World

HONG KONG: Hong Kong's High Court on Tuesday (Aug 2) quashed a court reporting restriction for a landmark national security case involving a now disbanded group that once organised the city's annual candlelight vigils to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen incident. The decision by Court of First Instance judge Alex Lee removes a ban on reporting imposed by a lower court magistrate and will allow open reporting of pre-trial proceedings - known as committal hearings - in a Hong Kong national security case for the first time. "The magistrate's reasoning was totally in opposition to the principles of Open Justice that govern the exercise of judicial power in the context of restricting access to, or reporting of, court proceedings," Lee wrote in a summary of the judgment, adding that the magistra...

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BEIJING :Chinese developers in "survival mode" sharply cut property investment in July while new construction starts suffered their biggest fall in nearly a decade, suggesting the liquidity-challenged sector is not about to turn the corner anytime soon. China's property market, accounting for about a quarter of the economy, has been trapped in a capital crisis since the summer of 2020, leading some cash-strapped developers to default on their debts and struggle to complete projects. Wary buyer sentiment has also chilled new investment by developers. Property investment in July fell 12.3 per cent year-on-year, the biggest decline in 2022, while new construction starts by floor area slumped 45.4 per cent, the largest drop since January-February 2013, according to Reuters calculations based...

Mr Goh estimated that he could be earning more had he switched over to the ride-hailing platforms, or had concurrently used the ride-hailing applications on the job, which taxi drivers are allowed to do. Still, he has no regrets because of his familiarity with driving a taxi without having to depend on the apps. However, he is still paying the price. Due to increased competition from the other ride-hailing platforms, a drop in passenger demand amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic, as well as increasing fuel and rental costs, Mr Goh said that his recent take-home income is about 35 per cent less compared with pre-pandemic. Although he has been getting more customers of late due to the increase in transport demand following further relaxation of COVID-19 measures, his income has yet to see an...

In this article TSLA Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures as he visits the construction site of Tesla's Gigafactory in Gruenheide near Berlin, Germany, August 13, 2021. Patrick Pleul | Reuters At the Tesla 2022 shareholders' meeting on Thursday, investors asked CEO Elon Musk how the company plans to spend its money in coming years, and about his global economic outlook. Musk joked that "making macroeconomic prognostications is a recipe for disaster" but nonetheless estimated that "we are past peak inflation" and likely to see a "relatively mild recession," lasting for about 18 months. The CEO based his economic analysis on the commodity prices Tesla is being asked to pay for materials and goods it needs to make electric vehicles. "We do get a fair bit of insight into where prices of things are g...

New York : Global equities and the U.S. dollar advanced on Monday despite weaker-than-expected economic data in China that prompted the country's central bank to cut its lending rate, stoking concerns of a global recession. The People's Bank of China unexpectedly cut key interest rates on Monday after the world's second-largest economy reported July data on industrial output and retail sales that missed most analyst estimates. China's strict COVID-19 restrictions have hobbled activity at its main manufacturing hubs and popular tourist spots, including Shanghai, even as a deepening downturn continues in the property market. After earlier session losses, markets were trading slightly higher. The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 50 countries, was up 0.05 per cent. Overnight ...

HONG KONG: HSBC's bosses will meet retail investors on Tuesday (Aug 2) in Hong Kong, the biggest market for Europe's largest lender, seeking to convince them their strategy to operate as a global bank is vital to boosting growth. The London-headquartered group is under pressure from its largest shareholder, Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd, to explore options including spinning off its mainstay Asia business to increase shareholder returns. The informal meeting, which will discuss earnings and strategy, comes a day after HSBC rejected the break-up call, reported forecast-beating profit and promised chunkier dividends, sending its Hong Kong-listed shares to a one-month high. HSBC's response represented its most direct defence since news of Ping An's proposal broke in April. The l...

TOKYO :SoftBank Group Corp's decision to sell down its Alibaba Group Holding stake for a $34 billion gain may be aimed at bolstering its finances, but it also underlines how CEO Masayoshi Son has cooled on China tech. Son was formerly one of the sector's biggest cheerleaders and Alibaba is his most famous bet, immensely profitable and for his fans, symbolic of his foresight and investing acumen. Amid a sharp market downturn, however, Son will reduce his conglomerate's stake in Alibaba to 14.6 per cent from 23.7 per cent by settling prepaid forward contracts, although the Chinese firm remains SoftBank's largest asset. "It seems like they're saying 'we think the outlook for China tech is pretty poor so we're going to get in front of that'," said Redex Research analyst Kirk Boodry. A roug...

(In Aug. 18 story, corrects Chuck Self's title to chief investment strategist instead of chief investment officer, paragraph 3) By Chibuike Oguh NEW YORK :Global equity markets were choppy and U.S. Treasury yields fell on Thursday, as uncertainty over the pace of interest rate hikes prevailed among investors after the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes showed officials were determined to curb rising prices. Markets have been volatile amid concerns about a looming recession, even though Fed officials indicated in the minutes of their July meeting released on Wednesday that they would adopt a less aggressive stance if inflation starts to recede. "The markets are still trying to figure out the Fed minutes," causing volatility, said Charles Self, chief investment strategist at Tandem Wealth...

DEKALB, Illinois: The current conflict in Myanmar raised new international concern when the country’s military announced on Monday (Jul 25), that it had executed four democracy activists and political prisoners. The high-profile killings were the latest signal that the civil conflict in the Southeast Asian country is deepening, almost 18 months after the military staged a coup and overtook the democratically elected government in February 2021. The military killed two leading political leaders who opposed the junta – Kyaw Min Yu, a writer and activist known as Jimmy, and Phyo Zeya Thaw, a hip-hop musician turned lawmaker under the old political regime – citing counterterrorism charges. Two other people – Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw – were executed after they were convicted of killin...