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Japan's economy likely shrank in the first quarter as the hit to consumption from coronavirus curbs offset the boost from robust global demand, a Reuters poll showed, highlighting the country's slow recovery from a pandemic-induced slump. TOKYO: Japan's economy likely shrank in the first quarter as the hit to consumption from coronavirus curbs offset the boost from robust global demand, a Reuters poll showed, highlighting the country's slow recovery from a pandemic-induced slump. An extension of state of emergency restrictions and slow vaccine rollouts are expected to keep growth feeble in April-June, analysts say, reinforcing views that Japan will lag other major economies in emerging from the doldrums. "Instead of staging a V-shaped recovery, Japan's economy may contract again in ...

The cryptocurrency dogecoin's value has surged over the past few months thanks to the alignment of several important factors, including extra capital from stimulus checks, the popularity of free-trading apps like Robinhood and the backing of billionaire SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. But one reason has been understated in media reports, Billy Markus, the software engineer who co-created the coin, tells CNBC Make It: the community that's formed around it over the past few years. Markus created dogecoin, based on the Doge shiba inu meme, in "about two hours" in 2013 as a parody of the better-known cryptocurrency bitcoin; the "absurdity of Dog Money," as he puts it, is by design. But investors aren't in it strictly for the memes, he says. "The crypto community can be pretty elitist and no...

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 must create new frontiers in the digital realm and seize opportunities in a growing green economy, said a government task force on how Singapore can chart its economic recovery in a post-pandemic world. The Emerging Stronger Taskforce also recommended that a new public-private partnership that it piloted be institutionalised and for Singapore to strengthen its ties with the region. These recommendations were laid out in a 118-page report issued on Monday (May 17) by the task force following a year of deliberations. Formed in May last year, the Emerging Stronger Taskforce said its vision for the Singapore econ...

As U.S. President Joe Biden contemplates course corrections after his first months in office, one change seems especially worthy of consideration: a shift to a more pragmatic, less ideological foreign policy. So far, Biden has centered his statecraft on the clash between democracy and autocracy. In his address to Congress late last month, he identified the country’s adversaries as “the autocrats of the world,” vowing that they “will not win the future. We will. America will.” Envisaging a twenty-first-century “battle between the utility of democracies … and autocracies,” Biden has called for a global “Summit for Democracy” to mobilize like-minded countries against illiberal challengers. This approach may help rally Americans around the flag, but it is a strategic mistake. America’s relat...

PRAYAGRAJ, India: Police are reaching out to villagers in northern India to investigate the recovery of bodies buried in shallow sand graves or washing up on the Ganges River banks, prompting speculation on social media that they were the remains of COVID-19 victims. In jeeps and boats, the police used portable loudspeakers with microphones asking people not to dispose of the bodies in rivers. "We are here to help you perform the last rites,” police said. On Friday, rains exposed the cloth coverings of bodies buried in shallow sand graves on the riverbank in Prayagraj, a city in Uttar Pradesh state. Bodies of suspected COVID-19 victims are seen in shallow graves buried in the sand near a cremation ground on the banks of Ganges River in Prayagraj, India, Saturday, May 15, 2021. (AP P...

SINGAPORE: Mediacorp actor and food business owner Terence Cao was fined S$3,500 on Tuesday (May 25) over a 13-person birthday party held at his condominium unit during the COVID-19 pandemic, when social gatherings were limited. Cao, whose real name is Terence Choa Kwok Fai, pleaded guilty to one charge of permitting 12 guests who were not members of his household to enter his home for a non-permitted purpose. The court heard that Cao, 53, had planned a social gathering in his home at Daisy Road on Oct 2, 2020 to celebrate his birthday, as well as the birthdays of fellow actors Shane Pow and Jeffrey Xu, when the number of guests was capped at five. He had invited five guests initially: Pow, Xu, co-accused Lance Lim, as well as artistes Benjamin Heng and Jeremy Chan. However, Lim in...

In this article GM DETROIT — Since taking over the helm of General Motors in 2014, CEO Mary Barra has meticulously cut costs, slashed about 64,000 jobs, exited unprofitable markets overseas and audaciously pledged to make GM an all-electric auto company by 2035. Though controversial at times, each of those decisions took GM one step closer to where it is today: poised for growth in new markets. Barra's GM looks vastly different from the one she inherited out of the financial crisis. Leveraging its core business, GM is targeting trillions in future markets that stretch far beyond just selling cars and trucks. "This is just the beginning for the next generation of General Motors," Barra told investors Wednesday during GM's first-quarter earnings call. "We are well on track with our plans to...

BEIJING/HANOI: China's Lygend Mining said on Wednesday its nickel and cobalt smelting project in Indonesia had made its first batch of mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), becoming the first high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) project in the country to reach production. The US$1.05-billion project on Obi island in the province of North Maluku is among several cobalt-nickel HPAL plants in nickel miner Indonesia that are under the spotlight as a source of supply for the burgeoning electric-vehicle battery sector. "Our first batch of nickel and cobalt hydroxide products will be shipped to China soon, and gradually enter the global market," said Lygend's president Jiang Xinfang. Jiang said that Lygend Resources and its Indonesian partner Harita Group plan to build other projects on Obi island...

The foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea held their first talks in more than a year amid soured bilateral ties, but failed to narrow gaps over issues involving wartime history and Tokyo’s decision to release treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea. Meeting with his South Korean counterpart Chung Eui-yong on the fringes of the Group of Seven foreign ministerial gathering in London, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi demanded Seoul present at an early date a solution that would be acceptable to Tokyo with regard to the wartime labor and “comfort women” issues, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said. Chung, for his part, said it would be impossible for the two sides to resolve the issues unless Japan has a “correct” perception of history, South Kor...