World

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...

There's no question that Jordan Myers is a hard worker. As a mail carrier for the United States Postal Service, the 29-year-old typically works 12 to 13 hours a day, six days per week. During the business week, Myers works about five hours of overtime each day, and takes on even more on the weekends. Living in Memphis, Tennessee, Myers earns a base salary of around $41,000 per year. But with overtime, he's able to bring in far more: In 2021, Myers earned over $90,000. Myers' work ethic is especially impressive to Kevin O'Leary, O'Shares ETFs chairman and judge on CNBC's "Money Court." "He's delivering mail for over 12 hours a day. This guy knows how to work hard," O'Leary says as he watches Myers' episode of Millennial Money, which was published in November 2021. Most days, Myers walks aro...

The only thing that is certain about the future is uncertainty. And that is true of the future of trade as well. Despite repeated prior warnings of a possible global pandemic, COVID-19 took the world by surprise. The impact on trade was swift and dramatic. In the second quarter of 2020, when much of the world was under lockdown, the volume of global merchandise trade plunged by 15% year on year — the type of sharp decline rarely seen outside of wartime. Few would have guessed then that by the first quarter of 2021, less than a year after the pandemic began, trade volumes would surpass pre-pandemic levels and reach new record highs. Governments’ restraint in the use of protectionist trade measures, together with large-scale fiscal and monetary support, helped drive economic recovery. In O...

Forecasts for a second year of strong global growth face two main dangers: the health of China’s economy and the prospect of much higher U.S. interest rates. How the world’s commercial poles navigate these risks will determine whether 2021’s rapid expansion was a blip or whether the recovery will outlive the pandemic. China appears determined to quash — rather than live with — COVID-19. An overly muscular economic response, too, may do as much harm as good. Forces unleashed by the disease, such as supply chain snarls that are pushing prices higher and shutdowns of major Chinese cities won’t dissipate overnight. Success will hinge on the ability to be nimble. China reported Monday that gross domestic product rose 4% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, down from the 4.9% initially ...

JAKARTA : A senior official at Indonesia's biggest palm oil group said on Wednesday the government was currently drafting a plan aimed at limiting shipments of the edible oil to tame domestic cooking oil prices, remarks the Trade Ministry swiftly denied. Togar Sitanggang, deputy chairman of GAPKI, told a parliamentary hearing that a plan was already in the works to restrict exports, by as much as 20per cent. He did not elaborate, or say how GAPKI learned of the information. "The Trade Ministry is drafting up a plan to limit exports ... What we heard is the regulation is being written up," he said. His comments came amid calls by lawmakers at the hearing for palm oil producers to meet domestic demand first before exporting. The world's top producer and exporter of palm oil has been tryi...

TOKYO : Toshiba Corp's proposal to split itself into three companies won't solve its governance issues and the conglomerate should prioritise an overhaul of its board and management, said a senior executive at one of Japan's largest pension funds. Ken Hokugo, corporate governance director at the Pension Fund Association (PFA), said the interests of Toshiba management and shareholders are "not aligned". "The most orthodox solution to the discrepancy is to bring onto the board someone who can monitor and discipline management, and to let the revamped board to select the new chief executive," he said in written responses to Reuters queries. Hokugo declined to comment on how the PFA, which owns an undisclosed amount of shares in Toshiba, would vote on the conglomerate's plan to break up int...