World

TOKYO :The Bank of Japan must avoid reducing stimulus prematurely and instead stand ready to ramp up monetary support if the economy worsens, deputy governor Masazumi Wakatabe said, warning of heightening uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Wakatabe said he saw no need to ease policy immediately as robust exports and capital expenditure underpin Japan's fragile economy by offsetting the weakness consumption. But he added the timing of the recovery would be delayed, as a spike in Delta variant cases threatens his earlier forecast that steady vaccinations will prop up growth. "If risks materialise and lead to a severe economic downturn, we would of course need to consider how to respond with monetary policy," Wakatabe told a briefing on Wednesday. "What tools to deploy will d...

"When it comes to Universal Studios, we're all big fans of Marvel movies," said 27-year-old Beijing resident Pi Tiantian, who visited the park on Monday. "We really want to experience this resort. This one here also really likes Harry Potter," she added, pointing to a young male companion. One Universal Studios staff member told Reuters that visitor numbers were being capped at around 10,000 for Monday because of the pandemic but the park has a capacity to take in many more and will do so in the future. All of the 10,000 tickets for the opening available in a pre-sale on Sep 14 sold out in three minutes, according to Trip.com Group. Beijing-based visitors snatched 40 per cent of the tickets for the first month of opening, while the cities of Tianjin and Shanghai were the second and thi...

SINGAPORE: Carro's Aaron Tan has always done things a little differently. The 36-year-old co-founder of the online car marketplace founded his first business at age 13. Then ditched junior college for polytechnic, landed a government scholarship for university after that and a stint at Carnegie Mellon University. He went on to help set up one of Singapore’s first start-up spaces, BLOCK71, and ran a venture fund investing in other start-ups, before returning to his first love – starting his own company. In 2015, he rounded up co-founders Aditya Lesmana and Kelvin Chng, who he had met at Carnegie Mellon, and started Carro, an AI-driven platform for buying and selling used cars. Six years on, the company raised more than S$480 million in June to become one of Singapore’s newly minted unic...

MUMBAI : A merger of India's Zee and a domestic unit of Japan's Sony Group Corp will create a television powerhouse to grab more advertising revenue, challenging top rival Walt Disney Co in a key growth market, industry officials said. The Sony-Zee alliance, with about 75 news, entertainment, sports and movie channels in more than 10 languages, stands to become India's biggest player, with a market share of 27per cent outstripping that of Disney's Star India, at 24per cent. "This will give them significant distribution muscle and an ad wallet," Uday Sodhi, a former Sony Digital head in India, told Reuters. "They will become a formidable force." Wednesday's plan, to be finalised over 90 days of exclusive talks, will see Sony pump growth capital to the tune of US$1.6 billion into its dome...

China’s armed forces can “paralyze” Taiwan’s defenses and are able to fully monitor its deployments, the island’s Defense Ministry said, offering a stark assessment of the rising threat posed by its giant neighbor. Beijing is stepping up military activities around the island, which it views as Chinese territory. It has never renounced the use of force to bring democratic Taiwan under its control. In its annual report to parliament on China’s military, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry presented a far graver view than it did last year, when the report said China still lacked the capability to launch a full assault on Taiwan. This year’s report said that China can launch what it termed “soft and hard electronic attacks,” including blocking communications a...

Jerome Powell, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, speaks during a Senate Banking Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, July 15, 2021. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images The Federal Reserve's much-anticipated meeting next week may not be quite as exciting for markets as some investors had been expecting in the usual choppy month of September. The meeting is the highlight of the coming week, traditionally a negative time for stocks. Stocks were slightly lower in the past week, with the exception of the small-cap Russell 2000, which ended the week up 0.4%. Central bank officials begin meeting Tuesday, and end their two-day session with an announcement Wednesday afternoon. That will be followed by a press briefing with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. The economic calendar...

MANILA: Philippine boxer-turned-politician Manny Pacquiao declared Sunday (Sep 19) he will run for president in 2022, ending months of speculation about whether the legendary fighter would seek the country's top job. "The time is now - we are ready to rise to the challenge of leadership," said Pacquiao, as he accepted the nomination of a rival faction in President Rodrigo Duterte's ruling party. "I am a fighter, and I will always be a fighter inside and outside the ring," the senator said in a live-streamed speech. The eight-division world champion and beloved national hero made the announcement weeks after losing what could be his last professional fight against Cuban Yordenis Ugas in Las Vegas. Pacquiao, who entered politics in 2010 as a congressman before being elected to the Senate...

Trading house Mitsubishi Corp. has invested in a massive wind power plant project in Laos to deliver electricity to Vietnam, in what would be the biggest onshore wind farm in Southeast Asia. Mitsubishi said in a recent press release that the 600 megawatt wind power plant in southern Laos, a first for the country, will be developed by Hong Kong-based Impact Energy Asia Development Ltd., or IE, from next year, with operations planned to start in 2025. The onshore wind farm project, also described as the “first cross-border electricity interchange from wind power generation” in the region, is aimed at fighting climate change while supporting economic activity. Vietnam requires additional power supply to maintain its growing economy, especially during the dry season when the wind power plan...

MUNICH : Battery power may be the frontrunner to become the car technology of the future, but don't rule out the underdog hydrogen. That's the view of some major automakers, including BMW and Audi, which are developing hydrogen fuel-cell passenger vehicle prototypes alongside their fleets of battery cars as part of preparations to abandon fossil fuels. They are hedging their bets, calculating that a change in political winds could shift the balance towards hydrogen in an industry shaped by early-mover Tesla's decision to take the battery-powered road to clean cars. Global auto hub Germany is in sharp focus. It is already betting billions on hydrogen fuel in sectors like steel and chemicals to meet climate targets, and closely-fought elections this month could see the Greens enter the co...

Australia’s competition regulator on Monday denied approval for an agreement between Qantas Airways Ltd. and Japan Airlines Co. to coordinate flights between Australia and Japan, saying it would reduce competition when coronavirus travel restrictions are lifted and international travel resumes. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in a statement that the proposed agreement would not only remove competition between the two top competitors but also make it difficult for other airlines to operate routes between Australia and Japan. “Preserving competition between airlines is the key to the long-term recovery of the aviation and tourism sectors, once international travel restrictions are eased,” said Rod Sims, chair of the ACCC. Qantas and JAL together flew some 85% of pa...