World

TOKYO: China's Hou Zhihui, current world record holder in the lightest women's category, may smash her own record on Saturday (Jul 24) when the Tokyo 2020 weightlifting begins, and take the first gold for her country. Hou, who holds the world record in snatch with 96kg, is going up against India's Mirabai Chanu, who holds the world record with 119kg in clean and jerk. However, with 213kg in total, Hou holds the world record in that category, too. There are two Olympic lifts: The clean and jerk, and the snatch. Each athlete is allowed three attempts at each lift. The best lift in each is combined to determine the overall total. Athletes must successfully attempt the snatch before proceeding to the clean and jerk. Since the Olympic weightlifting competition restricts the number of entries...

LONDON: The government bond market rally that had sent U.S. Treasury yields under 1.2per cent and the entire German curve negative paused on Tuesday, though there were more problems in China as internet giant Tencent took another battering. Rising bank shares helped Europe's main bourses and Wall Street futures shuffle higher but the real action was elsewhere. A Chinese state media outlet branding online games "spiritual opium" was enough to send Tencent's shares tumbling as much as 10per cent in Asia, wiping US$60 billion off its value hot on the heels of its worst month in nearly a decade. The firm scrambled to say it would curb children's access to its flagship Honor of Kings game but the panic engulfed gaming rivals NetEase, XD and GMGE which all plunged between 8per cent and 15per ...

UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly approved its first-ever resolution on vision, calling on its 193 member nations to ensure access to eye care for everyone in their countries which would contribute to a global effort to help at least 1.1 billion people with vision impairment who currently lack eye services by 2030. The “Vision for Everyone” resolution, sponsored by Bangladesh, Antigua and Ireland, and co-sponsored by over 100 countries, was adopted on Friday (Jul 23) by consensus by the world body. It encourages countries to institute a “whole of government approach to eye care.” And it calls on international financial institutions and donors to provide targeted financing, especially for developing countries, to address the increasing impact of vision loss on economic and social de...

JAKARTA : Indonesia launched on Monday a website to process investment permits, which the government hailed as an important milestone in reforms aimed at making it easier and quicker to do business in Southeast Asia's largest economy. President Joko Widodo has vowed to overcome lingering hurdles such as red tape, rigid labour laws and poor infrastructure in his second term to compete with neighbours such as Vietnam and Thailand to attract foreign investment. The "Online Single Submission" oss.go.id website will process investment proposals based on the level of risk, with lower risk investments needing only to register and medium ones to meet national standards. "We want our investment climate to become more conducive ... to increase investors' confidence, to create jobs and become a so...

China's efforts to be seen as a responsible investor overseas are at risk from high rates of human rights abuses linked to its business operations, especially in the metals and mining sector, a report released on Wednesday (Aug 11) found. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, a global non-governmental organisation, logged 679 charges of human rights abuse against Chinese companies operating abroad between 2013 and 2020. Metals and mining drew the most allegations - 236, or 35 per cent of the total. Peru, the world's second-biggest copper producer, and China's neighbour Myanmar, a leading supplier of tin and rare earth ore, were named as hotspots. China, the world's top metals consumer, does not have enough resources to meet domestic demand and has encouraged companies to secure s...

TOKYO : The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it had issued a warning to the two Chinese cycling medallists who wore badges featuring the head of their country's former leader Mao Zedong at the Tokyo Olympics podium, breaching a rule on political gestures, and that the case was now closed. The IOC said on Saturday (Aug 7) it had received a "clarification" from the Chinese Olympic Committee over the political gesture of its athletes. "We have received a clarification and the athletes have been warned," Christian Klaue, IOC Director of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, told reporters. "We also received assurances that it will not happen again and with this the IOC considers this case closed." The Tokyo Games end on Sunday. Cyclists Bao Shanju and Zhong Tianshi wore t...

Intuit, the company behind popular tax filing software TurboTax, announced that it will no longer participate in the IRS Free File program, which helps millions of Americans submit tax returns at no cost. "With the Free File program surpassing its founding goals of e-file and free tax preparation, and due to the limitations of the Free File program and conflicting demands from those outside the program, we are not able to continue in the program and deliver all of the benefits that can help consumers make more money, save more, and invest for the future," the company wrote in a blog post Thursday. Intuit did not immediately respond to a request for further comment. The IRS Free File program is a public-private partnership between the agency and the Free File Alliance, a group of tax pre...

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet virtually with Southeast Asian officials every day next week, a senior state department official said on Saturday (Jul 31), as Washington seeks to show the region it’s a US priority while also addressing the crisis in Myanmar. The top US diplomat will attend virtual meetings for five consecutive days, including annual meetings of the 10 foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other nations and separate meetings of the Lower Mekong subregion countries Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. "I think it's a clear demonstration of our commitment to the region," said the official, who briefed Reuters on condition of anonymity. In recent years top US officials have not always attended ASEAN meetings...

A pile of U.S. dollar banknotes. Chris Clor | Tetra images | Getty Images In March last year, a top venture capital firm described Covid-19 as the "black swan of 2020." "Private financings could soften significantly, as happened in 2001 and 2009," Sequoia Capital told portfolio company founders and CEOs in a memo reminiscent of its "R.I.P. Good Times" presentation in the 2008 crisis. Fast forward to July 2021, and tech investors are writing bigger checks than ever. According to CB Insights, start-ups have raised $292.4 billion globally so far this year, on track to beat the $302.6 billion raised throughout 2020. The number of so-called "mega rounds" — massive, $100 million-plus venture deals — has climbed to 751 in 2021 year-to-date, already beating the 665 mega rounds that were raised la...

SINGAPORE: At least one of the karaoke lounges linked to a growing cluster of COVID-19 infections has been closed for disinfection and is reviewing its safe management measures. Supreme KTV, which currently operates as a food and beverage outlet, will be closed for the next few days “to make sure everything is disinfected and protocols are in place”, said its manager, who only wanted to be known as Mr Li. “We all along have been following the protocols, but we will be looking into it further,” said Mr Li, referring to the tightening of safe management measures, such as safe distancing and mask-wearing. The establishment at Far East Shopping Centre is one of the three premises that has been linked to infections among Vietnamese social hostesses who frequented KTV lounges or clubs operati...