World

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NEW YORK : Oil prices gained about 1 per cent on Tuesday, with U.S. crude settling at a 13-week high on supply concerns, including no nuclear deal with Iran, and prospects for demand growth in China, which is relaxing lockdowns to control the pandemic. Looking ahead, analysts polled by Reuters forecast U.S. crude inventories fell last week. A drop in crude stockpiles could further support prices. [EIA/S] The American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry group, will issue its inventory report at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) on Tuesday. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) on Wednesday. Robert Yawger, executive director of energy futures at Mizuho, said "several numbers" in the EIA report are "within striking distance of historical lows," inc...

BEIJING : China's property market woes are likely to worsen this year with prices remaining flat and sales and investment falling further, while tighter and widespread COVID-19 curbs weigh on still fragile demand despite more policy easing. The property market, a pillar of the world's second-largest economy, was weakened by a government clampdown on excessive borrowing from developers last year. Since the beginning of this year, over 100 cities have taken steps to boost demand via cuts in mortgage rates, smaller down-payments, and subsidies. The outlook for the property market is expected to remain bleak in the first half of the year and for the whole of 2022. Average home prices are estimated to fall 1.3 per cent on year in the first half, according to a Reuters survey of 13 analysts ...

WASHINGTON :The World Bank on Tuesday slashed its global growth forecast by nearly a third to 2.9 per cent for 2022, warning that Russia's invasion of Ukraine has compounded the damage from the COVID-19 pandemic, and many countries now faced recession. The war in Ukraine had magnified the slowdown in the global economy, which was now entering what could become "a protracted period of feeble growth and elevated inflation," the World Bank said in its Global Economic Prospects report, warning that the outlook could still grow worse. In a news conference, World Bank President David Malpass said global growth could fall to 2.1 per cent in 2022 and 1.5 per cent in 2023, driving per capita growth close to zero, if downside risks materialized. Malpass said global growth was being hammered by th...

YEN TU: When Sim Yip How first came across xiangqi as a little boy he looked on mesmerised as grandmasters puzzled over the ancient Chinese game. The 38-year-old Malaysian is now an SEA Games silver medallist in a pastime which, according to players at the regional competition, is growing in popularity. Also known as Chinese chess, xiangqi is a two-player board game dating back thousands of years but it is making its debut at the SEA Games in Vietnam. Hailing from the city of Kuching in eastern Malaysia's Sarawak state, Sim said he picked up the game at the age of seven after watching masters battle each other in matches. "All the best players came from Kuching and at my father's coffee shop the Sarawak champions came and played," he told AFP at the SEA Games, where players silently pe...

NEW DELHI : India's economic growth slowed to the lowest in a year in the first three months of 2022, hit by weakening consumer demand amid soaring prices that could make the central bank's task of taming inflation without harming growth more difficult. Gross domestic product grew 4.1 per cent year-on-year in January-March, government data released on Tuesday showed, in line with a 4 per cent forecast by economists in a Reuters poll, and below 5.4 per cent growth in Oct-December and growth of 8.4 per cent in July-Sept. The economy's near-term prospects have darkened due to a spike in retail inflation, which hit an eight-year high of 7.8 per cent in April. The surge in energy and commodity prices caused partly by the Ukraine crisis is also squeezing economic activity. "Inflation pressure...

Even pilots have had to wear masks on board. Here, a first officer wears a protective face mask as he conducts preflight checks inside the cockpit on board a passenger aircraft operated by Wizz Air at Liszt Ferenc airport in Budapest, Hungary. The European Union is set to drop its mask mandate for passengers on flights and in airports from Monday, following an update to guidelines for the aviation industry. The recommendation for mandatory wearing of medical masks in airports and on board a flight is being lifted on May 16, EU's Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said last week, while noting that a face mask is still one of the best protections against the transmission of Covid-19. The updated guidance takes into account the latest devel...

DAVOS, Switzerland: The world needs to find solutions that can solve both the water and climate crisis at the same time, as both issues are intertwined, said Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Wednesday (May 25). “What's happening now is that climate, water, food and energy are becoming more and more insecure at the same time," said Mr Tharman at a panel session on A Fresh Water Future at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF). "They're feeding into each other. If we keep over-extracting water, we keep polluting water, it affects the wetlands and affects the natural carbon sinks. It makes it even more difficult to address the climate crisis. So we're in a vicious cycle now,” he said. The panel included Netherlands Prime ...

SINGAPORE: Finance Minister Lawrence Wong will be promoted to Deputy Prime Minister from Jun 13, holding both portfolios concurrently. The announcement on Monday (Jun 6) comes about two months after Mr Wong was named leader of the People's Action Party's (PAP) fourth-generation or 4G team, paving the way for him to become Singapore's next Prime Minister. Mr Wong will be one of two Deputy Prime Ministers, joining Mr Heng Swee Keat, 61, who had stepped aside as leader of the 4G team last April, citing his age as the reason. Mr Heng remains the Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies. Mr Wong, 49, will be the acting Prime Minister in the absence of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. He will also assume responsibility for the Strategy Group within the Prime Minister’s Office, taking over ...

SUVA: Ten Pacific Island nations rebuffed China's push for a wide-ranging regional security pact Monday (May 30), amid worries the proposal was designed to pull them into Beijing's orbit. Talks in Fiji between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and leaders from the small island nations failed to reach an agreement, in a high-profile diplomatic setback for Beijing. China is offering to radically ramp up its activities in the South Pacific, directly challenging the influence of the United States and its allies in the strategically vital region. The proposed pact would see Beijing train Pacific Island police, become involved in cybersecurity, expand political ties, conduct sensitive marine mapping and gain greater access to natural resources on land and in the water. As an enticement, Beiji...