TOKYO (Reuters) – Chances that Japan will slide into a recession this coming fiscal year have grown over the past three months, a Reuters poll of economists found, pressured by a global economic slowdown and U.S.-China trade friction. Economists said while Japan will probably manage to avoid a recession in the year starting in April, […]

TOKYO (Reuters) – Confidence among Japanese manufacturers dropped for a third straight month in January to a two-year low, a Reuters monthly poll showed, as worries over the health of the global economy and trade tensions take a toll on the corporate sector. The monthly poll, which tracks the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) closely watched […]

SINGAPORE – With a barrel-shaped thavil drum strapped around his shoulder, Mr Jathishweran Naidu is all geared up for Thaipusam. The 24-year-old Singaporean will play the traditional Indian instrument for eight to 10 hours during the annual procession from 3am on Monday (Jan 21), with his group, Hanusakthi Hanuman Dass, which plays religious songs called […]

MANILA (REUTERS) – Cebuana Lhuillier, a Philippine financial service provider, said on Saturday (Jan 19) that the data of 900,000 clients had been accessed without authorisation and that it had already alerted the authorities to investigate the incident. The breach came as Philippine investigators were looking into allegations by the country’s foreign minister last week […]

MELBOURNE (BLOOMBERG) – Australia’s Jobs and Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O’Dwyer will quit politics after about a decade as a lawmaker, a blow to Prime Minister Scott Morrison ahead of a national election that’s expected by May. O’Dwyer, 41, will step down to spend more time with her young children, and as she hopes to […]

MANILA (BLOOMBERG) – Henry Sy, who became a billionaire by parlaying a shoe store into the biggest retailer in the Philippines, has died. He was 94. He died in his sleep on Saturday morning (Jan 19), his daughter Teresita Sy-Coson and Jose Sio, chairman of SM Investments Corp, said. Sy had a net worth of […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury on Friday released final regulations for a tax deduction of up to 20 percent for U.S. businesses organized as so-called pass-through entities, under President Donald Trump’s 2017 overhaul of the U.S. tax system. The 247-page document lays out how to determine the amount of deduction available to the owners […]

(Reuters) – S&P Global Ratings affirmed Russia’s “BBB-/A-3” credit rating on Friday, saying the country’s solid external and public balance sheets should enable its economy to absorb shocks from possible new international sanctions. S&P believes that a scenario whereby the United States imposes sanctions on the secondary market for Russian sovereign bonds would be disruptive […]

JAKARTA (THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has hinted at the entirely different person he has grown into during his time in prison. In a handwritten letter, he asked his supporters to stop calling him Ahok and to instead refer to him as BTP, the initials of his full […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top Democrat and Republican on the House Financial Services Committee are sponsoring legislation directing a regulatory review of some corporate executive investment plans, as the banking panel starts its 2019 work on a bipartisan note. Representative Maxine Waters, the Democrat who chairs the panel, and Representative Patrick McHenry, its top Republican, […]