World

Let's get you caught up on the day's top stories. ASEAN denounces Myanmar's 'highly reprehensible' executions ASEAN has rebuked Myanmar's junta over the execution of four political activists. The 10-member bloc says the executions are destructive to efforts to de-escalate crisis. "The implementation of the death sentences just a week before the 55th ASEAN ministerial meeting is highly reprehensible," says Cambodia, this year's ASEAN chair. Malaysia's Foreign Minister called for Myanmar to be barred from attending international ministerial level meetings. The men were executed for aiding "terror acts" by a civilian resistance movement. A junta spokesperson says the executed prisoners deserved "many death sentences". Singapore Elections Department to pilot portable lap booths for nurs...

ZERMATT: Way up in the snowy Alps, the border between Switzerland and Italy has shifted due to a melting glacier, putting the location of an Italian mountain lodge in dispute. The borderline runs along a drainage divide - the point at which meltwater will run down either side of the mountain towards one country or the other. But the Theodul Glacier's retreat means the watershed has crept towards the Rifugio Guide del Cervino, a refuge for visitors near the 3,480m Testa Grigia peak - and it is gradually sweeping underneath the building. Frederic, a 59-year-old tourist, opens the narrow wooden door to enter the refuge's restaurant, the light flooding in from outside. The menu is in Italian, not German, and priced in euros rather than Swiss francs. Nonetheless, at the counter, he orders a...

LONDON: Oil prices edged lower on Friday (May 27) but were on track for weekly gains, supported by the prospect of a tight market due to rising gasoline consumption in the United States in summer, and also the possibility of an EU ban on Russian oil. Brent crude was down 20 cents, or 0.2 per cent, at US$117.20 at 11.04am GMT (7.04pm, Singapore time), but was on track for a gain of about 4 per cent this week. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 40 cents, or 0.4 per cent, to US$113.69 a barrel. WTI is set for a weekly gain of about 0.5 per cent. "Oil prices have risen to the highest level since end of March, benefiting from renewed declines in US oil inventories," said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo. US gasoline stocks fell by 482,000 barrels last week to 219.7 million barrels, US...

SINGAPORE: About 1.5 million Singaporeans will receive up to S$300 cash in a special GST Voucher payment in August, announced Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong on Tuesday (Jun 21). This is on top of the regular GSTV-Cash amounts they were meant to receive in 2022. This will benefit about 1.5 million lower-income to middle-income workers, as well as retirees without income, said Mr Wong, who is also Deputy Prime Minister. Taken together, GSTV-Cash recipients will receive up to S$700 in August this year, he noted. All Singaporean households will also receive a S$100 utilities credit by September to help offset their bills, announced Mr Wong. “In the Budget, I’ve already provided a fair amount of U-Save rebates for those living in HDB flats, with more given to those living in smaller fl...

Asian equities' valuations dropped to a more than two-year low at the end of May, as regional shares were hit by concerns over monetary tightening measures by major central banks and supply chain disruptions. The MSCI Asia-Pacific index's forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) stood at 12.6 at the end of last month, the lowest since March 2020, according to Refinitiv data. Regional shares have faced bigger declines this year, as higher inflation levels stoked recession worries and lockdowns in China pushed manufacturers in countries ranging from Japan to South Korea to slow production activity. Graphic: MSCI Asia-Pacific and World index's PE - https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/zgpomedxkpd/MSCIper cent20Asia-Pacificper cent20andper cent20Worldper cent20index'sper cent20PE...

NEW YORK : The dollar index rose for a second straight day on Thursday, erasing initial declines while the euro turned lower after the latest policy announcement by the European Central Bank (ECB), which signaled the bank was set to begin raising interest rates. The ECB ended a long-running stimulus program and said it would deliver its first interest rate hike since 2011 next month, followed by a potentially larger move in September as it seeks to tamp down rising inflation. But a lack of any details for a plan about dealing with fragmentation concerns in the region helped send the euro lower against the dollar. The ECB has said that fragmentation, a divergence between borrowing costs for different European countries, hampers the execution of its monetary policy. "We know QE is rolling...

Stocks snapped a multi-week losing streak Friday, with all three major averages closing higher. The rally was buoyed by the release of FOMC May minutes on Wednesday, which some interpreted as the Fed's willingness to pause interest-rate hikes once the neutral rate is achieved. While time will tell and the Fed remains data dependent, the outlook for future rate increases did pull back slightly following the release. Another positive boost for the market came Friday with the April personal spending report indicating a deceleration in the pace of inflation. Whether the Fed ultimately pauses or not does not impact our investing strategy. We continue to high-grade our portfolio by adding shares of high-quality companies that make stuff and do things for a profit, return cash to shareholders thr...

TOKYO :Japan ran its biggest single-month trade deficit in more than eight years in May as high commodity prices and declines in the yen swelled imports, clouding the country's economic outlook. The growing trade deficit underscores the headwinds the world's third-largest economy faces from a slide in the yen and surging costs of fuel and raw materials, on which domestic manufacturers rely for production. Imports soared 48.9 per cent in the year to May, Ministry of Finance data showed on Thursday, above a median market forecast for a 43.6 per cent gain in a Reuters poll. That outpaced a 15.8 per cent year-on-year rise in exports in the same month, resulting in a 2.385 trillion yen ($17.80 billion) trade deficit, the largest shortfall in a single month since January 2014. "The weak yen ...

LOS ANGELES: US Vice President Kamala Harris has pooled US$3.2 billion in corporate pledges aimed at addressing some of the economic factors driving migration from Central America, her office said on Tuesday (Jun 7), lending impetus to measures to be discussed at the Summit of the Americas this week. The new commitments from companies, including Visa and the apparel company Gap, exceed US$1.9 billion, adding to US$1.2 billion made in December. The latest round of corporate investments announced by Harris are intended to create jobs, expand access to the internet and bring more people into the formal banking system. The pledges form a major part of President Joe Biden's plan to address "root causes" of migration from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, a region known as the Northern Tria...

SINGAPORE: The United States Federal Reserve has made its biggest interest rate hike in nearly 30 years, as it steps on the pedal to combat surging inflation. The move is set to have far-reaching implications beyond America, from choppy financial markets to slower economic recovery in other parts of the world and even higher borrowing costs for businesses and individuals. In Singapore, for instance, home owners may soon feel the pinch of higher mortgage rates. With the Fed indicating the possibility of further rate hikes, we ask the experts what that means for the economy and borrowers. Q: Why is the US Fed increasing rates and what’s next? US officials agreed to a 0.75-percentage-point rate rise at the end of a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday (Jun 15), bringing its benchmark fede...