BusinessReutersGrab expands finance business with consumer loans services, wealth management
Grab, Southeast Asia's biggest ridehailing firm, deepened its finance sector push on Tuesday by announcing that it will offer consumer loans services in Singapore and roll-out wealth management products in the fast-growing but crowded sector. Backed by heavyweight investors including SoftBank Group Corp, Grab has already sunk its roots into financial services, food delivery and mobile payments over the last few years, even before the coronavirus pandemic hurt its mainstay ridehailing business. It raised about $850 million in February from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc and other investors for expanding its financial services and applied for an online Singapore banking licence together with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.
BusinessReutersByteDance says goal of U.S. was to ban TikTok app rather than force a sale: internal letter
ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming told employees in an internal letter on Tuesday that the United States goal was not to force a sale of TikTok U.S. operations but rather to ban the app, and that some people had misconceptions about the situation. The letter, which was reported by Chinese media and confirmed by a source to Reuters, was sent only to ByteDance's Chinese employees after news that ByteDance was in talks to sell parts of TikTok to Microsoft Corp <MSFT.O> prompted online criticism of the firm and Zhang.
BusinessReutersGoogle Cloud prepares for Black Friday 'peak on top of peak'
Alphabet Inc's <GOOGL.O> Google Cloud unit is poised for a surge in fourth-quarter sales from U.S. retailers, as they brace for record online shopping during the holidays because of COVID-19 lockdowns. Cloud technology, used to host websites and store data, is a key part of many retailers' e-commerce operations. Carrie Tharp, vice president of retail and consumer at Google Cloud, told Reuters that her team had this year tossed out its linear growth model to predict how many servers it will need to process web orders for retailers around Black Friday.
HealthReutersFrench top scientific body sees second wave of COVID-19 in autumn or winter
France's top scientific body said a second wave of the coronavirus was "highly likely" this autumn or winter as the country grapples with a marked increase of new cases of the disease over the past two weeks. "It is highly likely that we will experience a second epidemic wave this autumn or winter."
BusinessReutersTrump: U.S. should get 'substantial portion' of TikTok operations sale price
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday the U.S. government should get a "substantial portion" of the sales price of the U.S. operations of popular short-video app TikTok and warned he will ban the service in the United States on Sept. 15 without a sale. The turnaround came after Trump on Friday said he was planning to ban the Chinese-owned video app's U.S. operations as soon as Saturday after dismissing a possible sale to Microsoft. Reuters reported last week that some investors are valuing TikTok at about $50 billion, citing people familiar with the matter.
BusinessAFP RelaxRichard Branson space-bound in early 2021 says Virgin Galactic
Richard Branson could shoot into space on his Virgin Galactic aircraft as its first passenger early next year, the company said, potentially blazing a path for commercial flights. The company has repeatedly pushed back the date it will take the first tourists outside earth's atmosphere and said 600 people have forked out $250,000 to reserve a seat. Virgin Galactic said Monday it "expects to advance to the next phase of its test flight program" in the fall with two manned flights.
NewsAFP NewsChina accuses US of 'outright bullying' over TikTok
China accused the United States on Tuesday of "outright bullying" over popular video app TikTok, after President Donald Trump ramped up pressure for its US operations to be sold to an American company. "This goes against the principles of the market economy and the (World Trade Organisation's) principles of openness, transparency and non-discrimination," said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin. A day earlier, President Trump gave TikTok six weeks to sell its US operations, in the latest escalation to an ongoing political and trade battle between Washington and Beijing.
HealthReutersTaiwan provisionally approves dexamethasone as coronavirus treatment
Taiwan provisionally approved the use of dexamethasone, a cheap and widely-used steroid, to treat the new coronavirus, as the island faces a shortfall of the antiviral drug remdesivir after the United States bought nearly all global supplies. Taiwan Centres for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang told reporters on Tuesday that medical experts had decided to provisionally allow dexamethasone to be listed as a COVID-19 treatment but that procedures still needed to be completed before it could be given to any patients. Taiwan has reported 476 cases of the new coronavirus, including seven deaths.
NewsAFP NewsBeach SOS leads to rescue of sailors stranded on Pacific isle
Three Micronesian sailors stranded on a tiny island in the remote Western Pacific were rescued after Australian and US warplanes spotted a giant "SOS" they had scrawled on the beach, officials said. The Australian Defence Force said it found the men Sunday on tiny Pikelot Island, about 190 kilometres (115 miles) from where they set sail three days earlier. Alerted by the Pacific Rescue and Coordination Centre in Guam, US and Australian military aircraft joined the search for the missing vessel and spotted their SOS message Sunday.
NewsAFP NewsAboriginal group blocks access to Australia's Uluru over virus fears
Indigenous residents forced the closure of Australia's famed Uluru national park Tuesday, after blocking tourists from accessing the sacred site amid fears over the spread of coronavirus. About 30 members of the local community physically blocked dozens of tourists arriving from virus-hit eastern Australia from accessing the park entrance, said Glenn Irvine, manager of Mutitjulu Community Aboriginal Corporation, which handles local community issues. "We asked for the national park to be closed," he added.
BusinessAFP NewsAsian markets track Wall St surge, focus turns to Capitol Hill
Asian stocks rallied Tuesday following another record close on Wall Street, with investors cheered by forecast-beating US data and hopes for fresh stimulus for the world's top economy.
NewsReutersHeavy rain batters Mumbai disrupting rail and road traffic
Authorities in the Indian city of Mumbai issued a red alert on Tuesday and warned people not to venture out after heavy overnight rain in the financial hub brought flooding and travel chaos. The department issued a red alert for the city for the next two days and civic authorities advised people not to venture out unless absolutely necessary. There was no impact on operations at Mumbai's airport apart from reduced visibility, a representative said.
NewsAFP NewsIndian Kashmir under curfew ahead of 'black day' anniversary
Thousands of Indian troops imposed a curfew in Kashmir on Tuesday, with razor wire and steel barricades blocking main roads a day ahead of the one-year anniversary of the restive region being stripped of its autonomy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed direct rule last August 5, promising peace and prosperity after three decades of violence that have seen tens of thousands of people killed in an anti-India uprising. Officials announced a two-day "full curfew" on Monday citing intelligence reports of looming protests in the Muslim-majority region of seven million people, where locals have called for the anniversary to be marked as a "black day".
NewsReutersProminent Muslims to grace Hindu temple ceremony on contested site in Ayodhya
In a gesture of reconciliation, two prominent Muslims who lived through deadly riots following the razing of a mosque in northern India in 1992 plan to attend the foundation-laying ceremony for a Hindu temple on Wednesday on the same site, they said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Hindu nationalist party has been leading the demand for a temple there dedicated to the god-king Ram, is expected to be the chief guest at the event in Ayodhya town. Construction was made possible by a verdict late last year from the Supreme Court of India awarding the disputed site to the Hindus, and the planned visit by the two well-known Muslims underscored an easing of animosity between followers of the two religious faiths in one of Hindu-majority India's most communally sensitive regions.
BusinessAFP NewsSony net profit jumps 53.3% in Q1 but virus clouds annual outlook
Sony said Tuesday its net profit surged 53.3 percent in the first quarter, but warned annual profits were likely to see double-digit falls as the coronavirus pandemic continues to cloud the forecast. The PlayStation giant said net profit for the April-June quarter reached 233.25 billion yen ($2.2 billion), with "significant increases" in its game and network services and financial services segments. While global demand for games downloads spiked this year as lockdowns forced people to stay at home, the pandemic has brought a string of negative factors for Sony, including a slump in manufacturing, music event cancellations and movie theatre shutdowns.
NewsReutersUK risks twice-as-big second COVID wave without better testing, study finds
Britain faces a second wave of COVID-19 this winter twice as widespread as the initial outbreak if it reopens schools without a more effective test-and-trace system in place, according to a study published on Tuesday. Researchers from University College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine modelled the impact of reopening schools either on a full- or part-time basis, thus allowing parents to return to work, on the potential spread of the virus. "However, we also predict that in the absence of sufficiently broad test–trace–isolate coverage, reopening of schools combined with accompanied reopening of society across all scenarios might induce a second COVID-19 wave," said the study, published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health.
NewsAFP NewsIsaias lashes US east coast with fierce winds, heavy rain
Hurricane Isaias slammed into North Carolina bringing life-threatening storm surges, as the entire US eastern seaboard battened down, fearing tornadoes, flash floods and destructive winds. Packing sustained winds of 85 miles per hour (around 140 kilometers per hour), the Category 1 hurricane made landfall in the southern part of the state on Monday just before midnight (0400 GMT), the National Hurricane Center said. Seawater flowed into streets on the border between the Carolinas, leaving locals to wade through the flooded areas as rain and strong winds whipped the palm trees.
BusinessAFP RelaxGoogle unveils cheaper Pixel smartphone, teases 5G
Google on Monday unveiled a new, more affordable Pixel smartphone and said it would launch models tailored for super-fast 5G networks later this year. The Pixel 4a boasts core features popular that made its top-of-the-line predecessor popular, like a sophisticated camera system. While still a bit player in the smartphone hardware market, Alphabet-owned Google found success with the release last year of the Pixel 3a, which bucked the trend of sky-high prices for top-tier handsets.
NewsReutersMyanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi confirms contesting for second term
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday formally declared her intention to seek a second term in an election in November that is seen as a test of the Southeast Asian nation's tentative democratic reforms. After decades of military rule, Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for campaigning for democracy, took the reins in 2016 after an electoral landslide, but has been forced to share power with the generals. On Tuesday, Suu Kyi, 75, waved to a crowd of around 50 supporters on the outskirts of the former capital Yangon to submit an application to run as a candidate.
NewsReutersSpain's former king Juan Carlos is in Dominican Republic, La Vanguardia says
Spain's former king Juan Carlos has gone to the Dominican Republic after leaving his home country under a cloud of scandal, La Vanguardia and ABC newspapers reported on Tuesday, without citing sources. La Vanguardia said the 82 year-old went to Portugal by car on Monday morning and flew from there to the Dominican Republic, where he plans to stay for a few weeks with a family who made their wealth in sugar plantations, before looking for a new destination. Early reactions to Juan Carlos' departure have shown Spain to be divided over whether the 82-year-old, who was a prominent figure in the transition to democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco, should have stayed to face justice.
NewsReutersIndia on guard in Kashmir ahead of anniversary of lost autonomy
Indian soldiers patrolled streets and kept watch from the rooftops in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar on the eve of the first anniversary of the Muslim majority region's loss of autonomy. Late on Monday, authorities imposed a curfew in Srinagar until Wednesday due to intelligence about potential violent protests, according to a government order. On Aug. 5, 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government took away Jammu & Kashmir state's special privileges, provoking anger in the region and in neighbouring Pakistan.
NewsReutersGreek PM rejigs cabinet, retains key ministers
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis rejigged his cabinet on Tuesday to help his country manage effectively European funds that it has secured to tackle the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The conservative premier wants to make the government scheme more efficient as the country tackles the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that has hurt its fragile economy emerging from a decade-long debt crisis. "With these changes (the government) seeks more effective administration of an increase in community funds," government Spokesman Stelios Petsas said.
NewsReutersGermany already dealing with second coronavirus wave - doctors' union
Germany is already contending with a second wave of the coronavirus and risks squandering its early success by flouting social distancing rules, the head of the German doctors' union said in a newspaper interview published on Tuesday. The number of daily confirmed coronavirus cases has ticked up steadily in recent weeks, with health experts warning lax adherence to hygiene and distancing rules among some of the public is spreading the virus across communities. "We are already in a second, shallow upswing," Susanne Johna, president of Marburger Bund, which represents doctors in Germany, told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.
PoliticsAFP NewsTikTok lovers rage against Trump threat of US ban
A TikTok star pounds a beat as she weaves lyrics mocking the idea of US President Donald Trump banning the short-form video sharing app. The lyrics included a promise that TikTok users would not go down without a fight, citing First Amendment protections against government censorship of free speech. Another video snippet racking up views was captioned "Me trying to convince Trump to let us keep TikTok" and showed a woman coloring her face orange and building a brick wall.
NewsReutersExclusive: U.N. staffer who complained of sexual assault appeals dismissal - documents
A policy adviser fired by the U.N. agency fighting AIDS is appealing her dismissal for misconduct, saying she was actually sacked for reporting that she had been sexually assaulted by a senior colleague, her appeal documents show. Martina Brostrom, from Sweden, was fired for sexual and financial misconduct in December. "It becomes absurd to the point of being ironic that the one person who filed a sexual assault complaint is the one who is found guilty of sexual misconduct," she said in an interview.
