World

SINGAPORE: MyRepublic Singapore said on Friday (Sep 10) that it has discovered an "unauthorised data access incident" affecting 79,388 customers. The incident took place on Aug 29 and affected MyRepublic mobile subscribers based in Singapore, said the local telcom. "The unauthorised data access took place on a third-party data storage platform used to store the personal data of MyRepublic's mobile customers," it said in a statement. The platform contained identity verification documents related to customer applications, the firm said. This included scanned copies of both sides of the NRIC for affected customers who are Singaporeans, permanent residents or holders of employment passes and dependant's passes. For other affected foreigners, the data included documents showing proof of re...

WASHINGTON: A Delaware judge ruled on Tuesday (Sep 7) that Boeing's board of directors must face a lawsuit from shareholders over two fatal 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people in less than six months. Vice Chancellor Morgan Zurn ruled Boeing stockholders may pursue some claims against the board, but dismissed others. Zurn's ruling in the Court of Chancery said the first of the two fatal 737 MAX crashes was a "red flag" about a key safety system known as MCAS "that the board should have heeded but instead ignored." Boeing said late Tuesday it was "disappointed in the court's decision to allow the plaintiffs' case to proceed past this preliminary stage of litigation. We will review the opinion closely over the coming days as we consider next steps." The U.S. Federal Aviation Administr...

The furnaces and cooling towers on Capital Steel Campus in west Beijing used to spew toxic smoke. Today they’re nothing more than quaint paraphernalia decorating an 860-hectare park, which has been transformed into a tourist attraction commemorating China’s economic miracle. Chic cafes and bookshops sit among defunct tubes and ladders — the sanitized industrial vibe makes them a popular backdrop for selfies. Capital Steel, also known as Shougang, began relocating its operations from the campus to neighboring Hebei province in 2005, when the government was moving dozens of polluting factories out of Beijing to ensure blue skies for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Capital Steel alone got rid of 18,000 tons of air pollutants a year, about 20% of the dangerous particles that gave the city some of t...

BEIJING : Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt is seeking to invest in lithium mining and processing, its executive vice chairman told Reuters, as China's biggest cobalt refiner strives to expand its production of minerals for the electric vehicle (EV) market. "We will pay more attention, not only in nickel and cobalt, but also lithium resources development, both inside China and outside of China," George Fang said in an interview for the upcoming Reuters IMPACT conference. Huayou Cobalt was looking at lithium opportunities, along with its partners, in Africa, Australia, South America and China's western region Tibet. Fang did not disclose targeted assets or the possible size of deals. "We want to be one of the leaders in the lithium battery material industry," Fang said of the company, which has nic...

MILAN: Genoa announced on Thursday (Sep 23) they have been bought by American private equity fund 777 Partners for a reported 150 million euros (US$175 million) as Italian businessman Enrico Preziosi ends his 18-year ownership of Italy's oldest football club. "The new owner group, which will acquire 99.9 per cent of Genoa's share capital, will pay new capital into the club and will assume some related liabilities," the statement said. "The previous owner, Enrico Preziosi, will remain on the board of directors, while CEO Alessandro Zarboni will continue to manage the day-to-day operations of the club," it added. Preziosi, 73, took over Genoa, who were founded by Englishmen in 1893 as a cricket and athletics club, in 2003 with the nine-time Italian champions in the hands of liquidators. ...

SINGAPORE: A man was sentenced to jail on Thursday (Sep 30) for using identity card numbers he obtained from the bankruptcy section of The Straits Times newspaper to redeem face masks from vending machines. Yu Kwong Zee, 51, pleaded guilty to one count each of cheating and of retaining or obtaining personal information without consent. He was sentenced to five weeks and five days' jail. Investigations showed that he was reading the newspaper on Dec 3 last year when he took down a list of NRIC numbers. He intended to use them to redeem free masks from vending machines operated by Temasek Foundation, the court heard. At the time of the offences, Temasek Foundation was organising its third nationwide mask collection exercise. Singapore residents with a valid identification card or identifi...

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh: Five Rohingya men have been arrested over the killing of a prominent community leader in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, police said on Sunday (Oct 3), adding that they were probing links to a militant group. Mohib Ullah - a high-profile figurehead for the more than 800,000-strong Muslim minority who fled the Myanmar military in a mass exodus - was killed by gunmen late Wednesday in one of the spawling camps in southeast Bangladesh. His family blamed militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a group behind several attacks in Myanmar, with activists claiming they were enraged by his growing popularity in the camps. "We have arrested five people over the murder of Mohib Ullah," the commanding officer of the police unit in charge of camp security, Nai...

MILAN :Italy's oldest soccer team Genoa became the sixth Serie A side to come under American ownership on Thursday when Miami-based 777 Partners purchased the club from long-time owner Enrico Preziosi. The private investment firm is the latest U.S. owner in Italy's top league following the acquisitions of AC Milan, Fiorentina, Spezia, AS Roma and Venezia. Eight of the 20 top-flight Italian clubs now have foreign owners, including China’s Suning Group at Inter Milan and Canadian Joey Saputo at Bologna. Foreign investors see an opportunity to grow revenues by bringing their management expertise into the world's most popular sport, especially at a time when many clubs are struggling due to the pandemic and need an injection of funds. 777 Partners will purchase 99.9per cent of the club's c...

The story of Japanese immigrants in Manchuria before their home country’s defeat in World War II is not just a tragedy belonging to the past but also a source of valuable lessons for today’s Japanese citizens about how to relate to local and state authorities, according to a documentary maker who has researched the issue for over two decades. In a book published this summer on the immigrants, Takanori Tezuka, 55, shines a light on the people involved at the grassroots level in encouraging Japanese villagers to become agrarian settlers in Manchuria, where Japan had set up a puppet state in 1932. Tezuka believes the immigrants — many of whom ended up in labor camps or dead after Soviet forces entered Manchuria in 1945 — and the local leaders who had encouraged them to move paid the price o...

TOKYO: Four candidates vying to lead Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party - and replacing outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga - held their first main debate on Saturday (Sep 18), discussing plans to tackle key issues such as China, the COVID-19 measures, the pandemic-hit economy and climate change and energy. The vote will be held on Sep 29. The contenders include front-runner Vaccinations Minister Taro Kono, former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, as well as two female candidates - an ultra-conservative former Internal Affairs Minister Sanae Takaichi and former Gender Equality Minister Seiko Noda, a diversity supporter. Here's a look at some of the candidates' views on key policy issues debated at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo: CHINA, TAIWAN Kono, who has served as f...