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Both Irfan and Ikhsan have established themselves as key players for club and country. The brothers, 25 and 23 respectively, who both play for top-tier Thai side BG Pathum United, most recently became the first Singaporeans to reach the Asian Champions League quarter-finals. “(I want to) just continue to bring the family name up. Ikhsan, Irfan have been doing it well, so I just want to continue to do that as well.” And Ikhsan, who is a striker, is one of the people Ilhan turns to for advice. “He tries to watch me or he watches the highlights and things like that. I will say: 'Ix, how was my running today ... how can I improve?'” Ilhan explained. In an international friendly against Malaysia in March, Irfan and Ikhsan started for Singapore, with the latter scoring twice. Later in the ga...

HONG KONG :Chinese electric vehicle maker Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology has shelved a plan to raise $1.5 billion through an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong because of lukewarm investor interest, said two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Bankers and advisers had hoped a deal of the size planned by Leapmotor, which would have been Hong Kong's largest IPO so far in 2022, would revive the city's flagging new issue market. Instead, the deal has been put on hold and Leapmotor is considering cutting the size of the transaction, one of the sources said. The decision to pause the Hong Kong IPO was made after the company met with investors over the past week to gauge sentiment towards the company and its listing plans, the sources said. A smaller IPO size would be more att...

SINGAPORE: The Public Service Division (PSD) announced on Friday (Aug 26) that Permanent Secretary (Social and Family Development) Aubeck Kam will be appointed as Permanent Secretary (Home Affairs Development) at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). This comes as Mr Chew Hock Yong will be retiring on Nov 1 after 31 years in public service, said PSD in a news release. Mr Kam will be appointed concurrently to the role on the same date. He has been Permanent Secretary (Social and Family Development) since April 2022. Mr Chew, 58, joined the public service in 1991 and served in key roles in several ministries. He was appointed Deputy Secretary of the then Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports in 2004 and as Second Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of National Development in 2...

SINGAPORE: Thinking of parking some money in a fixed deposit? Good news – as interest rates for both loans and savings accounts rise, fixed deposit rates are increasing too. Several banks in Singapore have rolled out promotions, with this month’s rates going as high as 2.6 per cent for a 12-month fixed deposit and 2.7 per cent for 24 months. Most lenders require minimum placements of S$20,000 for these promotional rates. A fixed deposit, otherwise known as a time or term deposit, allows one to earn a guaranteed amount of interest for a lump sum of money deposited with a bank over a specified duration. Unlike regular savings accounts, customers cannot withdraw this money before the so-called “lock-in” duration is over. UOB has been among the more aggressive banks, adjusting its fixed-de...

LUXEMBOURG : Google suffered one of its biggest setbacks on Wednesday when a top European court upheld a ruling that it broke competition rules and fined it a record 4.1 billion euros, in a move that may encourage other regulators to ratchet up pressure on the U.S. giant. The unit of U.S. tech giant Alphabet had challenged an EU antitrust ruling, but the decision was broadly upheld by Europe's General Court, with the fine trimmed modestly to 4.125 billion euros ($4.13 billion) from 4.34 billion euros. Even with the reduction, it was still a record fine for an antitrust violation. The EU antitrust enforcer has fined the world's most popular internet search engine a total of 8.25 billion euros in three investigations stretching back more than a decade. The judgment is set to boost landmar...

Monkeybusinessimages | Istock | Getty Images Millions of Americans may receive reduced Social Security benefits if they worked in public roles as teachers, firefighters, police or government workers. Now a proposal in Congress to eliminate the rules that cause those benefit reductions is moving forward. But experts say it's still unclear whether the bill will pass. "There just aren't that many legislative days left," said Maria Freese, senior legislative representative at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. "It makes it very, very challenging for them to even get to the House floor," she said. The House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday voted to send the bill, called the Social Security Fairness Act, to the House of Representatives with no changes. The marku...

TOKYO : Japan need not intervene in the exchange-rate market to stem yen falls, as such a move would be ineffective in countering broad dollar gains, former top currency diplomat Hiroshi Watanabe told Reuters on Wednesday. The dollar reached a fresh 24-year peak against the yen and new highs versus some other currencies on Wednesday after U.S. economic data reinforced the view that the Federal Reserve would continue aggressive policy tightening. "The dollar/yen seems to be overshooting somewhat now, and could briefly touch 145 later this month. But such a move likely won't last long," said Watanabe, who is now the president of Institute for International Monetary Affairs. Watanabe oversaw Japan's currency policy from 2004 to 2007 and retains close contact with incumbent policymakers in ...

BEIJING :Woes in China's property market worsened in August, with official data showing home prices, sales and investment all falling in August, as a mortgage boycott and developers' financial strains further hurt confidence in the sector. New home prices resumed their month-on-month decline in August, down 0.3 per cent, Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed, dragged down by weak demand in smaller cities amid persistently slow deliveries by heavily-indebted developers. Prices were unchanged in June and July. More significantly, prices extended their year-on-year contraction for the fourth month in August, with prices last month falling 1.3 per cent, the fastest annual pace in seven years, and suggesting longer-term homebuyer aversion. The deepenin...

Inflation remains the top issue on investors' minds, with many trying to determine when the relentless rise in prices will stop and whether the Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes to try to halt the spiral will engineer a so-called soft-landing for the economy — or, instead, send us into a deep recession. Indeed, your views on the trajectory of inflation will determine your views on future Fed actions — and, therefore, how you decide to put your money to work. Central bank tightening — under the umbrella of monetary policy — is only one side of the equation when it comes to managing inflation. The other is fiscal policy, which is controlled by lawmakers in Congress. Coordinated fiscal- and monetary policy can have a compounding effect in stamping out inflation. But in the curr...

SINGAPORE: Lawyer Jeffrey Ong Su Aun, who faces multiple charges over S$33 million that went missing from a client's escrow fund, has been struck off the rolls in a disciplinary hearing sought by The Law Society of Singapore (LawSoc). Drew and Napier lawyers representing LawSoc said a striking off is the only appropriate sanction for Ong, saying his dishonesty and actions fall short of the integrity and trustworthiness expected of a solicitor. The Court of Three Judges, comprising the Chief Justice as well as Justices Judith Prakash and Tay Yong Kwang, agreed and ordered Ong to be struck off on Wednesday (Sep 14). Ong was a solicitor of 15 years and the managing partner of JLC Advisors at the time. The firm was engaged to hold monies on escrow in its client's account. An escrow account ...