World

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is moving to ban stock trading on Capitol Hill, after having consistently opposed such a measure, Punchbowl News reports, as cited by Axios . This adds unprecedented momentum to an issue that also has bipartisan support on the Senate side. Dow futures rose nearly 250 points, or nearly 0.7%, on Wednesday. S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures pointed to even stronger gains at the open, one day after all three stock benchmarks mounted a solid rally. The Nasdaq 's second positive session in the past three was helping the index move closer to getting out of correction territory. (CNBC) Earnings are once again the story on Wall Street, with Dow stock Disney scheduled to come out with quarterly results after the bell Wednesday. Peloton (PTON) gave up earlier premarke...

HONG KONG :China Evergrande Group said on Wednesday it aims to have a preliminary restructuring proposal in place within six months as the debt-laden developer scrambles to reassure creditors spooked by defaults since its finances began to unravel last year. The long-awaited communication came against the backdrop of Beijing tightening control over the property developer, while taking measures to stabilise China's crisis-hit property sector. But some bondholders said they were disappointed by the 25-minute call with creditors, which included prepared answers to questions, saying it lacked insight on Evergrande's plans. "(I had) no expectation prior to the call and no expectation after the call... frankly speaking, I believe the final decision making is led by the government, the company...

CANCAHUANI, Peru: On a cold day in January, a group of angry indigenous communities in Peru's copper-rich Andes was driving a hard bargain with the government and Chinese mining firm MMG Ltd around a makeshift negotiating table on a covered soccer pitch. The argument was over trucking contracts and was backed by a threat to block a vital access road to the huge Las Bambas mine - which produces 2per cent of global copper - stopping the ore making its way to the coast and to markets around the world. The 10 communities wanted Las Bambas to give them contracts to operate 28 haulage trucks. The company was offering half that many and playing hardball itself in the negotiations, witnessed by a Reuters reporter, in the small Andean town of Cancahuani. The leader of the community group, the Ch...

TOKYO: Oil prices jumped on Monday (Jan 24) as geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East heightened concerns about an already tight supply outlook, while OPEC and its allies continued to struggle to raise their output. Brent crude futures rose 87 cents, or 1 per cent, to US$88.76 a barrel by 0100 GMT, reversing a 0.6 per cent loss on Friday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 86 cents, or 1 per cent, to US$86.00 a barrel, having fallen 0.5 per cent on Friday. Both crude benchmarks rose for a fifth week in a row last week, gaining around 2 per cent to hit their highest since October 2014. Prices are up more than 10 per cent so far this year already on the concerns over tightening supplies. "Investors remained bullish due to geopolitical risk between ...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Election Commission (EC) has announced that polling day for the Johor state election will be on Mar 12, with nominations to take place on Feb 26. At a media conference after chairing a special meeting on the Johor state election on Wednesday (Feb 9), EC chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh said early voting would take place on Mar 8. “According to the updated voters’ register, there are 2,597,742 voters for the Johor state election,” he added. Johor’s state assembly, which has 56 seats, was dissolved by Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar on Jan 22. The sultan gave his consent for the dissolution after meeting with Chief Minister Hasni Mohammad. Prior to the dissolution, Mr Hasni justified that his state government needed a fresh mandate as it only held a slim majority following t...

THE RACE TO DIGITISE AND ITS DOWNSIDES I get it. To remain competitive, companies are racing to digitalise and streamline business and IT processes and scale up quickly as demand for their products and services increased, especially after a pandemic struck. From food delivery services to late charges over credit card bills, automated voice services and customer support have reduced the need for human interaction with customers. Many customers don’t mind either. Just look at how they use supermarket self-serve lines with ease. In a manpower-lean economy short on staff, this is a sensible strategy. Airlines and hotels will incentivise customers to use their apps and automated service either by giving a slightly lower price for transactions conducted online or by charging extra fees for tr...

TOKYO: Japan's economy rebounded in the final three months of 2021 as falling coronavirus cases helped prop up consumption, though rising raw material costs and a spike in new Omicron variant infections cloud the outlook. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda also highlighted escalating tensions in Ukraine as a fresh risk to the central bank's forecast for a moderate economic recovery. The world's third-largest economy expanded an annualised 5.4 per cent in October-December after contracting a revised 2.7 per cent in the previous quarter, government data showed on Tuesday (Feb 15), falling short of a median market forecast for a 5.8 per cent gain. Some analysts expect the economy to slump again in the current quarter as rising COVID-19 cases keep households from shopping and supply cha...

Ecuador is expecting a planned trade deal with China to increase commerce between the two countries by about 35per cent, though the South American country will seek to protect some local industry, Exterior Commerce Minister Julio Jose Prado said on Sunday. The two countries on Saturday said they would seek to reach a trade deal by the end of the year. The announcement was made during a state visit to China by Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso. China became Ecuador's top lender over the past decade, with millions of dollars in long-term credit tied to the handover of crude oil, large investments in hydro-electric and mining projects and other loans. China is a leading buyer of Ecuadorean products including shrimp and bananas and a major importer to the Andean country. "There will be a...

BEIJING: The coach of the Finland men's ice hockey team accused China of not respecting a player's human rights on Sunday (Feb 6) as complaints about COVID-19 isolation protocols piled up at the Winter Games. Finnish head coach Jukka Jalonen said Marko Anttila, a ninth-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2004 NHL draft, was "not getting good food" and was under tremendous mental stress. "We know that he's fully healthy and ready to go and that's why we think that China, for some reason, they won't respect his human rights and that's not a great situation," head coach Jalonen said on a Zoom call with media. Anttila was no longer infectious but continued to be kept in COVID-19 isolation after testing positive 18 days ago, according to the team doctor. More than 350 Games particip...

Less than a tenth of Japan’s population live in the countryside, but the furusato (hometown) exerts a powerful draw. There’s a whole subgenre of Japanese cinema devoted to the rural areas that many urban residents have left behind: tales of honest folk and time-honored traditions, often aimed at an older audience and teeming with picturesque shots that could have been plucked from a tourism video. Director Yoshinari Nishikori is an expert at this kind of thing. His films, many of them set in his native Shimane Prefecture, are odes to the old ways — and while they may be dewy-eyed, they’re not without merit. Like comfort food, sometimes stodgy fare can be satisfying too. Originally set for release in April 2020, “The Takatsu River” has been stuck in limbo since the start of the pandemic, ...