FILE PHOTO: Residential and commercial buildings are located in downtown Guangzhou, China October 7, 2017. REUTERS/Bobby YipBEIJING (Reuters) – China will supply 6.5 million new low-cost rental housing in 40 major cities in 2021-2025, an official said on Tuesday, aiming to meet rising demand in major cities as their populations grow. That will ease living difficulties for 13 million young […]

FILE PHOTO: Britain’s Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan arrives in Downing Street in London, Britain, November 11, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File PhotoLONDON (Reuters) – British trade minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan will visit India this week to hold talks to try to deepen trade and economic ties as part of London’s push in the Indo-Pacific region, her department said on […]

A person walks with a dog in front of a row of residential housing in south London, Britain, August 6, 2021. REUTERS/Henry NichollsLONDON (Reuters) -British house prices in December were 9.8% higher than a year earlier, the sharpest annual increase since the eve of the global financial crisis in July 2007, monthly figures from mortgage lender Halifax showed on Friday. […]

FILE PHOTO: A man raises a Chinese flag (R) next to a Vietnamese flag before a meeting between China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh at the Government Office in Hanoi, Vietnam November 2, 2017. REUTERS/KhamHANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam’s trade ministry asked China’s Guangxi authorities to take urgent measures to ease […]

TOKYO (Reuters) – A Japanese former politician who campaigned to bring billions of dollars of investment from some of Japan’s top companies to Myanmar has urged Japan to endorse its military regime, saying the nation’s coup leader has “grown fantastically as a human being,” while praising his “democratisation efforts.”FILE PHOTO: Hideo Watanabe, the chairman of the Japan-Myanmar Association, speaks during […]

FILE PHOTO: The Federal Reserve building is pictured in Washington, DC, U.S., August 22, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Wattie/File PhotoWASHINGTON (Reuters) – An interest rate increase will likely be warranted “shortly after” the Federal Reserve ends its bond purchases in March, with inflation “alarmingly high” and the job market near maximum employment, Federal Reserve Governor Chris Waller said on Friday. The Fed […]

MANILA (REUTERS) – The death toll from a typhoon that slammed into the Philippines rose to 12 on Friday (Dec 17), and its leader feared it could climb further as the authorities assess the devastation caused by one of the strongest tropical storms to hit the country this year. President Rodrigo Duterte said he would visit battered central and southern […]

S’pore businesses gear up for more vaccination-differentiated rules, but some already feel the pinch Recruiting additional staff as well as training and organising them lead to higher costs. READ MORE HERE Vaccinated S’poreans can fly to Sydney, Melbourne for holidays without quarantine from Dec 21 2-way travel without quarantine between Singapore and parts of Australia is restored after a 3-week […]

SINGAPORE – More than 2,900 illegal household appliances were listed for sale by local and overseas sellers on e-commerce platforms between January and November this year. These appliances were either not registered with the Consumer Product Safety Office (CPSO) or did not bear a valid safety mark in accordance with regulatory requirements, said the CPSO in a statement on Friday […]

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s longest-serving former premier Mahathir Mohamad is undergoing several medical investigations at the Institut Jantung Negara (IJN), or National Heart Institute, where he was admitted on Thursday evening.  Tun Dr Mahathir “is currently undergoing several investigations which shall be completed in the next few days”, the IJN said in a brief statement issued on Friday (Dec 17).  “He […]