News

September 14, 2021 LONDON (Reuters) – British employers added record a 241,000 staff to their payrolls last month, taking the total number of payrolled employees above their level in February 2020, just before Britain first went into COVID-19 lockdown, government figures showed on Tuesday. Separate official data showed the unemployment rate was 4.6% in the […]

September 14, 2021 LONDON (Reuters) – Morrisons suitor Clayton Dubilier & Rice said it had reached agreement with the pension trustees of the British supermarket chain to provide additional security and support to the schemes, as it seeks to clinch the deal ahead of a rival bidder. Morrisons is at the centre of a bid […]

September 14, 2021 By Sangmi Cha SEOUL (Reuters) – A hit Netflix series is reigniting a debate in South Korea over the country’s massive military, its history of abuse scandals, and the mandatory conscription that fills its ranks with young men. “D.P.”, short for Deserter Pursuit, has been among the top Netflix shows in South Korea […]

September 14, 2021 MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines’ capital region will exit wide-scale coronavirus restrictions from Thursday, as the government launches a pilot test of localised lockdowns, amid efforts to balance reopening the economy and containing the spread of the coronavirus. The localised lockdown would be accompanied by five alert levels designating the range of […]

BridgeLinx, a 9-month-old Lahore-headquartered startup that operates a digital freight marketplace, said on Tuesday it has raised $10 million in what is the largest seed financing round in Pakistan. Harry Stebbings’ 20 VC, Josh Buckley’s Buckley Ventures and Indus Valley Capital co-led the startup’s financing round, which Salman Gul, co-founder and chief executive of BridgeLinx, […]

September 14, 2021 JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia has raised $1.84 billion from the sale of bonds denominated in U.S. dollars and euros, IFR reported, with part of the proceeds to be used to fund the repurchase of outstanding dollar bonds in the country’s first such offer. The Southeast Asian country sold 10-year and new 40-year […]

September 14, 2021 BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese autonomous driving startup DeepRoute.ai said on Tuesday it raised $300 million from investors including e-commerce company Alibaba to expand its test fleet and develop technologies including self-driving trucks. Other investors in the funding round include Greater China-focused tech investor Jeneration Capital, Chinese automaker Geely and some previous investors, […]

September 14, 2021 (Reuters) – Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi returned to court on Tuesday, a day after a non-appearance on health grounds, seeming relieved, but saying she was still “somewhat dizzy”, her lawyer said. Suu Kyi, 76, who is on trial over multiple charges filed since her removal in a Feb. 1 military coup, […]

Chinese search engine giant Baidu has begun publicly testing its Apollo Go robotaxi mobile platform in Shanghai, marking the company’s continued expansion of its footprint in China.  While Baidu says its robotaxis have achieved Level 4 capabilities, a human safety operator will be present during all rides, which are open to the public as of […]

September 14, 2021 (Reuters) – Pele will be moved out of intensive care in the next day or two as the Brazil soccer great continues his recovery from surgery, his daughter Kely Nascimento said. The 80-year-old, three-times World Cup winner has been in the Alberto Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo since doctors removed a tumour […]

September 14, 2021 KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s cabinet has proposed raising the government’s statutory debt ceiling to 65% of gross domestic product, as part of measures to deal with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the finance minister said on Tuesday. This is the second time in as many years that the government […]

September 14, 2021 BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese state media on Tuesday said it was “imperative and urgent” to regulate advertisements for cosmetic surgery, procedures and treatments, saying that some made excessive or false claims. “From posters at bus stops and in subway, to introductions on social websites and content platforms, from advertisements planted in films […]

September 14, 2021 (Reuters) – Indonesia’s exports and imports likely continued to surge in August, driven by high prices of the country’s main commodities like coal and palm oil, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday. A survey of 18 economists forecast the economy’s August trade surplus had shrunk to $2.36 billion from $2.59 billion in […]

September 14, 2021 By Sonali Paul MELBOURNE (Reuters) – BHP Group will transfer a smaller-than-expected $3.9 billion in oil and gas decommissioning liabilities to Woodside when it merges its petroleum business with the independent Australian gas producer. Woodside’s shares jumped 6.5% after the figure was disclosed in BHP’s annual report on Tuesday, outperforming gains of […]

September 14, 2021 BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese state media on Tuesday said it was “imperative and urgent” to regulate advertisements for cosmetic surgery, procedures and treatments, saying that some made excessive or false claims. “From posters at bus stops and in subway, to introductions on social websites and content platforms, from advertisements planted in films […]

September 14, 2021 WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China’s new ambassador to the United States called on Monday for stable and constructive commercial ties between the world’s two biggest economies, even as they struggle to resolve political and trade differences, a trade group said. The envoy, Qin Gang, made the comments in an online meeting with the […]

September 14, 2021 By Josh Smith SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s failure to pass national laws banning discrimination is taking a toll on citizens, particularly LGBT youth, a new report said on Tuesday, as activists see pending legislation as the best chance yet to extend protections. U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said its research showed the […]

September 14, 2021 By Scott Murdoch HONG KONG (Reuters) – Asia’s share markets were mixed and the dollar held steady on Tuesday, with investors awaiting U.S inflation data for more clues on when the Federal Reserve will taper stimulus. China’s tightening grip on its technology companies and a widening liquidity crisis for the country’s most […]

September 14, 2021 SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s top central banker said on Tuesday coronavirus lockdowns would cause a sharp contraction in the economy this quarter but was confident activity would rebound quickly once restrictions were eased in the December quarter. In a speech, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe also reiterated that interest […]

September 14, 2021 SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s antitrust regulator on Tuesday fined Alphabet Inc’s Google 207 billion won ($176.64 million), saying the U.S. technology giant abused its dominant market position to restrict competition in the mobile operating system (OS) market. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) investigated Google for allegedly preventing local smartphone makers from […]