World

The United States formally declared on Monday (Mar 21) that violence committed against the Rohingya by Myanmar's military amounted to genocide, saying there was clear evidence of an attempt to "destroy" the Muslim minority. Announcing the decision, which was first reported by Reuters on Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had "determined that members of the Burmese military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Rohingya". "The military's intent went beyond ethnic cleansing to the actual destruction of Rohingya," Blinken said at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. "The attack against Rohingya was widespread and systematic, which is crucial for reaching a determination of crimes against humanity." In his speech, the top American diplomat read out tragic an...

SINGAPORE: Singapore remains open and connected to the world, although it is not easy to sustain this in an environment with “every temptation” to turn inwards, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Friday (Mar 25). Speaking at the official opening of technology company Dyson’s new global headquarters at St James Power Station, the Prime Minister noted that the conflict in Ukraine may escalate, and even if that is avoided, the war will still “fundamentally change” multilateral economic cooperation. “With sanctions and export controls increasingly prevalent, it will be more and more difficult for all countries to keep up trade and investment flows within such a multilateral framework, given their political differences,” said Mr Lee. “It’s not just continuing to do business with somebody...

Panasonic Corp. is engaged in talks over the site for a new U.S. factory that would supply Tesla Inc. and potentially other electric-vehicle manufacturers with next-generation lithium-ion batteries, people familiar with the matter said. The longtime Tesla supplier is looking at several locations for the multibillion-dollar factory, including one in Oklahoma and another in Kansas, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are confidential. The plant could begin operating as soon as 2024, they said. Though still at an early stage, the plans represent a bold step for Panasonic. Even as it has faced high demand for batteries from Tesla, Panasonic has been slower to build scale compared with rival suppliers LG Energy Solution of South Korea and China’s Contemporary ...

CELEBRATING WOMEN OF THE YEAR Despite their diverse backgrounds across Southeast Asia, the Lazada Forward Woman of the Year Award recipients all share several things in common – the grit needed to build a business from scratch, the resourcefulness needed to deal with the unexpected, and the willingness to share their skills with their staff and communities. For example, take former university physics lecturer Farica Edgina Yosafat. The 36-year-old knew that her e-commerce venture on Lazada – a mother and baby product shop called Berry Baby – had the potential to succeed, but it needed a skilled team to bring it places. Ms Yosafat trained her staff in data analytics, marketing and product listing, empowering them with new skills as well as pushing her business forward. Her experience and ...

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's public transport was crippled Wednesday (Mar 2) as buses ran out of diesel, officials said as the country's foreign exchange crisis worsened with no dollars to import fuel. The Private Bus Owners' Association said they were able to operate only about a quarter of their fleet of 20,000 vehicles, while drivers reported queuing for seven hours to top up fuel. "I could not run the bus for two days because there was no diesel," said 51-year-old bus driver Sarath. "I have been in the diesel queue for seven-and-a-half hours." Many commuters were seen using their own motorcycles and small cars Wednesday after bus operators warned of drastically scaled back schedules. One of Sri Lanka's biggest fuel suppliers, Lanka IOC, put up prices by as much as 12 percent on Saturday w...

WASHINGTON : The surge in crude oil prices past $100 a barrel has raised a big question: Will this latest spike in the notoriously volatile oil market help to speed the global transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources to fight climate change? The answer is probably not. On the one hand, energy analysts say, soaring prices for gasoline, diesel and other products made from crude oil will drive cost-conscious consumers more quickly into electric vehicles and boost investment in competing clean technologies like hydrogen. But at the same time, these high prices will also drive more drilling of oil and gas around the globe, as fossil fuel companies rush to cash in, sowing the seeds for the boom to turn to bust. That will make oil abundant and affordable again. That is a pattern...

BEIJING/SHANGHAI :China's foreign exchange regulator has questioned banks over their exposure to the Russian-Ukraine crisis, following concerns Washington may sanction financial institutions or even block them from the U.S. dollar settlement system, sources said. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) last week asked lenders whether they had business involving Russian peers and how they managed risk control, seven banking and policy sources said on condition of anonymity. The SAFE has not responded to Reuters' request for comments. One source said the aim was to enable regulators to better prepare and prevent systemic risk. The sources said the regulator enquired about business and risk control management with respect to operations in regions including Belarus and the sepa...

MILAN : Having sold its motorway business in Italy, Atlantia is investing in smart traffic technology to help drive development of cleaner transport and open up new markets such as the United States. Controlled by the Benetton family, the infrastructure group is seeking to finally put behind it a dispute triggered by the deadly collapse of a motorway bridge operated by its Autostrade per l'Italia business in Genoa in 2018. It sold that business and has started using some of the 8 billion euro ($8.7 billion) proceeds expected in the coming months from the transaction to expand into smart traffic tech. In January, it bought Siemens Yunex Traffic division for 950 million euros - a move that made it the only major motorway operator in Europe with a smart traffic business. Now, as first mov...

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. Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi first came up with the idea for Brex when they participated in Y Combinator, a tech start-up accelerator. While their original idea was to build a virtual reality company, they quickly realized how difficult it was for start-ups and small businesses to secure financing from traditional banks. Instead, they created Brex, a business credit card that didn't just consider credit scores for approval but also looked at how much money a business has raised, its existing cash balances and its revenue. Looking at ...

LONDON : Nickel prices lurched higher to hit their daily limits in London and China on Thursday with the large moves fuelled by thin trading conditions. Industrial metals have rallied as disruptions from the Russia-Ukraine conflict and higher energy costs triggered concerns over global supply. Efforts by major Chinese nickel producer Tsingshan Holding Group to reduce its short positions spurred LME nickel prices to rocket to record highs above $100,000 a tonne on March 8, after which trading was suspended for six sessions. One trader said the dominant short position remained, although it was unclear whether Tsingshan was back in the market seeking to cover some of its short position. He added that an illiquid market would make such efforts harder and could be driving the sharp gains. ...