World

YANGON: Myanmar's junta-controlled media announced a ban on satellite television receivers on Tuesday (May 4), saying outside broadcasts threatened national security and threatening to jail anyone caught violating the measure. With mobile Internet access largely cut off in a bid to quell anti-junta protests since the Feb 1 coup, Myanmar has increasingly appeared headed back to the state of isolation that preceded a decade of democratic reforms. "Satellite television is no longer legal. Whoever violates the television and video law, especially people using satellite dishes, shall be punished with one year imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 kyat (US$320)," MRTV state television said. "Illegal media outlets are broadcasting news that undermines national security, the rule of law and pu...

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler told CNBC on Friday the agency is looking into how commission-free retail brokerage apps encourage more stock trading and then make money off m the execution of those trades. "There is a little bit of a conflict of interest," Gensler said on "Squawk Box," one day after testifying about this issue before House Financial Services Committee. "An app that says they have zero commissions is earning revenue on your trading through something called 'payment for order flow.' Someone is paying them for that order flow and paying them for that data." Gensler said the issue comes down to the so-called gamification that apps use, such as "props, leaderboards, behavioral ways to get individuals to trade more," and how apps market their platforms. Asked what should be done t...

SINGAPORE: Discrimination against healthcare workers has increased since the COVID-19 outbreak, with many Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) staff members encountering problems when the hospital emerged as a cluster, said the Healthcare Services Employees' Union (HSEU). The hospital is an active COVID-19 cluster, with 46 cases linked to it as of Sunday (May 16). In response to queries from CNA, union president K Thanaletchimi said there have been “a handful of cases” involving members. “In fact, we were told many TTSH staff encountered similar problems when TTSH emerged as a COVID-19 cluster,” she added. The union is “constantly keeping in touch” with its TTSH branch office, and received “some anecdotal reports” from healthcare workers in the early days of the hospital cluster. For exa...

Just 266,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were added to the U.S. labor market in April, according to the Department of Labor monthly jobs report released Friday. That number is far below the estimated 1 million new jobs projected by Dow Jones, surprising economists and analysts who expected a healthy number of gains as more Americans get vaccinated and businesses reopen during the ongoing pandemic. By comparison, the labor market added 770,000 jobs in March and 536,000 jobs in February. "Today's report was an enormous surprise and shows the labor market hit a hidden pothole in April," Glassdoor senior economist Daniel Zhao tells CNBC Make It. "Clearly, the labor market has decelerated quite a bit." The 6.1% unemployment rate and 9.8 million people unemployed remained steady in April compared with ...

TOKYO: Japan's industrial output posted a surprise increase in March, as a jump in car production helped keep an economic recovery from last year's deep coronavirus slump on track. The output rise will likely ease worries about the impact the health crisis is having on the manufacturing sector in the world's third-largest economy, which is recovering thanks to strong overseas demand, especially from China. Separate data showed the jobless rate fell from the previous month in a sign of strength in employment conditions, while Tokyo consumer prices fell unexpectedly in April due to cuts in mobile phone fees by major carriers. Government data released on Friday (Apr 30) showed factory output grew 2.2 per cent from the previous month in March, lifted by a sharp jump in car production an...

In addition to money, Dyer emphasizes that scholarship winners will also be given the opportunity to participate in exclusive workshops and mentoring sessions with other Black women in politics and public service. "I want young women to know that there is financial assistance," Dyer tells CNBC Make It, while noting that there was no Black Girl 44 Scholarship in 2020 due to the pandemic. "Is it a lot? No, it's not a lot. But it could make the difference between them actually applying for an internship." To qualify, students must fill out the scholarship application by May 7, have an internship in politics or public service already secured and they must be enrolled in an undergraduate program at an accredited college/university. In her fund's first year, Dyer awarded $1,500 scholarships t...

NEW YORK: More than 200 global organisations urged the UN Security Council on Wednesday (May 5) to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar, saying the time for statements has passed and immediate action is needed to help protect peaceful protesters against military rule and other opponents of the junta. A statement by the non-governmental organisations said the military “has demonstrated a callous disregard for human life" since their Feb 1 coup, killing at least 769 people including 51 children as young as six years old and detaining several thousand activists, journalists, civil servants and politicians. Hundreds of others have disappeared, it said. “No government should sell a single bullet to the junta under these circumstances,” the NGOs said. “Imposing a global arms embargo on Myanma...

Sasqia Dahuri’s dishes have garnered praise from her customers, particularly Malaysians based in Singapore craving for the taste of traditional Kelantanese cuisine. SINGAPORE: The Toa Payoh Lorong 4 hawker centre situated in Singapore’s heartlands is renowned for cheap and good local delights – Hokkien mee, kway chap and wonton noodles. However, over the last few months, diners have another reason to visit - a stall offering Kelantanese cuisine. The stall named Kelate, which is the colloquial name for the east coast state in Malaysia, is run by former actress Sasqia Dahuri. The Malaysian model has starred in films such as Misteri Dilaila (2019) and Senario the Movie: Ops Pocot (2011). But she has now swapped her career in glitzy showbusiness for gritty hawker gloves after she opene...

GENEVA: Sotheby's is staging its first international dedicated sneaker sale, seeing the boom in a formerly niche market as a way to attract younger clients into the world of auctions. Fine art, jewellery and antiques might be the more traditional stock in auction house trade, complete with a packed room and auctioneer banging a wooden gavel. But the coronavirus pandemic has triggered a shift towards smartphone-accessible online auctions. Sotheby's says it has also noticed that younger people are being drawn to auctions by design classics with a back story. On Monday, the auction house sold a pair of Nike Air Yeezy 1s worn by rapper Kanye West for us$1.8 million (1.5 million euros) - triple the previous record for sneakers. That sale is being followed by "Gamers Only" - Sotheby's d...

A draft statement circulating the day before a Southeast Asian leaders’ summit on the Myanmar crisis included the release of political prisoners as one of its “consensus” points, said three sources familiar with the document. But in the final statement at the end of Saturday’s meeting, the language on freeing political prisoners had been unexpectedly watered down and did not contain a firm call for their release, two of the sources said. The absence of a strong position on this issue caused dismay among human rights activists and opponents of the coup, fueling criticism by them that the meeting had achieved little in the way of reining in the country’s military leaders. Activist monitors say 3,389 people have been detained in a crackdown on dissent by the military since the Feb. 1 coup,...