World

SINGAPORE: The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) on Monday (Aug 1) granted interim authorisation for AstraZeneca's COVID-19 antibody drug for adults who are medically unsuitable for vaccination against the coronavirus. The Evusheld treatment comprises two monoclonal antibodies and is administered via intramuscular injection. HSA said the treatment is approved for the prevention of COVID-19 in adults who have not had a known recent exposure to someone infected with the disease and are unlikely to mount an adequate immune response to COVID-19 vaccination. This may be due to their immunocompromised state from a medical condition or from receiving immunosuppressive medications or treatments. Such medical conditions or treatments include those who are in an immunocompromised state from organ,...

SINGAPORE: Heavy traffic through the Woodlands and Tuas Checkpoints is expected over the next few days due to the upcoming National Day public holiday, said the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on Thursday (Aug 4). National Day falls on Aug 9, which is next Tuesday. “Travellers should expect delays from Aug 5 to Aug 10 and are advised to adjust their travel plans, where possible, to avoid being caught in traffic congestion,” said ICA. The agency said traffic flow through the checkpoints has been gradually increasing. The number of travellers exceeded 290,000 per day over the last weekend - the highest since the reopening of the land borders on Apr 1. This surpassed the previous weekend record of 278,000 travellers per day during the June school holidays. There were 224,000 ...

NEW YORK : Nasdaq closed lower on Monday after a choppy session for U.S. equities ahead of a big week of technology earnings reports while oil prices rose and treasury yields edged higher as investors braced for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike. In currencies, the dollar index, which touched a 20-year high this month, was down slightly and gold also slipped. On Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that while U.S. economic growth was slowing, a recession was not inevitable. Treasury yields edged higher as investors braced for the Fed to raise rates by an expected 75 basis points this week. Some are worried about the potential for recession. Investors were also positioning ahead of earnings in big companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.com, as well as second-quart...

Bearish bets on emerging Asian currencies eased on hopes that monetary tightening will cool red-hot inflation, with short bets on the Thai baht falling sharply after the first rate hike in the country in nearly four years, a Reuters poll found. Short positions on all emerging Asian currencies fell, with bets on China's yuan at their lowest since late-April, according to the fortnightly poll of 12 analysts. Short bets on the Philippine peso, the Singapore dollar and the Indonesian rupiah also fell to multi-month lows. An unchanged U.S. inflation print for July, the first notable sign of relief after persistently rising prices, also helped improve the sentiment in the region. Short bets on the Thai baht slipped to their lowest since early June after the Bank of Thailand (BoT) on Wednesda...

NEW DELHI: On Feb 2, when Meta Platforms reported Facebook's first-ever quarterly drop in daily users, its finance chief identified higher mobile data costs as a unique obstacle slowing growth in India, its biggest market. On the same day, the US tech group posted the findings of its own research into Facebook's business in India on an internal employee forum. The study, conducted over the two years to the end of 2021, identified different problems. Many women have shunned the male-dominated social network because they're worried about their safety and privacy, according to the Meta research, which hasn't been previously reported. "Concerns about content safety and unwanted contact impede women's FB use," said the study, reviewed by Reuters, as it detailed the platform's main challenges...

Select’s editorial team works independently to review financial products and write articles we think our readers will find useful. We earn a commission from affiliate partners on many offers, but not all offers on Select are from affiliate partners. To help break it all down, Select spoke with economist Michael Gapen, managing director and head of U.S. economics research at Bank of America, about how increasing interest rates can help tamp down on inflation — and how doing so could result in a recession. Today's economy looks very different compared to last year's, and concerns about inflation , market downturns and even a potential recession are weighing on the minds of many Americans. In these uncertain times, it can be difficult to make sense of such an influx of bad news: Why might t...

Comments on Twitter by technology analyst Ming-Chi Koo highlight India’s emergence as the next big workshop of the world. The well-known Apple watcher wrote: My latest survey indicates Foxconn’s iPhone production site in India will ship the new 6.1″ iPhone 14 almost simultaneously with China for the first time in 2H22 (India being one quarter or more behind in the past). In the short term, India’s iPhone capacities/shipments still have a considerable gap with China, but it’s an important milestone for Apple in building a non-Chinese iPhone production site. It implies that Apple is trying to reduce the geopolitical impacts on supply and sees the Indian market as the next key growth driver. Koo works for TF International Securities in Hong Kong. Let’s put his remarks in context. Apple’s ...

TOKYO: Japanese companies are temporarily shutting offices or suspending production as they battle a record wave of COVID-19, disrupting businesses in a country that has until now weathered the pandemic better than most advanced economies. Automakers Toyota Motor Corp and Daihatsu Motor Co last week halted production line shifts because of employee infections. KFC Holdings Japan Ltd has had to shut some fast-food restaurants and move staff to fill gaps, while Japan Post Holdings Co has temporarily shut more than 200 mailing centres. Japan's tally of COVID-19 cases has surged past those of other countries as the full impact of the BA.4 and BA.5 variants dominating around the world hits home. Japan had more than 1.4 million new COVID cases over the past week, World Health Organization data...

Toast shares closed up 8% Friday after the restaurant software vendor beat revenue estimates and said the number of locations it serves surged 40% in the second quarter. Toast provides technology that can serve as a restaurant's operating system across dine-in, takeout, and delivery channels. Its products gained rapid adoption during the pandemic as restaurants moved to contactless payments and rushed to go digital. Revenue in the second quarter increased 58% from a year ago to $675 million, soaring past the $651 million expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. Toast also offered an upbeat third-quarter forecast, and raised revenue and adjusted earnings guidance for the full year. The rally in Toast's shares on Friday is the latest sign of a possible rebound in the tech stocks that...

MANILA: Former Philippine president Fidel Ramos, a soldier regarded as one of the country's most effective leaders ever, was interred at the National Heroes Cemetery on Tuesday (Aug 9) in a sombre state burial. A low-flying military helicopter dropped flowers as a wagon bearing the flag-draped coffin containing an urn with his ashes rolled through the leafy cemetery grounds, lined with white crosses marking the tombs of dead soldiers also buried at the site. Incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos Jr joined the ex-leader's widow and relatives as the silver urn with the cremated remains was lowered into the ground after a military parade and a 21-gun salute. A career soldier who oversaw a rare period of steady growth and peace in the turbulent years that followed the dictatorship of Marcos ...