DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

I think neither side wants to look as if they’re accepting or acquiescing to the other’s actions,” she said. But hope might not turn into reality, and relations might become worse after the visit,” he added. “We prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”Blinken would not predict whether his visit would pave the way for continued high-level engagements between the US and China. “As to what comes next, let’s see how the visit goes,” the top US diplomat said Friday, referencing comments from his Singaporean counterpart. “This is an important but, in a sense, insufficient step because there’s a lot of work to be done.”

Persons: Antony Blinken, Joe, Biden, Xi, ” Blinken, Vivian Balakrishnan, Blinken, “, Daniel Kritenbrink, “ we’re, ” Patricia Kim, ”, ’ Blinken, Kai Li, Mark Swidan, David Lin, Jake Sullivan, Wang Yi, Shen Dingli, Defense Lloyd Austin, Li Shangfu, Shen, ” Shen Organizations: CNN, senior State Department, Singaporean, State, East Asian, Pacific Affairs, Brookings Institution, Saturday, Defense, Chinese Defense, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Locations: Beijing, United States, China, Bali, Taiwan, Ukraine, Vienna, Washington, Shanghai, Singapore

☆ Anthony Bourdain died 5 years ago. Here's 5 ways he helped reshape the food industry.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Ryan Hogg | Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Anthony Bourdain was a maverick chef who helped change the food industry. Here are five ways Bourdain changed the way many people eat and think about food. Here's how he helped change the restaurant industry and the way we eat. Don't eat fish on a MondayIn "Kitchen Confidential," Bourdain appeared to expose a common money-making ploy in the restaurant business — often at the expense of the customer. It's unclear if his advice affected fish consumption in New York restaurants on Mondays.

Persons: Anthony Bourdain, Bourdain, —, Bourdain's, Barb Stuckey, Barack Obama, Bun, Lien, Jim Watson, Patrick Radden Keefe, Alan Richman, Keefe, Richman, CNN Bourdain, KF Seetoh Organizations: Service, Travel, CNN, Forbes, The Food Institute, GQ, Singaporean hawker Locations: New York, America, Vietnam, Hanoi, New York City, Manila, Singaporean, Singapore

☆ Meet the typical Singaporean millennial. They live in one of the world's most expensive cities, were raised to chase cars, cash, and condos, and say they feel torn between worlds.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Aditi Bharade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Derek Chan drives Grab on the side while launching his business. Derek ChanFrom 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Chan works on launching his new solo venture, a B2B consultancy business. In April, he quit his job at a government-owned research company, which paid 100,000 Singapore dollars, or $74,200, a year. On the other side of Singapore, Adam Azali works as a food-and-beverage associate at Bacha Coffee, a Moroccan coffee brand. He dedicates his free time to performing dance and music shows with other freelance performing artists.

Persons: Derek Chan, Chan, —, Adam Azali, Azali, I'm, hairstyling Organizations: Bacha Locations: Singapore, Moroccan

☆ Former exec at TikTok's parent company says Communist Party members had a 'god credential' that let them access Americans' data
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Zen Soo | Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Yintao Yu said Communist Party members accessed data on US users as well as protesters in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a semi-autonomous region in China with its own government. Some American lawmakers have expressed concern that TikTok's ties to ByteDance means the data it holds is subject to Chinese law. It was also available in Hong Kong until TikTok pulled out of the market in 2020 following the imposition of a sweeping national security law. Anyone who tries to open TikTok from within Hong Kong will see a message that reads "We regret to inform you that we have discontinued operating TikTok in Hong Kong."

Persons: Yintao Yu, ByteDance, —, Yu, Charles Jung, Jung, Shou Zi Chew, Chew, TikTok Organizations: Communist Party, ByteDance, San Francisco Superior, British, Hong, Flipagram, Oracle, Chinese Communist Party, Communist Locations: Hong Kong, HONG KONG, U.S, China, Beijing

☆ Singapore university unveils Asia’s largest timber building
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Oscar Holland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Sprawling across 43,500 square meters (468,000 square feet), it is now Asia’s largest timber building, by floor area. Some countries now even allow for high-rises (or “plyscrapers”), like Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s 25-story Ascent, which at 284 feet, is the world’s tallest mass timber structure. Advocates for mass timber point to the relatively slow and predictable rate at which the material burns. Many of the purported benefits of mass timber are, however, environmental. If a tree is then turned into mass timber, this embodied carbon is sequestered, or “locked in,” rather than being returned to the atmosphere.

Persons: Lee Kuan Yew, sunlit, Gaia, Toyo Ito, “, ”, ” Ito, Ito, Ho Teck Hua, ’ Organizations: Singapore CNN —, Nanyang Technological University’s, Singapore, CNN, RSP, Nanyang Technological, NTU, Construction Authority, NTU Singapore Locations: Singapore, Singapore CNN — Singapore, ”, Nanyang, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Europe, NTU Singapore, Milwaukee, Asia

☆ Southeast Asian defence pact helps 'balance' region, members say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Chen Lin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SINGAPORE, June 3 (Reuters) - Top officials from Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Britain said on Saturday that their 52-year-old Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) pact helped keep things in balance amid regional tensions. "The longstanding FPDA... always been an important part of ensuring signalling collective defence in this region," New Zealand defence minister Andrew Little said at a media briefing on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. As the tensions between the United States and China persist, the longstanding relationships among smaller nations are "what keep things in balance", Little said. "I'm comfortable continuing to keep things in balance as different countries including the major powers work out how the relationships are working," he added. Singaporean Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles, Malaysian Defence Minister Seri Mohamad Hasan, Little, and British defence minister Ben Wallace discussed the importance of the FPDA as a constructive and peaceful arrangement.

Persons: Andrew Little, Little, Ng Eng, Richard Marles, Seri Mohamad Hasan, Ben Wallace, Marles, Anthony Albanese, Lloyd Austin, Chen Lin, Gerry Doyle Organizations: Singaporean, Defence, Malaysian Defence, Australian, U.S . Defense, Thomson Locations: SINGAPORE, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Zealand, United States, China, Asia

☆ We're a millennial couple in Singapore, where real-estate prices are skyrocketing. House hunting was surprisingly easy.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Amanda Goh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

For about a year, he lived with me and my family in our five-room Housing Development Board flat in Holland Village. Housing Development Board flats are public housing, and they're home to about 80% of the country's resident population. The seller's agent told us the Housing Development Board valuation was SG$430,000, and we ended up making an offer of SG$445,000, which was accepted. After the down payment, most people either take a Housing Development Board loan or a bank loan to finance their homes. The Housing Development Board interest rate is fairly stable and has stayed at 2.6% a year for a few years now, though the Housing Development Board acknowledges that it may be adjusted over the year.

Persons: Vanessa Tai, —, They're, hadn't, It's, we're, it's, We're Organizations: Service, Board, Housing, Google, Central Provident Fund Locations: Europe, Singapore, Croatia, Holland Village, Holland, Sengkang, we're

☆ U.S.-China ties weigh on security summit as defense chiefs meet in Singapore
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Clement Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Regional concerns were underscored recently with the Pentagon saying that a Chinese fighter jet made an "unnecessarily aggressive maneuver" against an American reconnaissance plane in the South China Sea late last week. Under President Xi Jinping's leadership, China has grown more hawkish on the global stage, particularly in its historic claims over Taiwan and the South China Sea. "What you are seeing is the emergence of a regional security architecture," said Thompson of the LKY School. "The region is really coming together with a common interest in regional security and stability." Singapore is Austin's second stop on a whirlwind tour that will also take him to Japan, India and France.

Persons: Li, Xi Jinping's, We're, Chin, Hao Huang, Wang Wenbin, Huang, What's, Anthony Albanese, Thompson, Li —, Donald Trump, Austin, Joe Biden Organizations: Yale, NUS College, CNBC, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Australian, LKY, Pentagon, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Observers Locations: Austin, American, South, China, Taiwan, South China, Asia, Pacific, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Beijing, Korea, France, U.S

☆ Singapore's Temasek cuts compensation for staff responsible for FTX investment
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings said on Monday it had cut compensation for the team that recommended its investment in the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, as well as for its senior management team. The move comes around six months after Temasek initiated an internal review of its investment in FTX, which resulted in a writedown of $275 million. "Although there was no misconduct by the investment team in reaching their investment recommendation, the investment team and senior management, who are ultimately responsible for investment decisions made, took collective accountability and had their compensation reduced," Temasek Chairman Lim Boon Heng said in a statement posted on Temasek's website on Monday. Temasek did not detail the amount of compensation cut. Temasek also said last year it had conducted "extensive due diligence" on FTX, with its audited financial statement then "showed it to be profitable."

The forecast is 22% higher than the S$8.19 billion annual net profit it achieved in 2022. Its ROE was 15% last year, while its CET1 ratio was 14.6%, according to its 2022 annual report. DBS said faster growth in capital-light high-ROE businesses such as wealth management, global transaction services and treasury market sales will help it achieves its goals. DBS aims to be among the top 10 private sector banks in India, projecting net profit to triple to around S$375 million by 2026, according to the slides. ($1 = 1.3245 Singapore dollars)Reporting by Navya Mittal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia CheemaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Singapore Airlines gives staff bonus of 8 months' salary after record results and pandemic sacrifices
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Singapore Airlines will give eligible staff a huge bonus of up to eight months' salary. That's thanks to a formula based on a deal with its staff union, and the airlines' record profits. It includes an extra bonus of up to 1.5 months, which senior management won't get. Singapore Airlines will pay some staff a huge bonus of more than eight months' salary after posting the highest profits in its 76-year history, Bloomberg first reported. Eligible employees will receive a bonus of 6.65 months based on Singapore Airlines' record profit in the last financial year.

☆ Russia, Ukraine to receive African mission on potential peace plan, Pretoria says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Wendell Roelf | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Details of the plan have not been publicly divulged, although Ukraine's stated position for any peace deal is that all Russian troops must withdraw from its territory. Putin and Zelenskiy had agreed to receive the mission in their respective capitals Moscow and Kyiv, a South African Presidency statement said. The peace plan is also backed by African leaders of Senegal, Uganda, Egypt, the Republic of the Congo, and Zambia. Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year but the war has largely stalemated, although Ukraine is expected to start a counteroffensive soon to try to take back land occupied by Russia. Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Writing by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-MtamboOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Singaporean tech firm Sea's profit miss sparks share selloff
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 16 (Reuters) - Singaporean tech firm Sea Ltd (SE.N) missed first-quarter profit estimates on Tuesday, as its digital entertainment revenue halved and it took a one-time charge of more than $100 million. Sea shares dropped 12.5% to $77.05 and headed for their worst day in six months, dulling this year's strong gains booked on a cost-cutting plan involving thousands of job cuts, the closure of some operations and a lower marketing budget. The company's operating expenses fell by more than a fifth in the quarter ended March 31, with marketing spends down 60.2%. It helped Singapore-based Sea report a profit of $87.3 million, compared with a loss of $580.1 million a year ago. It also missed estimates of $3.07 billion.

They were in the Vietnamese Exclusive Economic Zone when the Chinese boats moved towards them, the Indian sources said. Ray Powell, who leads Project Myoushu on the South China Sea at Stanford University, said the boats belong to the Qiong Sansha Yu militia fleet in the area. Such militias consist of commercial fishing boats, which work in coordination with the Chinese authorities for political objectives in the South China Sea. Several of China’s littoral neighbours have accused it of using its official and militia vessels to harass and intimidate their fishing and military boats in the South China Sea. China has for years claimed sovereignty over the entire South China Sea, and has been sensitive to the presence of other militaries in the region.

"Since Xi Jinping took power in 2012, China has expanded the legal landscape for exit bans and increasingly used them, sometimes outside legal justification," the Safeguard Defenders report reads. Attention on the exit bans comes as China-U.S. tensions have risen over trade and security disputes. The Reuters analysis of records on exit bans, from China's Supreme Court database, shows an eight-fold increase in cases mentioning bans between 2016 and 2022. Most of the cases in the database referring to exit bans are civil, not criminal. Some activists say the wider use of exit bans reflects tighter security measures under President Xi.

☆ The debate over banning TikTok has been poisoned by anti-Asian rhetoric
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The TikTok CEO's testimony to Congress in March highlighted the anti-Asian rhetoric around the app. And second: The discourse around those issues, particularly talk of banning the app entirely in the US, has been poisoned by a surge in anti-Asian rhetoric, making it difficult to have a national conversation around TikTok in good faith. But what set the hearing with TikTok's CEO apart was the tone and personal nature of the questions, Asian American and Pacific Islander advocacy groups said. That paints a target on the back of Asian Americans, Chinese nationals living in the US, and, by extension, all other Asian populations, advocacy experts said. The rhetoric has consequences for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and the US economyAll this has implications for the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the US and the global Asian diaspora.

☆ Singapore Hangs Man for Conspiring to Traffic 2 Pounds of Cannabis
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Yan Zhuang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Singapore on Wednesday executed a man convicted of conspiring to traffic about two pounds of cannabis, a punishment that human rights groups called grossly excessive with other countries around the world relaxing their stances on marijuana. The man, Tangaraju Suppiah, a 46-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced in 2018 for coordinating with two other men to import the cannabis in 2013. Singapore’s narcotics laws are some of the harshest in the world and mandate the death penalty for some drug trafficking offenses. Last year, the country executed 11 people, all for nonviolent drug offenses. Singapore has continued to use executions for drug-related crimes even though its neighbor and rival, Malaysia, recently ended its mandatory death penalty for serious crimes, including drug offenses.

☆ Tobacco Company BAT Pleads Guilty to Violating U.S. Sanctions on North Korea
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Sadie Gurman | Aruna Viswanatha | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

British American Tobacco PLC said it had abandoned its North Korean business, but continued selling tobacco to the regime using a front company, officials said. Photo: Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON—A U.K. tobacco company agreed to pay more than $635 million to resolve charges that it conspired to violate U.S. sanctions by selling cigarettes to North Korea in what Justice Department officials described as a brazen scheme to conceal illicit business by routing it through a third-party company in Singapore. The settlement payment was the largest penalty ever levied on a company for violating U.S. sanctions on Pyongyang. The company, British American Tobacco PLC, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors over illegal sales that took place over more than a decade, even after the company announced that it had abandoned its North Korean business, U.S. officials said. But BAT, which makes Lucky Strike, Dunhill and Pall Mall cigarettes, continued selling tobacco products to the isolated regime through a Singaporean front company.

☆ Tangaraju Suppiah: Singapore executes man for trafficking two pounds of cannabis
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Heather Chen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Tangaraju Suppiah, a 46-year-old Singaporean, was hanged early on Wednesday in Changi Prison and the family have received a death certificate, his sister Leelavathy Suppiah told CNN. Tangaraju was first sentenced to death in 2018 for “abetting the trafficking of more than one kilogram of cannabis (1,017.9 grams),” according to a statement from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB). The court found he was in phone communication with two other men caught trying to smuggle cannabis into Singapore. “As is the case for many people currently on death row in Singapore, Tangaraju was forced to represent himself to seek a review of the Court of Appeal’s decision to uphold his conviction. Singapore has a strong reputation as a rule of law country so this concerning omission is not normal,” Perrett added.

[1/4] A view of a computer-rendered image of Climeworks' Mammoth direct air capture plant is seen in this undated handout picture obtained by Reuters, June 28, 2022. Leading the charge, the U.S. government has offered $3.5 billion in grants to build the factories that will capture and permanently store the gas - the largest such effort globally to help halt climate change through Direct Air Capture (DAC) and expanded a tax credit to $180/tonne to bolster the burgeoning technology. The sums involved dwarf funding available in other regions, such as Britain which has pledged up to 100 million pounds ($124 million) for DAC research and development. That compares with $12 billion in federal spending to drive demand for personal and commercial electric vehicles, Boston Consulting Group estimated. Occidental Petroleum has said it is well positioned for federal grants for what could be the biggest Direct Air Capture plants in the world.

☆ Temasek hospital deal channels its Dr Resilience
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Anshuman Daga | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SINGAPORE, April 11 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Temasek is picking a good time to focus on health. The sovereign investor is taking control of Indian hospital operator Manipal for $2 billion. Others are on an Indian health drive too. Follow @anshumandaga on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSSingapore’s Temasek will buy an additional 41% stake in Manipal Health Enterprises, the unlisted Indian hospital chain said on April 10. After the deal closes, the Pai family’s Manipal Group will hold about 30% of Manipal Health.

☆ Singaporean actor Adrian Pang speaks about mental health and web series DBS Sparks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSingaporean actor Adrian Pang speaks about mental health and web series DBS SparksSingaporean actor Adrian Pang tells CNBC about DBS' web series, DBS Sparks, which touches on mental health issues during the Covid-19 lockdowns.

☆ Actor Adrian Pang says the LKY musical is about the struggles of a young Singapore
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailActor Adrian Pang says the LKY musical is about the struggles of a young SingaporeSingaporean actor Adrian Pang shares his experiences working on the LKY Musical.

☆ Air India's plans to modernise under new owner Tata
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

2022June 15 - Campbell Wilson, the New Zealand-born former CEO of Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) budget offshoot Scoot takes over as Air India CEO. July 4 - Air India signs a deal to adopt Amadeus IT Group's (AMA.MC) Altea software, including for revenue management. Nov. 2 - Air India completes a deal to acquire 100% of AirAsia India and begins to integrate it with Air India Express as part of a broader restructuring of Tata's airline business. Nov. 29 - Tata says it will merge Air India with Vistara, its joint venture with Singapore Airlines. Feb. 13 - Air India resumes non-stop service between Mumbai and New York, weeks after the launch of non-stop Mumbai-San Francisco.

☆ Asian Americans are anxious about hate crimes. TikTok ban rhetoric isn’t helping
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

And the Chinese government’s authoritarian approach to numerous other issues clashes with important American values, said many Asian Americans interviewed for this article. Concerns about China have gone mainstream as US national security officials and lawmakers have publicly grappled with state-backed ransomware attacks and other hacking attempts. People rallied during a "Stop Asian Hate" march to protest against anti-Asian hate crimes on Foley Square in New York, on April 4, 2021. But to Chu, the incident was an example of the way politics surrounding China, technology and national security have fueled anti-Asian sentiment. “Asian American issues are American issues, and all Americans deserve to be treated with respect.

Search resuls for: "Singaporean"

25 mentions found