World

With gas prices up nearly 50% since last year, you might be looking for ways to stretch your gas mileage. Fortunately, you don't have to spend a lot of money upgrading to a more fuel-efficient vehicle to do so, as small changes in your driving and vehicle maintenance habits can reduce your gas costs by at least a half buck per gallon, if not more. Here's a look at eight tips provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, along with the estimated savings per gallon. All estimates assume a fuel price of $3.31 per gallon. By following tips like these, you could save the equivalent of a monthly car payment over a year of driving, according to Jack Gillis, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America and author of "The Car Book." 1. Ease up on the gas and brakes Your gas mileage typic...

Hong Kong: Private equity firm Affinity Equity Partners is this week launching the sale of its Burger King fast-food businesses in South Korea and Japan, in a deal that could fetch more than US$1 billion, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Hong Kong-based Affinity has appointed Goldman Sachs to run the sale, which is targeting both private equity investors and strategic buyers, said the person, who declined to be identified as the information is confidential. The bank declined to comment. Affinity bought full control of Burger King South Korea in 2016 for about US$170 million and a year later acquired the American fast-food brand's Japan franchise. The South Korean business reported 680 billion won (US$572 million) in revenue in 2021, with adjusted earnings before inte...

ISLAMAB : Pakistan's central bank chief believes the country has the capacity and financial cushion to ride out rising external account pressures being driven by a surge in global commodity prices. The pressure should ease soon as central banks around the world tighten monetary policy, which is likely to curb rebounding global demand, he said. "What we have to ensure is that we have the capacity to sustain ourselves through it...I believe we do," said State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Dr Reza Baqir in an interview with Reuters on Monday. He said the surge in global commodity prices over the past few months was being driven by a sharp recovery in demand as economies bounced back from a COVID-induced slump. "But as central banks begin to turn hawkish, it is going to moderate global d...

HONG KONG : Under pressure from authorities, Chinese property firm Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd is working furiously to come up with a feasible plan to repay wealth product investors, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. Kwok Ying Shing, chairman of the cash-strapped developer, has agreed to a request from the government of Shenzhen where the company is based, to provide by the end of January a proposal to repay investors in its wealth management products (WMPs), said one of the sources. The sources added that if the company fails to do so, they believe possible consequences include the Shenzhen government seizing some of Kaisa's assets and gradually taking over the company. Kaisa's dilemma underscores how authorities are pushing property developers to prioritise meeting on...

BEIJING: Beijing has forced nearly 10,000 Chinese nationals overseas to return since 2014 using coercive means outside the justice system, according to a new report. The figure could be the "tip of the iceberg", Spain-based rights group Safeguard Defenders reported Tuesday (Jan 18), as China aggressively pursues its nationals overseas. The report alleges China is expanding its policing powers overseas and conducting illegal operations on foreign soil. Officially, the targets are people wanted by the Chinese judicial system as part of President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive. But the NGO details cases where those who criticised the Communist Party had relatives in China harassed and detained in attempts to coerce them to return. Through two programmes, Operation Fox Hunt and Operat...

Indonesia is the top exporter of coal for power stations and the biggest palm oil producer in the world. It also holds a quarter of all nickel reserves. So policy shifts in the Southeast Asian archipelago - such as new restrictions on coal shipments or a proposed nickel export tax - often reverberate across global commodities markets, roiling trading and pushing up prices for other countries that need the supplies. President Joko Widodo is nevertheless forging ahead with what’s known as resource nationalism, policies designed to get more benefit from the country’s natural riches for its 273 million people by restricting exports and encouraging more value-added processing at home. The going has been slow but there are signs the strategy is having an effect. What’s in the spotlight now? C...

SINGAPORE: Singapore will likely see a “significant wave” of COVID-19 soon, with the more infectious Omicron variant now causing at least 70 per cent of daily cases, said co-chair of the multi-ministry task force Gan Kim Yong on Friday (Jan 21). “But in reality, the proportion is likely to be higher, perhaps close to 90 per cent or more. Omicron has clearly dominated over Delta variant in Singapore,” Mr Gan said at a press conference. “Given that the Omicron variant is more infectious, it is likely that we will soon see a significant wave.” The Ministry of Health (MOH) said it expects the number of cases to rise sharply. “Cases could double every two to three days and could reach 10,000 to 15,000, or even more, cases per day,” the ministry said in a media release. Most of the Omicron ...

Corporate executives and labor unions began this year's spring wage negotiations on Tuesday, with the focus on whether companies will move toward hikes amid economic uncertainties caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Masakazu Tokura, chairman of Japan's most powerful business lobby known as Keidanren, urged companies to "respond proactively in consideration of social expectations," siding with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's call for aggressive pay hikes by businesses. "I believe it is extremely important for companies to fulfill their responsibility of working toward raising wages and improving working conditions by distributing their earnings and the outcome (of their performance)," Tokura, head of the Japan Business Federation, said at the opening of a management-labor union forum. The...

WASHINGTON : Global stock markets reversed gains after a day-long rally on Thursday even as fresh U.S. economic data indicated that a recent uptick of Omicron COVID-19 variant-related infections has not yet led to a surge in layoffs, a positive sign for the economy. Thin trading volumes, which led to a dip in oil and a climb in the dollar, have outweighed earlier investor sentiment that high vaccination rates and signs of milder symptoms caused by the variant mean the economy will avoid a repeat of the disruption seen at the start of the pandemic. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.15per cent, while the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.15per cent. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.25per cent while the S&P 500 lost 0.30per cent. The Nasdaq Composite d...

SINGAPORE: A serial thief who has been committing offences since 1993 found a job as a cleaner for three years after completing his last stint of preventive detention, but turned to crime again. Pang Sin Bee, 56, was sentenced to eight years' preventive detention on Monday (Jan 17) for stealing groceries and trespassing into a house to sip from a Coke can. Preventive detention is a harsh punishment that places a recalcitrant offender in jail for seven to 20 years in order to protect the public from the offender. Pang pleaded guilty to a charge of theft and house trespass to commit theft. Three other offences were taken into consideration. The court heard that Pang went to the NTUC FairPrice outlet at Block 712, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 on Jan 8 last year. A security officer saw him behavin...