World

SINGAPORE: More than S$900 million in Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) payouts will be disbursed to employers from Sep 30. The payouts will be given to more than 43,900 employers in Singapore to support the wages of more than 570,000 local employees, said the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) on Tuesday (Sep 21). "With this payout, more than S$27.6 billion of JSS support would have been disbursed since the introduction of the scheme at the Unity Budget in February 2020," said the authorities. The JSS subsidises the salaries of Singaporeans and permanent residents to help companies affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Employers who made mandatory Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions for their local employees for April to July 2021 by the stipulated ...

SHENZHEN, China :China's Huawei Technologies will see revenue from its smartphone business drop by at least US$30-40 billion in 2021, with new growth streams unlikely to make up the shortfall in the next few years, chairman Eric Xu said. While the firm has been "getting used to U.S. sanctions" imposed on it since 2019, its new 5G related business areas cannot offset the losses from the handset business, Xu, who is rotating chairman this year, said at a press conference in Beijing on Friday. Former U.S. president Donald Trump put Huawei on an export blacklist in 2019 and barred it from accessing critical U.S.-origin technology, impeding its ability to design its own chips and source components from outside vendors. The sanctions hit Huawei's smartphone business particularly hard. Once b...

HONG KONG : Debt-ridden property developer Evergrande Group missed a dollar bond interest payment deadline, moving closing to a potential default and fuelling worries that a collapse could send shockwaves through China's economy and beyond. Here is a timeline of events leading to Evergrande's debt problems and what the developer has done to raise funds so far: August 2017 Evergrande vows to cut debt for the first time, aiming to slash net gearing ratio to 70per cent by June 2020 from 240per cent in June 2017. November 2018 Central bank names Evergrande as one of few financial holding conglomerates on its watch that it said could cause systemic risk. March 2020 Evergrande targets cutting its debt by 150 billion yuan (US$23.3 billion) annually for three years. August 2020 Regulators...

SINGAPORE: The National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU) are looking to resume overseas student exchange programmes from January 2022. Responding to queries, an NUS spokesperson said the university has been in discussion with its partner universities in 40 countries to resume its student exchange programme in January. About 1,600 students have signed up for the programme, and the university has also started accepting applications from international students from partner universities, the spokesperson said. “The commencement of these programmes will be subject to prevailing health and travel advisories,” the spokesperson said, adding that NUS will continue to offer online programmes with partner universities a...

SINGAPORE: The Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI), which gives businesses support to hire more locals, will be extended by six months to March 2022, the Ministry of Manpower said on Friday (Sep 24). This is to “secure recovery amidst an improving labour market”, MOM said in a press release. But support levels will be tapered down "in line with improving conditions”, said Manpower Minister Tan See Leng on Friday. JGI started about a year ago, providing subsidies for up to a quarter of the first S$5,000 earned by an eligible employee for up to 12 months. To qualify, the company must increase its overall local workforce and the number of resident workers earning at least S$1,400. At Budget 2021, the scheme was extended to September this year and subsidies were raised for mature workers, workers...

The silhouette of an oil pump is seen at sunset. Oil prices jumped on Monday to the highest levels in years, fuelled by rebounding global demand that has contributed to power and gas shortages in key economies like China. Brent crude rose $1.26, or 1.5%, to settle at $83.65 a barrel. The session high was $84.60, its highest since October 2018. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained $1.17, or 1.5%, to settle at $80.52, after touching its highest since late 2014 at $82.18. The pace of economic recovery from the pandemic has supercharged energy demand at a time when oil output has slowed due to cutbacks from producing nations during the pandemic, focus on dividends by oil companies and pressure on governments to transition to cleaner energy. A U.S. administration official on Mon...

This year's flu season is going to be "a whopper," according to former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner and Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb. But it's not 2021, or any single year health crisis, which is going to cause the biggest issues for the economy in a post-pandemic future. According to Gottlieb, it is the twin specter of an annual peak flu season and the beginning of a perennial peak Covid season which together will cost the economy and workers more than can be imagined. Gottlieb told CNBC he believes the end of the pandemic phase of Covid-19 is in sight, but matching the outlook of many epidemiologists, he says the endemic phase is coming. Or in other words, Covid is never going away for good. Much like the flu season, an annual Covid season should be expected, and b...

SHENYANG: China on Wednesday (Sep 29) demanded railway companies and local authorities raise their game in shipping vital coal supplies to utilities, as regions key to the world's no. 2 economy grapple with power cuts that have crippled industrial output. The order, handed down from China's powerful state planner, comes after a collision of tight coal supplies, tougher emissions standards and strong manufacturing demand has pushed the price of coal, the biggest source of China's electricity, to eye-watering records - just as winter approaches. Thermal coal futures in China hit an all-time high of 1,376.8 yuan (US$212.92) per tonne earlier on Wednesday - adding yet more pressure on power utilities unable to recoup added fuel costs. Curbs have been imposed on power use in large swathes...

1. Dow set to snap back after five sessions of losses A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange, August 27, 2021. Source: NYSE The Dow Jones Industrial Average was set to open 200 points higher Monday, bouncing after five straight sessions of losses. S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were also pointing to a broad-based rally as a recent resurgence of Covid cases due to the delta variant appears to moderating. All three stock benchmarks finished lower Friday, with the S&P 500 also down five sessions in a row. The Nasdaq logged its third consecutive negative session. For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 dropped almost 2.2% and 1.7%, respectively, their worst weeks since June. The Nasdaq posted its worst week since July, sliding 1.6%. 2. House Democrats reportedly ready to propose t...

SINGAPORE: Suspecting his wife was having an affair and intending to set her on fire before killing himself, a Malaysian man crossed the border into Singapore, abducted the 40-year-old woman and doused her with petrol. The woman swallowed some liquid and had difficulty breathing, feeling burning sensations on her body and in her throat and stomach. Police apprehended Murugan Nondoh, 40, at Tuas Checkpoint before he could leave the country with his wife. They had been alerted to the case as the victim's niece had stayed on a phone call with her and overheard everything Murugan did and said. Murugan pleaded guilty on Wednesday (Sep 22) to four charges of abduction, criminal intimidation, voluntarily causing hurt and having an offensive weapon on him. The court heard that Murugan was jobl...