World

UK economy slumps 20% in Q2 due to COVID-19, unemployment fears mount
5Sep By Desk TeamNo Comments
USA, World

UK economy slumps 20% in Q2 due to COVID-19, unemployment fears mount

LONDON: Britain's economy shrank by a record 20.4 per cent between April and June when the coronavirus lockdown was tightest, official figures published on Wednesday (Aug 12) showed. It was the largest contraction reported by any major economy so far, and a wave of job losses is set to hit later in 2020. Official figures also showed the world's sixth-biggest economy entered a recession as it shrank for a second quarter in a row. There were signs of a recovery in the month of June when output grew by 8.7 per cent from May, the Office for National Statistics said, just above economists' average expectation in a Reuters poll for an 8 per cent rise. Some analysts, however, said this likely reflected a catch-up in activity suppressed during lockdown. The scale of the hit to gross...
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Japan faces World War II anniversary in shadow of COVID-19
4Sep By Desk TeamNo Comments
World

Japan faces World War II anniversary in shadow of COVID-19

TOKYO: In a four-and-a-half minute radio speech on Aug 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender in World War II, telling his subjects he had resolved to pave the way for peace by "enduring the unendurable". Seventy-five years later, the unresolved legacy of the conflict haunts Tokyo's ties with China and South Korea, even as the countries cope with a COVID-19 pandemic that is forcing Japan to scale back its Aug 15 ceremony for war dead. In Japan, consensus over the war's legacy is elusive. RE: Japan marks 75th anniversary of Hiroshima atomic bomb Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has adopted a less apologetic stance and wants to revise a post-war, pacifist constitution that conservatives see as a humiliating symbol of defeat. A majority of the public opposes altering the char...
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Commentary: Green offsets let polluting airlines off the hook
4Sep By Desk TeamNo Comments
Market, USA, World

Commentary: Green offsets let polluting airlines off the hook

Sustainability targets for airlines need to be based on real emissions cuts at their source, says an observer. BIRMINGHAM, England: The coronavirus pandemic has grounded thousands of aircraft, contributing to the largest-ever annual fall in carbon dioxide emissions. At some point though, the planes will soar again and with them, global emissions. Most airlines in the UK have committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. From 2026, it will become mandatory for airlines worldwide to ensure that their annual emissions stay flat. But the UK aviation industry also plans to increase the number of passengers it serves by 70 per cent in the next three decades. To pull this off, airlines will be planning to fly planes at or near full passenger capacity and use cleaner burning fu...
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Names of employers suspected of discriminatory hiring practices should be released: NTUC’s Patrick Tay
4Sep By Desk TeamNo Comments
Singapore, World

Names of employers suspected of discriminatory hiring practices should be released: NTUC’s Patrick Tay

SINGAPORE: The names of companies that are potentially biased in their hiring processes should be released, said a union leader, after the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said that 47 firms have been placed on its Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) watchlist. On Wednesday (Aug 5), MOM released a statement saying that 47 employers had been placed on its watchlist of companies believed to have discriminatory hiring practices. The ministry did not name the companies. Most of them are from financial and professional services sectors, while the remaining come from a variety of sectors including those in administrative and support services, manufacturing and education firms as well. In a statement on Friday, the National Trades Union Congress’ assistant secretary-general Patrick Tay said t...
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COVID-19 has prompted stimulus measures, but Southeast Asian governments may be missing the chance to go green: Experts
4Sep By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, Singapore, USA, World

COVID-19 has prompted stimulus measures, but Southeast Asian governments may be missing the chance to go green: Experts

Governments around the world are injecting money into their respective economies amid the pandemic. In Southeast Asia though, analysis shows little of those funds are being earmarked for green projects. BANGKOK: Earlier this month, a group of diplomats, politicians and journalists gathered at the Dutch Embassy in Bangkok to discuss an issue of global importance - how to manage a green recovery from COVID-19. This year was meant to be a critical year, they argued, for tackling climate change, where big decisions would be made and transformative policies imagined to avoid future calamity. Instead, they noted that major climate conferences had been postponed and a crisis of potentially staggering magnitude had drifted back to being tomorrow’s problem. The event, hosted by the em...
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After TikTok, Trump indicates banning Alibaba, other Chinese firms in US
4Sep By Mike TrudellNo Comments
World

After TikTok, Trump indicates banning Alibaba, other Chinese firms in US

Days after signing an executive order against TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, US President Donald Trump has indicated that he was looking to ban other Chinese-owned companies, including e-commerce giant Alibaba in the United States.The development came after Trump issued an executive order on August 14, requiring ByteDance to divest its interests in video-sharing app TikTok's operations in the US within 90 days."There is credible evidence that leads me to believe that ByteDance ... might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States," Trump said in the order.The previous order could have forced US-based app stores to stop distributing the TikTok app if ByteDance did not reach a deal to divest from it in 45 days.Under the latest order, ByteDance is expe...
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Biden Administration to place US-India ties on ‘high priority’
4Sep By Mike TrudellNo Comments
World

Biden Administration to place US-India ties on ‘high priority’

In a major policy document on Indian-Americans, the Joe Biden administration’s campaign has said that it will place a "high priority" on continuing to strengthen the India-US relationship, asserting that no common global challenge can be solved without the two countries working as responsible partners.The campaign also said Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden believes there can be no tolerance for terrorism in South Asia, cross-border or otherwise.A Biden administration will also work with India to support a rules-based and stable Indo-Pacific region in which no country, including China, is able to threaten its neighbors with impunity, it said."Biden will deliver on his long-standing belief that India and the United States are natural partners, and a Biden administration will place...
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Nigeria in crisis over China’s debt-trap diplomacy
4Sep By Mike TrudellNo Comments
China, World

Nigeria in crisis over China’s debt-trap diplomacy

The Federal Republic of Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, is in crisis over the possibility of 'losing' its sovereignty to China over debts. The Federal lawmakers of the national assembly are demanding a probe into China's lending practices into Nigeria, in a wake of a sovereign guarantee clause in loan agreements that they consider 'an entrapment of Chinese neo-colonial plans'.Lawmakers fear that the clause could cause Nigeria to sign away its sovereignty in the event of a payment default.According to clauses in Article 8(1) of the Commercial Loan Agreement signed between Nigeria and the Export-Import Bank of China, Nigeria stands to concede her sovereignty to China should there be a default in the repayment of the $400 million for the Nigerian National Information and Communication Tech...
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Ships carrying ammonium nitrate to Singapore, port storage facilities inspected as part of regulations: MPA
4Sep By Desk TeamNo Comments
Singapore, World

Ships carrying ammonium nitrate to Singapore, port storage facilities inspected as part of regulations: MPA

The dangers of the explosive material have been in the spotlight since the Beirut blast on Aug 4 which killed more than 170 people. SINGAPORE: Ships passing through Singapore ports occasionally carry ammonium nitrate, said the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) on Wednesday (Aug 12) as it outlined how the explosive chemical is regulated for safety. Vessels carrying ammonium nitrate have to inform port authorities of their cargo before arrival. They will only be able to unload or store the material when approval is given, MPA said in response to queries from CNA. "MPA carries out inspections on-board vessels to ensure that regulations are being complied with," it added. The dangers of ammonium nitrate have been in the spotlight since Aug 4 when 2,750 tonnes of the ch...
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‘Nothing to worry about’: Thailand seeks to ease fears of COVID-19 return
4Sep By Desk TeamNo Comments
Market, World

‘Nothing to worry about’: Thailand seeks to ease fears of COVID-19 return

BANGKOK: Thailand sought to allay fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections on Thursday (Aug 20), after a woman tested positive having cleared quarantine nearly two months ago on returning from overseas. Thailand has gone 87 days without domestic transmission but news that a woman tested positive for COVID-19 in Bangkok on Tuesday, having returned from abroad on Jun 24, has triggered concern of a fresh outbreak in a country so far spared the level of contagion elsewhere. Authorities said the woman was unlikely to be contagious and may have caught the virus in the United Arab Emirates or her home province of Loei, bordering Laos. "She may have been infected in the past three months, probably in Dubai or Loei, but not Bangkok," Taweesin Wisanuyothin, spokesman for the governmen...
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