World

SINGAPORE: A sea crew member who preliminarily tested positive for the B117 strain is the sole community case among 23 new COVID-19 infections reported in Singapore on Sunday (Apr 18). The remaining 22 cases were imported, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its daily update. All were placed on stay-home notice or isolated upon their arrival in Singapore, it added. No new infections were reported in foreign workers' dormitories. COMMUNITY CASE TOOK HIS FIRST DOSE OF COVID-19 VACCINE The sea crew member, a 39-year-old Indonesian national who works on board a bunker tanker, is currently unlinked, said MOH. He had not disembarked from the vessel except to go for COVID-19 testing and vaccination. The man is asymptomatic and was detected when he was tested on Apr 15 as part of th...

Malaysia's economy contracted less sharply in the first quarter as domestic spending improved along with external demand in spite of a recent spike in coronavirus cases. KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's economy contracted less sharply in the first quarter as domestic spending improved along with external demand in spite of a recent spike in coronavirus cases. The economy shrank 0.5per cent over January-March from a year earlier, down for a fourth straight quarter, central bank data showed on Tuesday. It was better than the 2per cent contraction forecast in a Reuters poll and a 3.4per cent fall in the fourth quarter. "We expect GDP growth to remain within the projected 6per cent-7.5per cent this year," Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus told a virtual news conference. Mal...

WASHINGTON: China has taken initial steps to improve protection of US know-how under the "Phase One" trade pact, but must go further and implement those measures, the top US trade negotiator said Friday (Apr 30). China also was the source of most counterfeit goods used to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, including masks and sanitisers, the US Trade Representative said in an annual report on intellectual property protections among 100 US trading partners. The world's two top economic powers signed a pact in January 2020 to end a damaging two-year trade war, that mandated increased enforcement of US technology and patents. Beijing has approved a dozen of the many new measures proposed to improve protection of intellectual property under the deal, a senior USTR official told reporters. "...

Technology has to be part of the solution, but will not be a magical remedy after centuries of excessive carbon emissions, says MIT economics professor Daron Acemoglu. BOSTON: Humanity has never faced a collective challenge as daunting as climate change. Net global greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions must be reduced to near-zero within the next three decades to give us even a fighting chance of keeping the temperatures within 2 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels. The further we exceed that threshold, the more likely we are to run into truly catastrophic scenarios. With the United States back in the Paris climate agreement, this is the time for the world to re-engage with these epochal challenges. Bill Gates’ highly respected voice is thus a welcome addition to these efforts. In his...

QUEENSTOWN, New Zealand: For the past year, the so-called "adrenaline capital of the world" has been more ghost town than party central. But unlike in most coronavirus-hit tourism hotspots, locals in New Zealand's scenic Queenstown are optimistic their adventure hub is about to get its pre-pandemic mojo back. The travel bubble that opened with Australia on Monday (Apr 19) has once again brought planes full of visitors, restoring the lifeblood of a town coronavirus sent reeling. Destination Queenstown chief executive Ann Lockhart called it "light at the end of the tunnel". "A strong winter season will be a godsend basically for our industry as a whole," she said. For local tourism operator Steve Bruce, the bubble is "almost salvation". "It will make a huge impact on a lot of l...

MRID, Iowa: In 43 years of farming, Morey Hill had seen crop-destroying weather, rock-bottom prices, trade fights and surges in government aid, but not until last year had he endured it all in one season. Now, as Hill and other farmers begin planting the nation’s dominant crops of corn and soybeans, they’re dealing with another shift - the strongest prices in years and a chance to put much of the recent stomach-churning uncertainty behind them. The return to something more akin to normal will be a welcome change from the last two seasons that likely will be remembered as among the most unusual in US agricultural history. “It will be nice to get out there and feel good about what you’re doing,” said Hill, who farms 400 acres (162 hectares) near the small Iowa community of Madrid. “I d...

If two of Indonesia’s most valuable tech companies come together, they can take on bigger rivals. The question is whether this is too late, says David Kuo. SINGAPORE: The union of Gojek and Tokopedia seemed almost inevitable after rumours of an on-off wedding of two of Southeast Asia’s largest ride-hailing companies, namely, Grab and Gojek, was finally called off. The deal between Grab and Gojek reportedly fell apart because neither could agree on the control each business would have in the combined entity. Concerns that a merger might not pass regulatory scrutiny because of their already dominant positions in ride-hailing were also brewing. Then there was also the not insignificant matter of who would helm a Grab-Gojek entity. Whilst Grab is the larger of the two companies, Gojek i...

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo reshuffled his Cabinet on Wednesday (Apr 28), after parliament approved his plan to reorganise several agencies while creating a new investment ministry. This was his second Cabinet reshuffle in just over four months. Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, announced that Mr Bahlil Lahadalia will head the newly created Investment Ministry. Mr Lahadalia is the current head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM). He will continue to lead the coordinating board concurrently. Mr Lahadalia said that unlike the BKPM which is primarily responsible for attracting foreign investors, the new ministry will coordinate both foreign and domestic investments as well as improve investment climate at the central, provincial and district levels o...

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden is giving himself lots of latitude when he defines infrastructure for the purpose of spending money on it. It’s not just steel, but home health care workers. Not just excavating dirt, but building “dignity". The Republican Party says if it’s not a pothole, port, plane or bridge, forget about it. Never mind that Donald Trump, like Biden, wanted schools to get a piece of an infrastructure pie. At least in theory, everyone likes infrastructure and is willing to spend big on it. That’s why the definition of infrastructure matters as Biden tries to sell the country and Congress on the largest such package in generations. In short, the bulk of Biden's plan does not fit the traditional understanding of infrastructure, meaning below the structure, or foundati...

After more than a decade of experimenting, a trio of Malaysian farmers say they have found the right concoction of nutrients and treatments to successfully grow Japanese muskmelons, one of the world’s most expensive fruits. The farmers at Malaysian company Mono Premium Melon regularly rub the melons with a soft cloth or glove, a practice called tama-fuki said to enhance their flavor, and play classical music over speakers in the greenhouses, which is believed to stimulate growth. “Every single Japanese melon that you see in our farm is almost like an art piece,” said Seh Cheng Siang, director and co-founder of Mono, at the company’s farm in Malaysia’s administrative capital Putrajaya. Since the last century, farmers in Japan have been perfecting the art of cultivating these melons, whic...