World

CHENNAI, India: Apple supplier Foxconn's plant near Chennai in southern India will remain shut this week following protests sparked by a food poisoning incident, three government sources told Reuters on Tuesday (Dec 21). The factory looked deserted on Tuesday, with a few cars including a police vehicle parked outside. No workers were seen at the site, which was manned by two guards and a few other security officials. Foxconn and Apple were not available for comment. The disruption comes as Apple, like other consumer products companies, is dealing with supply chain bottlenecks that have hit production. In October, the company warned that the impact of these supply chain problems would worsen during the holiday quarter. "The factory has been shut since Saturday and will be shut till comi...

MANAGING OMICRON The infections come amid an increase in the number of passengers passing through Changi Airport over the past year. Passenger traffic rose to 15 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by the end of December, up from just 3 per cent at the start of 2021. With the rapid spread of Omicron overseas, MP Leon Perera (WP-Aljunied) and MP Desmond Lim (WP-Hougang) asked whether Singapore will review border control measures and if it will allow more flights during festive periods such as Chinese New Year and Hari Raya. In response, Mr Iswaran said that the government will closely monitor the demand for VTL flights and will regularly review the VTL quotas, taking into consideration the prevailing public health assessment. He added that the overall quota of inbound VTL travellers is allo...

SINGAPORE: A man accused of cheating a woman into transferring S$1.5 million to a bank account for a loan of S$15 million said in court on Friday (Jan 7) that he is a "respectable businessman" who has completed multimillion-dollar development projects. Wong Poh Kun, 68, said: "So why would I cheat someone for a small sum of S$1.5 million? It doesn't make sense at all." On Friday, Wong was handed one charge of cheating. He is accused of cheating a woman on Feb 27 last year, by deceiving her into believing that the S$1.5 million she was transferring to Asia Alternative Fund's bank account was meant for a loan of S$15 million. The victim then transferred the S$1.5 million to a DBS bank account. A police news release on Thursday stated that the victim filed a report in July last year sayin...

JOHANNESBURG : Victorious India will seek more of the same when the second test against South Africa starts at The Wanderers on Monday, but for the home side there is much to ponder as they try to level the series at a ground where they have never beaten the visitors. India’s comprehensive 113-run first test win was built on a solid first day with the bat and their hugely impressive pace attack on a spicy wicket, and sets them up for a first ever series win in South Africa. Injuries aside, India are unlikely to change their team, though the form of batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane remains under scrutiny. The tourists won on their last visit to The Wanderers in 2018, a gutsy performance on a difficult wicket which captain Virat Kohli believes paved the way for their recent su...

The data deluge brought about by rapid digitalisation, compounded by the widespread adoption of technologies like cloud, means that sensitive data is increasingly being stored on remote computer servers. Securing the transmission and retrieval of data relies on encryption of information sent over public networks. Asia is a major global economic hub where data remains at risk due to weak data infrastructure. In countries such as Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, cybersecurity is already a growing priority for investment and policymaking alike. As the region approaches a point of inflection in the current climate, there is a pressing need to quickly implement tighter management measures to achieve more secured communication and data protection. Quantum physics is poised to revolutionise a...

China is rolling out its digital yuan to athletes and spectators ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the first major test of the virtual currency’s appeal among foreign nationals. With less than a month to go before kickoff, and the event already encumbered by diplomatic boycotts and the threat of virus outbreaks, China is looking to use the Games to showcase the digital yuan’s clout globally. Visitors can download an app or get a physical card that stores the digital yuan, or convert foreign bank notes into e-CNY at self-service machines, according to the Bank of China Ltd., a state lender and official partner of the Games. Athletes and their coaches are eligible to get wristbands that act as e-wallets and can be swiped to pay for goods or services. Whether foreign athletes adopt th...

DUBAI: The multibillion-dollar world's fair in Dubai has warned that some venues on site may shut down as COVID-19 cases rapidly rise in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai's Expo 2020 said that virus outbreaks among staff may force some parts of the fair to “close temporarily for deep cleaning and sanitisation", without elaborating on the scope or the location of the infections. The UAE's daily virus caseload has skyrocketed by a multiple of 37 in just the last three weeks after the arrival of the Omicron variant. The vague statement from Dubai's government-run media office on Monday (Dec 27) underscores the daunting challenges of hosting among the world's first major in-person events amid a still-raging pandemic. The fair opened in October after a year's delay as the UAE bet that its rap...

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi commended a recent visit by Cambodian leader Hun Sen to Myanmar, which was the first by a foreign leader since the military coup in February. In a phone call with his counterpart Prak Sokhonn on Tuesday, Hayashi said he remained concerned about violence in Myanmar, and welcomed Cambodia’s positive efforts to resolve the situation, according to an emailed statement from the Foreign Ministry. Hun Sen’s trip resulted in progress toward a ceasefire with ethnic minority groups and enabling humanitarian support, Hayashi added. While Japan has called on the junta to stop the violence and restore democracy, it wants to remain close to Myanmar as part of a strategy of countering China’s influence there and to also protect significant investments in industries ra...

DETROIT: John Deere & Co said on Tuesday it will start commercial delivery this year of technology that enables a tractor to till a field without an operator in the cab, a first for the top North American tractor manufacturer after years of effort to automate farm work. Deere plans a low-volume launch this year delivering systems for 12 to 20 machines, and then scaling up, Jahmy Hindman, Deere's chief technology officer, told Reuters. The company is weighing whether to sell the technology, lease it, or offer it to farmers in a subscription package that could allow for upgrades as hardware and software evolve, he said. The cameras and computers for automated tilling can be installed on an existing tractor and tiller machine in a day, Hindman said. Deere and other equipment makers such as...

NEW YORK : U.S. stocks fell on Monday despite staging a comeback late in the day, as bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve could raise interest rates as soon as March led investors to pare risky assets and lifted the 10-year Treasury yield to a two-year high. Monday's drop follows a bruising first week of the year when a strong signal from the Fed that it would tighten policy faster to tackle inflation and then data showing a strong U.S. labor market, unnerved investors who had pushed equities to record highs over the holiday period. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.45per cent, and the S&P 500 lost 0.14per cent. Technology stocks, which have soared in the past two years thanks in part to very low interest rates, led the falls early in the day but rallied later in the session to leav...