World

BAKU: Sergio Perez said before the Formula One season started that he needed five races to get up to speed with Red Bull and the Mexican duly delivered by winning the sixth in Azerbaijan on Sunday. If victory fell into his lap after team mate Max Verstappen crashed out with a tyre blowout five laps from the end while leading, it was still richly deserved. Perez had qualified only seventh, moving up to sixth after McLaren's Lando Norris was demoted, but he showed his pace throughout. The Mexican made up two places on the opening lap, was third by lap eight and had slotted into second behind Verstappen by lap 12. Perez joined Red Bull at the end of last season, after being replaced by four times world champion Sebastian Vettel - second on Sunday - at what is now Aston Martin. It had...

TOKYO: Japan's economy shrank more than expected in the first quarter as the slow vaccine roll-out and a resurgence in COVID-19 infections hit consumption, reinforcing expectations the country will lag major trading partners in emerging from the pandemic. Extended state of emergency curbs are likely to keep any recovery in the current quarter modest, analysts say, adding to challenges for policymakers seeking to pull Japan out of the doldrums. "With the medical situation still worsening and the vaccine roll-out too slow, it will take until the end of the year for output to return to pre-virus levels," said Marcel Thieliant, senior Japan economist at Capital Economics. The world's third-largest economy shrank an annualised 5.1 per cent in the first quarter, more than a median marke...

The New York Knicks are back in the playoffs for the first time in eight years, with the team already making headlines for the sky-high prices fans are willing to pay to watch their team play postseason basketball. But even the priciest tickets to this weekend's Knicks-Hawks series opener pale in comparison to the pair of third-row seats that Alex Taub agreed to buy from a friend on Christmas Eve 2013. At the time $550 was below face-value, and the tickets were considered a deal. But there was one big catch: Taub had asked if he could pay with bitcoin. When Taub bought his tickets with 0.7688 bitcoin, one token was worth about $730. As of Saturday morning, one bitcoin was worth $38,219, making the value of those tickets just shy of $30,000. Taub, now the CEO of social networking start-u...

SINGAPORE: A day after it was announced that the limit on social gatherings will be cut from eight people to five, indoor playground operator Kiztopia began receiving enquiries from customers who needed to make alternative plans for their children’s birthday celebrations. Around 40 bookings were affected by the stricter COVID-19 rules that will be in place until May 30 to curb the recent rise in community infections. So far, 10 reservations will proceed with a reduced party size. Others are considering shifting their bookings to next month or cancelling altogether, said founder and chief executive officer Heidi Tian. The tightened safety measures come as Kiztopia is gearing up for an expansion. The indoor attraction, which targets young children from two to 12 years old w...

U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Thursday that bans U.S. entities from investing in dozens of Chinese companies with alleged ties to defense or surveillance technology sectors, a move his administration says expands the scope of a legally flawed order made under Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump. The Treasury Department will enforce and update on a “rolling basis” the new list of about 59 companies, which bars buying or selling publicly traded securities in target companies, and replaces an earlier list from the Department of Defense, senior administration officials told reporters. The order prevents U.S. investment from supporting the Chinese military-industrial complex, as well as military, intelligence, and security research and development programs, Biden said in...

BANGKOK: A 51-year-old reporter for a now-banned online and broadcast news agency in Myanmar was sentenced on Wednesday (May 13) by a military court to three years in prison for his reporting, his employer said. Min Nyo, a correspondent for the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) is apparently the country’s first journalist since the army’s February takeover to be convicted under a recently revised provision in the penal code that critics charge criminalises free speech. It makes punishable by up to three years in prison any attempt to “hinder, disturb, damage the motivation, discipline, health and conduct” of soldiers and civil servants and cause their hatred, disobedience or disloyalty towards the military and the government. Three DVB journalists who fled Myanmar were arrested earlie...

related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. 2 related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. SINGAPORE: Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) rose at a slower pace of 6 per cent in April, down from the 11.9 per cent expansion in March. Growth was headlined by non-electronics, which rose by 10.9 per cent last month, according to data released by Enterprise Singapore (ESG) on Monday (May 17). This increase was driven by exports of specialised machinery, which grew by 54.3 per cent, in line with robust semiconductor demand, said ESG. Petrochemicals also rose by 63.3 per cent after declining amid a global downcycle, while primary chemicals grew 104.6 per cent from a low base a year ago. Electronic NODX also expanded...

As peals of laughter echo from the busy workshops above, Nozomi Project founder Sue Takamoto pauses, smiling as she hands me one of the latest pieces in their new jewelry line. “They’re always laughing about something,” she explains, referring to her small, all-female team of artisans. “They have so much fun together.” In their modest headquarters in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Takamoto and the Nozomi team turn fragments of tsunami-broken pottery into beautiful jewelry. Creating work for those left without in the wake of the disaster, the Nozomi Project is a place filled with memories, but has its eyes set firmly on the future. “We have the wonderful job of being able to give new life to broken pottery, and this rebirth feels like really important work,” says Emi Katsumata, who’s been...

KATHMANDU: Former Hong Kong schoolteacher Tsang Yin-hung said on Sunday (May 30) she always believed in aiming high after setting a new record for the fastest ascent of Everest by a woman. Tsang scaled the 8,848.86m mountain in 25 hours and 50 minutes, a Nepal government officer who recorded her time told AFP on Thursday. The 44-year-old reached the summit of the world's highest peak on May 23 and arrived back in Kathmandu on Sunday. "I am ... relaxed and happy because I set this target around four years before," she told AFP. "I have always shared with my students and my friends that if you aim high and expect high, you can achieve high." Tsang had tried to reach the summit earlier in May, but was stopped by poor weather conditions when she was at 8,755m, her guide Pemba Sherpa s...