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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...

The world has been transfixed by Ukraine’s fight for survival. As the war drags on, we’d better start considering what will become of Russia, as well. President Vladimir Putin’s nation has now been subjected to an isolation more sudden and total than that experienced by any major power in recent history. What that leads to may not be pretty. Since late February, Russia has been hit with punishing economic, trade and financial sanctions. It is careering toward a debt default, as a rapid technological decoupling is also under way. Foreign firms are fleeing the country, while Russian teams are excluded from international competitions in soccer and other sports. Even the International Cat Federation has barred Russian felines from its events. Russia isn’t some tinpot tyranny like Cuba or No...

SHANGHAI: More Chinese companies are halting domestic listing plans, filings show, as the country's biggest coronavirus outbreak in two years hampers due diligence and information gathering, affecting an estimated US$9 billion-plus in fundraising. Over the past week, 15 companies seeking initial public offerings (IPOs) on Shanghai's tech-focused STAR Market have suspended applications, almost all citing impacts from the epidemic, exchange filings showed. The city started lockdowns on Monday. In Shenzhen, which conducted three rounds of mass testing in March, 67 IPO applicants targeting the start-up board ChiNext have suspended the listing process this month, citing the need to update disclosure to regulators, according to filings. In all, the suspensions potentially delay fundraising wo...

Japan is dispatching an official jet usually reserved for the emperor and prime minister to ferry Ukrainian refugees to Tokyo, an unprecedented move that highlights the red-carpet treatment being offered to those fleeing Russia’s invasion. Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi is set to fly to Poland in a 150-seater Boeing 777 government jet Friday, the government’s chief spokesman said. The plane was then expected to be used to fly refugees back to Tokyo, according to NHK and other media. The country has already accepted 325 people fleeing Ukraine in less than a month. While that’s a tiny fraction of the millions who have fled, it’s still more than the total number of refugees Japan has allowed for the past seven years from all over the world. Japan does have a track record of taking in l...

CHICAGO: Sky-high fertiliser prices have farmers worldwide scaling back its use and reducing the amount of land they're planting, the fallout from the Ukraine-Russia conflict that has some agricultural industry veterans warning of food shortages. Western sanctions on Russia, a major exporter of potash, ammonia, urea and other soil nutrients, have disrupted shipments of those key inputs around the globe. Fertiliser is key to keeping corn, soy, rice and wheat yields high. Growers are scrambling to adjust. The pivot can be seen in agricultural powerhouse Brazil, where some farmers are applying less fertilizer to their corn, and some federal legislators are pushing to open protected indigenous lands for the mining of potash. In Zimbabwe and Kenya, small farmers are reverting to using manure ...