World

The ASEAN-Japan Centre is an intergovernmental organization established by the Association of Southeast Asian Nation member states and Japan in 1981, serving as a bridge between the two parties for 40 years. It has been promoting exports from ASEAN member states to Japan while revitalizing investment and tourism, as well as people-to-people exchanges between ASEAN members and Japan through seminars, webinars, workshops, capacity-building programs, research and policy analysis, cross-cultural events and publication and information services, among others. The ASEAN chairmanship rotates annually, based on the alphabetical order of the names of the member states. This year, Brunei Darussalam is the chair of ASEAN under the theme, “We Care, We Prepare, We Prosper.” Brunei will be hosting the A...

SINGAPORE: A former Land Transport Authority (LTA) deputy group director found guilty of taking S$1.24 million in bribes was sentenced to five-and-a-half years' imprisonment on Thursday (Sep 2). Henry Foo Yung Thye, 47, will also serve an additional year in prison, in default of paying a penalty of about S$1.15 million for the amount of bribes not paid back. He had earlier repaid S$83,750 of the S$1.24 million he received in corrupt gratification. Foo, who was previously responsible for overseeing the construction of the Thomson-East Coast and Cross Island MRT lines, last week pleaded guilty to seven charges of taking bribes in the form of loans to advance the business interests of contractors and subcontractors. Twenty-nine other charges were taken into consideration for his sentencin...

With the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election now set for Sept. 29, a number of challengers to LDP President and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who has said he intends to stand for re-election despite record-low poll numbers, have started to emerge. Three key LDP figures — former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso and LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai — have said they will continue to back Suga. The three are also leaders, officially or in practice, of party factions with a combined total of 196 members, a slight majority of LDP Diet members. However, while LDP veterans such as Abe, Aso and Nikai have fewer worries about keeping their seats in an upcoming general election, many younger LDP Diet members face tough campaigns and are...

TOKYO: Business confidence among Japan's large manufacturers likely slipped in the third quarter as the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant hit corporate and consumer activity, the central bank's closely watched Tankan survey is expected to show. Other data is expected to show nationwide core consumer prices were flat in August compared with the same month a year earlier as rising costs for energy and overnight stays offset lower mobile phone fees, analysts said. The Bank of Japan's (BOJ) quarterly tankan business sentiment survey was expected to show the headline index for big manufacturers' sentiment fell to 13 from 14 in June, the poll of 17 economists showed on Friday (Sep 17). "Durable goods sales have been strong until now, making up for a slump in service consumption," said ...

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The British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth docked at Yokosuka Naval Base this week, after holding military drills with Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Forces (MSDF) and other navies. European military forces have an expanding presence in this part of the world, a recognition of the ever-larger role the Indo-Pacific has assumed in those governments’ strategic calculations and of emerging threats to regional stability. European attention is welcome but we shouldn’t have outsize expectations of the role it can play. The HMS Queen Elizabeth, a 65,000-ton aircraft carrier and the largest surface vessel ever built in the U.K., is making its maiden voyage through the Indo-Pacific, engaging with 40 countries on its journey. Its strike group includes two destroyers, two frigates and a submari...

The tech-heavy Nasdaq and broader S&P 500 are setting records after records. Three experts joined CNBC to discuss where markets are headed next. Mike Wilson, chief U.S. equity strategist at Morgan Stanley, says expectations may have been too lofty and a market cooldown could be healthy. "We've seen consumer confidence … suggesting the consumer is fading a bit — not a recession but the consumer is tired — and that's been our thesis all along. Is there's going to be a payback here on demand? Overnight, our economics team actually lowered their GDP forecasts from 6.5% to 2.9% for the third quarter. They've kept their fourth-quarter number the same, but look, there's risk to that probably if delta doesn't fade or my view is that delta is a bit of a trap. People are saying, 'Oh, the slowdown...

1. Dow set to open lower after closing down for third straight session Traders work at the trading floor in the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United States, Aug. 19, 2021. Wang Ying | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images U.S. stock futures were under some pressure Thursday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 closed lower for the third straight session. Investors get another report on the labor market before the bell that could go into the Federal Reserve's thinking about when to start tapering Covid-era bond purchases. Rising inflation and the delta variant are also wildcards. The Nasdaq, which had been on a run of record closes, broke a four-session winning streak on Wednesday as tech stocks faltered. Chinese stocks that trade in the U.S. were lower in premarket t...

BEIJING :China's factory and retail sectors faltered in August with output and sales growth hitting one-year lows as fresh coronavirus outbreaks and supply disruptions threatened the country's impressive economic recovery. Industrial production rose 5.3per cent in August from a year earlier, narrowing from an increase of 6.4per cent in July and marking the weakest pace since July 2020, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday. Output growth missed the 5.8per cent increase tipped by analysts. Consumer spending also took a big hit from rising local COVID-19 cases and floods with sales rising only 2.5per cent in August from a year ago, much lower than the forecast 7.0per cent rise and the slowest clip since August last year. "Economic growth slowed in August as consu...

SINGAPORE: While members of the public will naturally be concerned about the recent rise in the number of COVID-19 community cases, the situation “is not unexpected” given the easing of earlier strict restrictions imposed under Phase 2 (Heightened Alert), said the Health Ministry’s (MOH) director of medical services Kenneth Mak on Friday (Sep 3). Associate Professor Mak, who was speaking at the COVID-19 multi-ministerial task force press conference, also said there has not been a significant surge in cases requiring intensive care. Singapore reported 216 new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections as of noon on Friday, including 109 with no links to previous cases. “The increase in the number of cases will naturally raise concerns among members of the public who are concerned that the C...