World

SINGAPORE :China's CNOOC Ltd has raised its 2023 production target by around 8 per cent to a record 650 million to 660 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), it said on Wednesday. The state-controlled offshore oil and gas company produced about 620 million boe last year, exceeding its goal of 600-610 million boe, CNOOC said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange outlining its annual strategic outlook. CNOOC is aiming for 6 per cent average annual production growth by 2025 when output is forecast to hit 2 million boe a day, Chief Executive Officer Zhou Xinhuai told reporters following the release. Under its stated strategy to boost the share of natural gas in its portfolio, CNOOC is stepping up the development of large domestic finds like Baodao 21-1 in the Qiongdongnan basin of S...

From catching Covid-19 to getting caught in a blizzard, traveling can be risky business these days. But just how risky often depends on the destination — and how you define the risks. Safest cities: people's perceptions A report published by the U.K.-based insurance company William Russell ranked the "safest cities in the world," according to people's perceptions. On this list, which relied on perceived crime rates on the crowdsourced global database Numbeo, Asia and Europe dominated the rankings of "safest" cities. Taiwan's Taipei scored the highest, while Buenos Aires, Argentina, ranked the lowest (score: 36.7), according to the report. Safest cities: health and politics But the top five places for "health and safety" in Euromonitor International's "Top 100 City Destinations Index 2...

WASHINGTON : When the Biden administration unveiled aggressive export controls in October aimed at blocking China from becoming a global leader in advanced semiconductors it was missing a key ingredient: agreement from U.S. allies to impose their own matching restrictions. Persuading Japan to join the U.S. effort, which limits Chinese access to U.S. chipmaking technology and cuts China off from certain semiconductor chips made anywhere in the world, will be high on U.S. President Joe Biden's to-do list when he meets with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington on Friday. American officials, touting an ever-closer strategic alignment with Japan, are praising Tokyo's plan for the biggest Japanese military buildup since World War Two as rivalry with China in the region grows. B...

WASHINGTON: US authorities said on Wednesday (Jan 18) they have arrested the majority shareholder and cofounder of Hong Kong-registered virtual currency exchange Bitzlato Ltd for allegedly processing US$700 million in illicit funds. Anatoly Legkodymov, a Russian national living in China, was arrested in Miami on Tuesday on charges that he operated the exchange as an unlicensed money exchange business that "in his own words, catered to 'known crooks'", a top Justice Department official said. Prosecutors said Bitzlato exchanged more than US$700 million in cryptocurrency with Hydra Market, which they described as an illicit online marketplace for narcotics, stolen financial information, fraudulent identification documents and money laundering services that US and German law enforcement shut...

SYDNEY: Asian shares rallied on Monday as hopes for less aggressive US rate hikes and the opening of China's borders bolstered the outlook for the global economy. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 2.0 per cent to a five-month top, with South Korean shares gaining 2.2 per cent. Chinese blue chips added 0.7 per cent, while Hong Kong shares climbed 1.4 per cent. China's yuan also firmed to its highest since mid-August under 6.8000. Japan's Nikkei was closed for a holiday but futures were trading at 26,215, compared with a cash close on Friday of 25,973. S&P 500 futures added 0.2 per cent and Nasdaq futures 0.3 per cent. EUROSTOXX 50 futures gained 0.6 per cent, while FTSE futures firmed 0.3 per cent. Earnings season kicks off this week with the major US bank...

HONG KONG: As casinos in Macao begin new licenses to operate in the world’s biggest gambling hub on Jan 1, the stakes are high on whether they will be able to successfully deliver on a government mandate to diversify away from their cash-cow: Gambling. For the last 20 years, Sands China, Wynn Macau, MGM China, Galaxy Entertainment, MGM China and SJM Holdings, have raked in billions of dollars from their casinos in the Chinese special administrative region, turning the once sleepy fishing village into a glitzy boomtown. But their 10-year, shortened contracts come at a time when COVID-19 restrictions have decimated Maca0’s gambling revenues, with 2022 the worst annual performance on record. Industry net debt is surging and operators face a new era of government oversight and control over t...

KUALA LUMPUR :Malaysian palm oil prices are set to fall for the first time in three years in 2023 amid a mild recovery in production, but will likely remain above pre-pandemic levels as Indonesian policies constrict global supplies, Reuters poll showed. Benchmark palm prices will average 3,800 ringgit a tonne in 2023, down 23 per cent from last year's record average of 4,910 ringgit, according to the median estimate of a poll of 18 analysts and those in the industry. "The Russia-Ukraine conflict and economic affects of the pandemic will continue to impact the market in 2023. However, we feel that the severity of the volatility will be less as compared to the last year," Malaysian Palm Oil Council marketing director Faisal Iqbal said. SLOW PRODUCTION Top producers Indonesia and Malaysia...

:China's Didi Global has been given the green light from domestic regulators to resume new user registrations for its core ride-hailing services effective from Monday, signalling its 1-1/2-year long regulatory-driven revamp is ending. Didi has been awaiting approval to resume new user registrations and downloads of its 25 banned apps in China as a key step to return to normal business since its regulatory troubles started in mid-2021. Reuters reported on Friday, citing sources, that Chinese authorities were set to allow Didi to resume new user registrations and downloads of its apps at home as soon as this week. "Our company has earnestly cooperated with the country's cybersecurity review, seriously dealt with the security problems found in the review and carried out comprehensive recti...

'Tis the season for the post-holiday blues. Switching back to work mode after a few days of sleeping in, unwrapping gifts and popping champagne can be brutal. But even though the spell of holiday magic might have worn off, you don't have to go back to work in despair. "The first week of the year is like a warm-up period," Laith Masarweh, the CEO and founder of Assistantly, a virtual assistant staffing company, tells CNBC Make It. "Don't put too much pressure on yourself to be 100% up-to-speed. [Just] do your best to be positive and let yourself get excited for the new year ahead." Consider these tips from executives for a smooth return-to-work after the holidays: Wake up earlier It might seem counterintuitive, but waking up a bit earlier than usual on your first day back to work after th...

JAKARTA :Indonesia said on Wednesday it missed oil and gas production targets last year but expects long-stalled gas projects, the Indonesia Deepwater Development (IDD) and Masela gas blocks, to resume development soon. The Southeast Asian country, which aims to boost its crude oil lifting to 1 million barrel per day (bpd) and gas to 12,000 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) by 2030, and is ramping up efforts to attract investment and to get stalled projects going. U.S. oil giant Chevron is close to reaching a deal with an investor to transfer its stake and operatorship of IDD, said Dwi Soetjipto, head of upstream oil and gas regulator (SKK Migas). Chevron announced in early 2020 its intention to exit its 62 per cent stake in the project as it makes sweeping changes to its glo...