle itself from Russian energy imports. Though the bloc is making stren...

LONDON : Investors had hoped 2022 would be the year when the market recovery from COVID-19 finally got cemented and life started to feel a little more normal. Boy were they wrong. Russia's invasion of Ukraine combined with supercharged global inflation have ignited talk of new geopolitical and economic world orders, setting some staggering milestones in the process. A $10 trillion wipeout in world stocks followed by a $9 trillion recovery; a rout in bond markets; what is shaping up to be the strongest commodities rally since World War I; and the fastest rise in global interest rates in decades. Add to that the world's largest country being gouged out the global financial system, the biggest sovereign credit rating downgrade ever seen and pastings for Japan's yen and Chinese stocks and t...

Efforts by Chinese President Xi Jinping to regain the trust of international investors face serious hurdles. Xi’s government showed little regard for those same investors last year when it unleashed a series of crackdowns on the country’s most profitable companies — in a bid to curb "disorderly capital” and ensure the firms didn’t become more powerful than the Communist Party. The result was confusion and punishing losses for shareholders. Regulators have yet to follow through on promises made this month to ensure policies are more transparent and predictable. Wariness toward Chinese assets has only increased since Russia attacked Ukraine just weeks after a Beijing summit reinforced the close ties between Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Global investors feared the Biden adminis...

JAKARTA: Dina, who hails from Central Java but studies in the East Javan city of Malang, is dying to go back to her hometown during the upcoming Idul Fitri holidays. The 22-year-old university student has not been home since late last year after some physical classes resumed on campus. The first thing she wants to do when she reaches home? To convince her mother to get vaccinated against COVID-19. “My mother is a strong anti-vaxxer,” Dina, who only wanted to be known by her first name, told CNA. “She has been reading hoaxes forwarded by her friends over WhatsApp. She truly believes that vaccines are more dangerous than the coronavirus, even though some of her neighbours and friends have died from COVID-19.” Around 15 months after launching a massive national vaccination drive, Indones...

If peace in Ukraine looks depressingly far away, accountability seems beyond another galaxy. What are the chances Vladimir Putin will appear in a courtroom to answer for the hell he’s unleashed in Ukraine? They seem vanishingly small. And yet, national leaders, politicians, international organizations and an army of individuals are working to build the war crimes case against Putin and his regime. The International Criminal Court, the European Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice are all investigating crimes committed in Ukraine. Former U.K. prime ministers Gordon Brown and John Major have thrown their support behind an initiative to back a new tribunal. Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the U.S. had credible evidence of war crimes ...

OAKLAND, Calif. : Microsoft Corp President Brad Smith wrote to Ukraine's leader this month with a clear message: despite Kyiv's calls for it to sever all ties with Russia, the U.S. software behemoth would continue doing business in the country with non-sanctioned clients, including schools and hospitals. "Depriving these institutions of software updates and services could put at risk the health and safety of innocent civilians, including children and the elderly," Smith said in the previously unreported March 14 letter, seen by Reuters. Smith told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Microsoft was "mindful of the moral responsibility" to protect civilians. However, he said the company was discussing with U.S., British and EU governments whether "to halt any ongoing services and support" in...

One of the reasons why Sapporo is aiming to host the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics is to establish itself as a world-class urban snow resort. The city hopes to be better recognized globally so that it can welcome more tourists from abroad and boost its economy. Currently, foreign tourists are attracted to world-famous ski destinations such as Niseko, some 100 kilometers away from Sapporo, and tend to pass through Sapporo, tourism industry officials say. The city still has a long way to go to become an internationally renowned tourist attraction, as challenges remain, including the shortage of luxury hotels. Luxurious ski resorts “If you stay in Sapporo, you can not only ski but also visit tourist spots and enjoy food in urban surroundings,” Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto said ...

TOKYO: The yen hit its lowest level against the dollar in two decades on Wednesday (Apr 13), extending recent falls as the gap widens between Japan's ultra-loose monetary policy and US tightening. Despite being traditionally considered a safe-haven currency, uncertainty fuelled by the war in Ukraine has not caused the yen to strengthen. Instead, moves by the US Federal Reserve towards a more aggressive policy and the shock of rising oil prices in Japan - a major importer of fossil fuels - have pushed the currency lower, analysts say. One dollar bought 126 yen on Wednesday afternoon, the lowest rate since 2002. "The Japanese yen has been one of the weakest currencies anywhere in the world this year," Dutch banking group ING said in a recent commentary. "Driving the rally has been the p...

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. Nothing calls for a better time to get organized as the spring cleaning season. The rainy weather marks for a good opportunity to have a cozy day inside, tidy up your home or clean out your closet. It also serves as an opportunity to take a good look at your finances. With the end of winter and paying off holiday expenses, and the anticipation of warmer weather and summer travels, you're in the middle of getting your money in order. Below, personal finance experts weigh in on three ways to clean up your personal finances this season. Subscrib...

After the United States and China signed the Shanghai Communique 50 years ago, in February 1972, the U.S. pursued a policy of engagement with Beijing, hoping that China would become both a part of the existing international order and a democratic state in step with its economic growth. Such a stance, addressed by Henry Kissinger, the U.S. president’s national security adviser at the time, has largely changed course today. This year also marks 50 years since Japan and China normalized diplomatic ties in September 1972 after Washington and Beijing began moving closer to one another in the early 1970s. But will the recent changes in the U.S.-China relations lead to the creation of a new China-Japan relationship? Chinese President Xi Jinping’s administration, formed in 2012, began to call ...