World

Apart from concerns over the newness of mRNA technology, other factors include fear of the side effects, a belief that vaccines are not necessary. religious convictions and also a general lack of awareness of how to get vaccinated, interviews show. SINGAPORE: Mr Paul Poh’s wife had been urging him to get vaccinated against COVID-19, even dangling the carrot of a safer environment for him to spend time with his grandchildren. But the 72-year-old retiree would not be rushed; it was only after the authorities allowed some private clinics to administer China’s Sinovac vaccine last month — to overwhelming demand — that he decided to register for his doses. He is now waiting to receive his first jab. His main reason for not participating in Singapore’s national vaccination programme — w...

The favourable market conditions for IPOs might be coming to an end and could pose a problem for SoftBank’s Vision Fund, says David Kuo. SINGAPORE: Many of us are familiar with SoftBank and its inspirational leader Masayoshi Son. After all, it has invested in many of the start-ups we are familiar with such as ByteDance, Grab, Klook, Slack, Uber, and WeWork. There is certainly a strong venture-capital feel about the way SoftBank operates, which is a far cry from its origins as a seller of software. Through its Vision Fund - home to around 90 start-ups at various stages of development - SoftBank hopes its heavy investments could one day grow into visionary businesses changing the world. Some already have grown into behemoths. The company’s US$20 million early investment in a tiny...

LONDON: Intel on Monday said it will work with India's Reliance Jio to develop 5G networking technology. Intel's venture capital unit last year invested US$250 million in Reliance Industries Ltd's Jio Platforms unit, saying the two companies would find areas of technology partnership. On Monday, Intel said it will work on "co-innovations" with Reliance Jio for its 5G radio-access network (RAN), among other things. "This is the fruit of that partnership," Navin Shenoy, executive vice president and general manager of the data platforms group at Intel, told Reuters in an interview. "5G in India is going to be massive, and (Reliance Jio) are doing it in a non-legacy way." Reliance Jio is one of many carriers around the world using a new approach to build 5G networks. Rather than using g...

SHANGHAI: Authorities in China's southwestern province of Yunnan reported three locally transmitted coronavirus cases for Monday (Jul 5), with all cases from the city of Ruili bordering Myanmar, according to Yunnan provincial authorities on Tuesday. Yunnan province had reported three locally transmitted coronavirus cases the previous day as well, and is preventing individuals from leaving or entering Ruili city without special permission beginning from Jul 5. The last outbreak of local cases in China was in the southern Guangdong province in mid-June. Ruili is a major crossing point from Muse in neighbouring Myanmar, which has seen escalating unrest since a Feb 1 military coup, raising fears that people will try to flood across the border into China to escape the violence. China cl...

Two state owned companies of Pakistan have announced complete shut down because of which country will undergo serious gas shortage till July 5 CNG stations in Sindh were to open from June 28 after the closure on June 22, but Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) stopped supplies to them till July 5 in view of the lingering shortfall of 160mmcfd due to annual turnaround of Kunnar Pasakhi Deep (KPD) gas field, causing a decline in gas availability and resulting in depletion of line pack and low pressure in the system. Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) completely stopped gas supply to three sectors — cement, CNG (compressed natural gas) stations and non-export industry — in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa till July 5 due to dry docking of LNG terminal. Energy Minister Hamm...