SINGAPORE – More shopping malls, supermarkets, vehicles and electric bicycles caught fire last year, which saw firefighters responding to more fire-related calls. However, there were fewer fires in residential areas, as rubbish chute and bin fires fell to a 10-year low, according to annual statistics released by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) on Friday […]
HONG KONG (Reuters) – The outlook for Hong Kong’s property market, the world’s least affordable, has started to firm with some analysts predicting prices could rise as much as 10 percent this year after only a short-lived correction. Pent-up demand, expectations of slower interest rate rises and optimism Beijing and Washington will soon hammer out […]
SYDNEY (AFP) – Canberra played down on Friday (Feb 22) reports a major Chinese port had banned coal imports from Australia, amid fears worsening diplomatic tensions were damaging the nations’ crucial trading relationship. Industry experts have noted recently that China appeared to be delaying customs clearances for Australian coking coal used in steel-making, but a […]
SINGAPORE – A company director has been hit with a record fine on Thursday (Feb 21) for multiple breaches of the Companies Act, including failing to hold annual general meetings and not filing the annual returns of nine companies. Tan Hang Song was fined a total of $113,400, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) […]
ARLINGTON, Va. (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is concerned about a potential decline in farmland real estate prices, but has seen no sign of that happening so far, USDA chief economist Robert Johansson said on Thursday. Farmland prices are a key pillar of equity for the U.S. agricultural heartland, which has been suffering […]
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s annual core consumer inflation accelerated slightly in January but remained distant from the central bank’s 2 percent target, reinforcing market expectations the country is nowhere near an exit from ultra-loose monetary policy. The price data underscores the fragile nature of Japan’s economic recovery, as escalating Sino-U.S. trade frictions and slowing Chinese […]
CANBERRA (DPA) – An Australian man who killed six people and injured 27 others when he deliberately drove his car into pedestrians on a busy Melbourne street in 2017 has been sentenced to life in prison, local media reported. Known as the Bourke Street killer, James Gargasoulas was on Friday (Feb 22) sentenced to spend […]
TOKYO (AFP) – A Japanese probe that aims to examine a distant asteroid for clues about the origin of the solar system appears to have landed successfully on Friday (Feb 22), the space agency said. “We confirmed data communication with the probe recovered after the touchdown, and it seems that touchdown was successful, but we […]
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump has never mentioned currencies when discussing trade with Japan. Aso, speaking to reporters, said Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have agreed that currencies would be discussed between each country’s finance ministry. Aso spoke in response to a […]
BEIJING (NYTIMES) – The authorities called it a free health check. Tahir Imin had his doubts. They drew blood from the 38-year-old Muslim, scanned his face, recorded his voice and took his fingerprints. They didn’t bother to check his heart or kidneys, and they rebuffed his request to see the results. “They said, ‘You don’t […]