World

:Ford Motor Co on Wednesday will announce a reorganization under which its electric vehicle (EV) and internal-combustion engine (ICE) units will be run as separate businesses in a move to fast track growth in EVs, three people familiar with the plan said. The EV and ICE businesses will have separate names but will remain under the Ford corporate umbrella, in the same way the company operates its Ford Pro commercial business for corporate customers, said the people, who asked not to be identified. The U.S. automaker will name executives to lead each business and Ford will also outline updated profit margin targets for the company overall, the sources said. The idea is for Ford to eventually report separate financial results for the EV and ICE businesses, one of the sources said. Ford spo...

Before recent increased DEI efforts led companies to directly partner with schools, many HBCU students struggled to find job opportunities that aligned with their career goals. It's an experience that Bilal Issifou knows well — after finding himself at an internship he wasn't passionate about, the North Carolina A&T alumnus launched his tech-based start-up Unchained Inc., which has helped hundreds of HBCU students and graduates get jobs and internships at Fortune 500 companies. Native to Togo, West Africa, Issifou came to the U.S. at age 5. His parents instilled hard work and education in him at an early age, which prompted him to pursue pre-law in undergrad. Being on campus helped him hone in on his networking, communication and interpersonal skills, which Issifou says was "critical to hi...

SINGAPORE: Students and graduates of polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) will get more support to clinch technology-related jobs amid a fast-growing digital economy, said Minister of State for Communications and Information Tan Kiat How on Friday (Mar 4). “We will put in place a structured, end-to-end approach to better support our polytechnic and ITE students, starting with 1,000 places over the next 3 years,” he announced during his ministry’s Committee of Supply debate. A TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) for ITEs and Polytechnics (TIP) Alliance comprising leading tech firms and major hirers will be formed by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). The latest move comes after some polytechnic and ITE graduates from Information and Digital Technologies (ID...

The China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank said it will suspend business related to Russia and Belarus in a sign of the two countries’ deepening pariah status over the war in Ukraine. In a statement issued Thursday, the AIIB said that “in the best interests of the bank, management has decided that all activities relating to Russia and Belarus are on hold and under review.” China, whose bilateral relationship with Russia has strengthened in recent years, has thus far avoided criticizing Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. Beijing is the largest stakeholder in the multilateral institution — the brainchild of Chinese President Xi Jinping — with almost 27% voting power. The bank was launched in 2016 to counter the West’s dominance of the World Bank and the International Monetar...

PHNOM PENH: A summit between US President Joe Biden and leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) due to be held later this month has been postponed and organisers will seek a new date, Cambodia's foreign minister told Reuters on Wednesday (Mar 9). "It has been postponed to a later date because some ASEAN leaders cannot attend the meeting on the proposed dates," Minister Prak Sokhonn said in a text message. Cambodia is the current chair of ASEAN. The United States had announced the summit would be held on Mar 28 and Mar 29. But Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen suggested this week that the meeting should be delayed after some ASEAN countries had asked for it to be held two days earlier. Indonesia, which is the coordinator of the summit, did not immediately confirm th...

Najib also recently visited a residential flat in Taman Cendana, Pasir Gudang. Videos on social media showed him being greeted by lines of residents gathered on the ground floor and along the corridors of upper floors, waving navy blue BN flags and chanting “Bossku”. It is still early days for the 2022 Johor state election campaigning period, but BN is already bullish on its chances to be victorious. During the 2018 general election, BN suffered an embarrassing defeat, losing power at federal level and also the Johor state government after six decades of dominance. Johor had been a key stronghold for BN. The southern state is the birthplace and bastion for UMNO and the 2022 state election is now seen as an opportunity for redemption. One of BN’s main contenders in the polls is Perikata...

SINGAPORE: The euro was under pressure on Wednesday (Mar 2) as intensifying Russian bombardment of Ukraine's cities and surging oil prices raised investors' concerns about a hit to Europe's economy and growth. The common currency briefly fell below support to touch a 21-month low of US$1.1090 overnight, before recovering a slightly to last trade at US$1.1114. "The risk is a sustained move below US$1.1106 if market participants downgrade the Eurozone economic outlook," said Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Kim Mundy. Sterling, which fell 0.7 per cent overnight, was also squeezed at US$1.3305. Russian forces were attempting to encircle and subdue Ukrainian cities with intensifying bombardments on Wednesday, seven days into an invasion that has sparked massive international sanction...

A summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) due to be held later this month has been postponed and organizers will seek a new date, Cambodia’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. “It has been postponed to a later date because some ASEAN leaders cannot attend the meeting on the proposed dates,” Minister Prak Sokhonn said in a text message. Cambodia is the current chair of ASEAN. The United States had announced the summit would be held on March 28 and 29. But Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen suggested this week that the meeting should be delayed after some ASEAN countries had asked for it to be held two days earlier. Indonesia, which is the coordinator of the summit, did not immediately confirm the postponement after an offi...

To be biracial in a world of binary thinking is not easy. To be binational is even more challenging. Olympic gold medalist Eileen Gu, affectionately known in China as the “snow princess,” has ignited an international firestorm of hot takes on nationality and what it means to belong to a country. “I’m American when I’m in the U.S. and I’m Chinese when I’m in China,” Gu told reporters at the Games on Feb. 8. San Francisco-born and raised, Gu is the child of a Chinese mother and an American father of undisclosed identity. She is biracial, and appears to have dual nationality, which U.S. law recognizes but Chinese law does not. Then again, China is not a country where the rule of law consistently trumps other considerations. For instance, Huawei heiress Meng Wanzhou was found to be in poss...

SINGAPORE: A domestic helper has been jailed for stealing luxury handbags and rings worth more than S$30,000 from her employer. She sold the items for cash as she needed money for her son's operation in the Philippines and to repay rolling debts she incurred from borrowing money from friends in Singapore. When she was nabbed, the 28-year-old Filipina went to stay at a hostel pending her court case. She stole again, this time from her room-mate, a fellow foreigner. Meneses Princess Joy Domingo was sentenced on Monday (Feb 14) to a year and two weeks' jail. Domingo, who has been remanded since December, pleaded guilty to one count each of theft and theft by servant, with a third charge taken into consideration. The court heard that Domingo began working for a 41-year-old South Korean wom...