By Fathin Ungku and Hillary Teo | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE More than 100 people gathered in Singapore’s Speakers’ Corner on Saturday for a rare protest against a government plan to hike water prices that has stirred discontent over sluggish economic growth and rising unemployment in the city-state. Singapore’s government enjoys strong popular support but is also known for having little tolerance for dissent. Residents are only allowed to […]
A Chinese property developer constructing a huge housing project in southern Malaysia has become the latest corporate victim of Beijing’s crackdown on capital flight. Country Garden has closed showrooms in mainland China for its flagship $100bn Forest City development in response to measures by Chinese regulators that have made it harder for individuals to move money out of the country. A slowing Chinese economy, rising US interest rates […]
Turkey saw just four percent growth in its internet population, but that means two million more people are online. Image: Getty Images “Digital is growing faster in the Middle East than anywhere else in the world,” Simon Kemp, founder of Kepios, tells ZDNet. Kemp, a marketing strategist based in Singapore, is the author of six annual studies charting the trends in mobile, the internet, and social media […]
New York and London are locked in a frantic race to be the main international listing venue for Saudi Arabia’s initial public offering of its state oil company, emerging as clear frontrunners in what is set to be the world’s biggest ever flotation. Executives from the New York Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange have held talks with Saudi Aramco, the state group valued at as much […]
There are efficiency gaps between the startup ecosystems in Singapore and Silicon Valley, which the former can address by introducing simpler and clearer investment terms. Doing so would, in turn, attract more mature startups to their fold and better set up founders for success, according to executives from muru-D’s Singapore outfit. The Telstra-owned accelerator had just completed its second batch of eight startups under the six-month programme, […]
Dubai, United Arab Emirates Delta Partners, the leading advisory and investment company, specialised in the telecoms, media and digital (TMD) space, has been officially recognised as one of the ‘Top Companies to Work for in the UAE’ in 2017 by Great Place to Work®, a global research, training and consultancy firm that identifies the best workplaces in over 50 countries worldwide. The official list, which was announced […]
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, attends a meeting at the Executive Council offices in Emirates Towers, where he approved a law to facilitate speedy rulings on minor cases. Also in attendance were Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Chairman of the Judicial Council, and Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed, chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation and chief executive of Emirates Group […]
By Saikat Chatterjee | HONG KONG HONG KONG Asian stocks edged lower on Wednesday after a strong start to the week due to profit-taking as investors lacked conviction to buy risky assets before a U.S. policy meeting next week that may see interest rates rising for the second time in three months. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.1 percent in early trade, a […]
A new system from CSAIL uses EEG brain signals to detect if a person notices robots making a mistake. Credit: Jason Dorfman/MIT CSAIL For robots to do what we want, they need to understand us. Too often, this means having to meet them halfway: teaching them the intricacies of human language, for example, or giving them explicit commands for very specific tasks. But what if we could […]
By Nichola Saminather | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Asian shares rose on Tuesday, diverging from New York markets that slipped on concern about President Donald Trump’s ability to focus on economic policies. Oil prices were slightly lower amid fears growing U.S. production will offset OPEC cuts. Futures are pointing to a positive open for Britain’s FTSE 100 .FTSE and France’s CAC 40 .FCHI. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares […]
March 7, 2017 by: Song Jung-a and Bryan Harris in Seoul and Jeevan Vasagar in Singapore North Korea’s latest missile tests were a rehearsal for an attack on US forces in Japan, Pyongyang has revealed, ratcheting up tensions with two of its sworn enemies even as relations with erstwhile ally Malaysia took a nosedive. The increasingly isolated nation on Monday launched a barrage of ballistic missiles into […]
Maritime security will head the agenda as Australia and other Indian Ocean nations meet in Jakarta, with Indonesia pushing governance in a bid to prevent another South China Sea. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will meet with President Joko Widodo for the second time in less than two weeks when he attends the 20th anniversary of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) summit in Jakarta this week. With […]
By Kevin Yao and Xiaochong Zhang | BEIJING BEIJING China has cut its growth target this year as the world’s second-largest economy pushes through painful reforms to address a build-up in debt and strives to keep a lid on risks in its financial sector. China aims to expand its economy by around 6.5 percent in 2017, Premier Li Keqiang said at the opening of the annual meeting […]
04 March 2017 Bahrain – Investcorp, a global provider and manager of alternative investment products, today announced the completion of its acquisition and integration of the debt management business of 3i (“3iDM”) from 3i Group plc. The business, now recognized as Investcorp Credit Management (“ICM”), adds $11 billion of assets under management, bringing the total to approximately $21.4 billion. Investcorp Credit Management is a leading global credit […]
Dubai Holding, the global investment holding company, has signed an agreement with Dubai Municipality to develop the largest public park in the emirate. Stretching across an area of 1,430,000 sq m in Dubailand, the park will act as a “new destination for residents and tourists and provide a vibrant, natural environment, encouraging individuals to lead a healthy and active lifestyle”, a statement said. It added that when […]
Singapore will set up a new cybersecurity command centre to combat increasing threats and ensure there are adequate skillsets in cyberdefence. Running 24 by 7, the new facility would encompass four key groups and comprise top-ranking military and armed officers, according to the country’s defence minister Ng Eng Hen. The new Defence Cyber Organisation (DCO) would be manned by some 2,600 soldiers operating within divisions overseeing cybersecurity […]
Software-defined storage (SDS) startup Hedvig has closed $21.5 million in a Series C round of funding, bringing the total amount raised by the Santa Clara, California-based startup to $52 million. Investors in the round include Singapore-based EDBI and Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) VC arm Hewlett Packard Pathfinder, Atlantic Bridge Ventures, Oman Technology Fund, True Ventures, and Vertex Ventures. Launched in 2015, Hedvig provides SDS for enterprises building […]
ABU DHABI // Students from United Arab Emirates University have designed an environmentally-friendly car to compete in an eco-marathon in Singapore this month. The vehicle – made from synthetic materials, plastic and carbon fibre – will be raced against 100 teams from March 16 to 19. The students, who are competing in the marathon for the first time this year, took 4 months to design, build and […]
Superloop has expanded its high-speed intercapital colocation network with a new point of presence (PoP) at NextDC’s C1 datacentre in Canberra. The addition of C1 connectivity sees the Asia-Pacific fibre infrastructure company complete its national footprint through NextDC, with connections already at the latter’s datacentres in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. According to Superloop, the nationwide deployment of capital city infrastructure gives the company the ability to […]
Singapore-based Olam, one of the world’s biggest food traders, is predicting a revival in chocolate consumption in Europe as prices fall on the back of a bumper west African crop. Cocoa is one of the worst performing commodities this year, with the London benchmark trading at its lowest since 2013 amid concern over a glut in supply in west Africa, the key growing region. Sunny Verghese, Olam […]
SINGAPORE – The Government spent $800 million on animal management measures last year, said Senior Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee on Tuesday (Feb 28). The amount includes spending on animal culling, but Mr Lee told Parliament that the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) does not track this amount “as this is only a small part of AVA’s overall work.” Mr Louis Ng (Nee Soon […]
A voracious thirst for petroleum makes the US one of the largest importers of oil. But for the past two weeks it has also scaled the ranks of exporters. Outbound shipments of crude have surpassed 1.2m barrels a day, more than last month’s daily production of Algeria, Ecuador or Qatar, each a member of Opec. The foreign sales underscore how the US has become more integrated into […]
By Joseph Sipalan and Noah Browning | KUALA LUMPUR/DUBAI KUALA LUMPUR/DUBAI Malaysia welcomed Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Sunday for the start of a rare, month-long Asian tour, where the monarch will build ties and seek to draw more investments to the oil-rich gulf nation. The visit is the first by a Saudi king to Malaysia in more than a decade, as the Arab nation courts Asian […]
Emirates has accused the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of acting unprofessionally over claims it breached laws by not paying compensation to passengers who experience a delay. The Dubai-based airline denied breaking any law with regard to payment of passenger compensation for delayed flights, after the CAA launched enforcement action against it and four other international carriers. The CAA said the airlines – Emirates, Etihad Airways, American […]
