World

China’s Hopu teams up to take Singapore’s Perennial Real Estate private
4Jul By Team FPNo Comments
Singapore, World

China’s Hopu teams up to take Singapore’s Perennial Real Estate private

SINGAPORE: Chinese buyout firm Hopu is partnering with key shareholders of Perennial Real Estate Holdings, including Wilmar International and its CEO, to take Perennial private in a deal that values it at S$1.58 billion. The consortium, which includes firms owned by entrepreneur Ron Sim and Perennial's CEO, said late on Friday (Jun 12) that the offer comes at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has roiled the global economy. Perennial is a Singapore-listed real estate and healthcare firm. The acquirer said it has secured undertakings from about 82 per cent of Perennial's shareholders, and that Hopu will provide funding to purchase the rest of Perennial's shares from the non-consortium shareholders. "Perennial will require a significant amount of capital to pursue its growth objective...
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Football: Davies admits Spurs need fast start
4Jul By Team FPNo Comments
World

Football: Davies admits Spurs need fast start

LONDON: Tottenham defender Ben Davies has urged his team-mates to make a fast start when they restart their Premier League campaign on Friday. Jose Mourinho's side face a vital showdown with Manchester United in north London in their first game since the coronavirus lockdown in March. Tottenham go into the game in eighth place, four points behind fifth-placed United and a further three adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea in the race to qualify for the Champions League. Tottenham were struggling before the pandemic, going six games without a win in all competitions and crashing out of the Champions League and FA Cup. But they will be boosted by the return from injury of Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Moussa Sissoko, and Davies believes they can hit the ground running against United. "It...
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Coronavirus mortgage bailouts suddenly swell as homeowners face new struggles
4Jul By Team FPNo Comments
World

Coronavirus mortgage bailouts suddenly swell as homeowners face new struggles

As of Tuesday, 4.68 million homeowners were in forbearance plans, allowing them to delay their mortgage payments for at least three months. This represents 8.8% of all active mortgages, up from 8.7% last week. Together, they represent just over $1 trillion in unpaid principal. The number of active forbearance plans rose by 79,000 in the past week, erasing roughly half of the improvement seen since the peak of May 22, according to Black Knight, a mortgage data and technology firm. By comparison, the number of borrowers in forbearance plans fell by 57,000 the previous week. Increases happened every day for the past five business days. After declining for three weeks, the number of borrowers delaying their monthly mortgage payments due to the coronavirus rose sharply once again. The mortga...
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SFA recalls 10 winter melon products for high levels of sulphur dioxide
4Jul By Team FPNo Comments
World

SFA recalls 10 winter melon products for high levels of sulphur dioxide

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) on Monday (Jun 29) issued an advisory regarding ten varieties of winter melon products after samples were found to have high amounts of the allergen sulphur dioxide. Seven importers were directed to recall the products, many of which were imported from Malaysia. The products are as follows: All batches of Zheng Shi Ming candied melon strips (3kg) imported by Yuan Sang, manufactured on Jun 13, 2020 All batches of Sweet Homes preserved winter melon (250g) imported by Bake with Yen, manufactured on Apr 24, 2020 All batches of Winter Melon Sweet (300g) imported by Ah Pau Choy from Vietnam with expiry dates in October 2021 All batches of candied melon (300g) imported by Z T P Ginseng Birdnest from China, with best before dates before November ...
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TikTok denies sharing Indian user data with Chinese govt
4Jul By Team FPNo Comments
USA, World

TikTok denies sharing Indian user data with Chinese govt

NEW DELHI: TikTok denied Tuesday (Jun 30) sharing Indian users' data with the Chinese government, after New Delhi banned the wildly popular app in a sharp deterioration of relations with Beijing two weeks after a deadly border clash. "TikTok continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and have not shared any information of our users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese government," TikTok India chief Nikhil Gandhi said in a statement. "Further if we are requested to in the future we would not do so. We place the highest importance on user privacy and integrity," he said, adding that it had been invited to a meeting with the Indian government "for an opportunity to respond and submit clarifications". TikTok is owned by C...
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Tesla’s China car registrations up 150per cent month on month in May
4Jul By Team FPNo Comments
World

Tesla’s China car registrations up 150per cent month on month in May

U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc's China car registrations in May jumped 150per cent month on month, data from auto consultancy LMC Automotive showed. BEIJING: U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc's China car registrations in May jumped 150per cent month on month, data from auto consultancy LMC Automotive showed. Tesla's China registrations, including imported cars, grew to 11,565 in May from 4,633 units in April. Data from China Passenger Car Association shows sales of Tesla's Shanghai-made Model 3 sedan hit 11,095 units. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Yilei Sun; editing by Jason Neely)
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Mitsubishi Aircraft to slash over half its workforce in restructuring move
4Jul By Team FPNo Comments
World

Mitsubishi Aircraft to slash over half its workforce in restructuring move

Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. will cut more than half of its 2,000-strong workforce in a restructuring move as the coronavirus devastates travel demand and delays continue to plague its regional jet project, a source close to the matter said. The aircraft-making subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. will also close its U.S. headquarters, a development center in Canada and sales offices in the United States and Europe, the source said. While the company’s testing site in the state of Washington will remain, its workforce will be also drastically reduced. By making the small regional jet, now known as the Mitsubishi SpaceJet, MHI hoped to succeed in the commercial aircraft market as airlines shifted to small and midsize planes from larger ones to improve fuel-efficiency. The plane wa...
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Possibly millions of jobs could be lost if planes stay grounded, Heathrow boss says
4Jul By Team FPNo Comments
USA, World

Possibly millions of jobs could be lost if planes stay grounded, Heathrow boss says

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. LONDON: Hundreds of thousands of jobs, if not millions, could be lost in Britain if aviation is not able to resume quickly, the chief executive of London's Heathrow Airport said on Monday (Jun 8). Britain introduced a 14-day quarantine period for international arrivals on Monday despite warnings from its biggest airlines that the move will decimate domestic tourism and damage exports. "We cannot go on like this as a country," Chief Executive John Holland-Kaye told Sky News. "We need to start planning to reopen our borders. "If we don't get aviation moving again quickly, in a very safe way, then we are going to lose hundreds of th...
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Germany launches coronavirus app as EU eyes travel revival
4Jul By Team FPNo Comments
World

Germany launches coronavirus app as EU eyes travel revival

BERLIN: Germany appealed to the public on Tuesday to download a new smartphone app to help break the chain of coronavirus infections, one of several such apps that European governments hope will revive travel and tourism safely. The Corona-Warn-App, now available for Apple and Android devices, uses Bluetooth short-range radio to measure close contacts between people and issues a warning should one of them later test positive for COVID-19. "This app isn't a cure-all. It's not a free pass. But it's an important additional tool for containing the pandemic," Health Minister Jens Spahn told a launch event. Germany joins Italy, Poland and Latvia in launching apps based on technology from Apple and Alphabet's Google that preserves privacy by logging Bluetooth contacts securely on devices. ...
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Japan may let in quota of 250 businesspeople from four countries daily
4Jul By Team FPNo Comments
World

Japan may let in quota of 250 businesspeople from four countries daily

Japan plans to ease its coronavirus travel restrictions by letting in up to around 250 business travelers per day from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam, government sources said Thursday. The quota, which authorities aim to introduce this summer, will initially apply to businesspeople such as executives and engineers, the sources said, adding that the government task force on the virus response is expected to finalize the details of the plan soon. The nation currently has an entry ban in place for 111 countries and regions, with foreign travelers who have been to any of those areas within the last two weeks being turned away. The government is also considering setting up stations to conduct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests on people leaving Japan, as some countries have ...
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