SINGAPORE — Southeast Asia’s most valuable startup Grab will slash 5% of its global staff amid a collapse in demand for its core ride-hailing business triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and as recovery prospects remain uncertain. The first round of layoffs in eight year history, the Singapore-based startup said Tuesday that it will […]
Asia offers lessons on preventing second wave of coronavirus
TOKYO — Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso stirred controversy this month when he credited Japan’s lower coronavirus death toll compared with the U.S. and Europe to the fact that “our cultures are at different levels.” The Japanese word he used, mindo, encompasses aspects such as education and norms of behavior. […]
China plays hardball on trade as Australia tensions escalate
SYDNEY — One-hundred thousand Australian dollars ($70,000). That’s how much Robert Miolini, a farmer in the Wheatbelt region in the state of Western Australia, lost in future earnings when China announced plans to impose a crippling 80 percent five-year tariff on Australian barley last month, citing anti-dumping allegations. The owner […]
House prices may rise, but don’t take that as a sign of a healthy property market
GDP has crashed and the UK is on course to experience the worst recession for 300 years. More than one quarter of the working population is furloughed or has claimed universal credit as a result of the economic fallout of the pandemic. But looking at the property market, you wouldn’t notice […]
Companies with a checkered history must resist toppling by the mob
In truth, the giant corporations that came out of the 19th century were nearly all involved in slavery, colonialism or empire in one way or another. It was impossible not to be. That was the way the world was, and it was certainly the way business was done, and money […]
Coronavirus latest: Beijing cluster grows to more than 100 cases
The Nikkei Asian Review is tracking the spread of the new coronavirus that originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. Global cases have reached 8,005,294, according to Johns Hopkins University. The worldwide death toll has hit 435,662. To see how the disease has spread, view our virus tracker charts: […]
How SoftBank’s sale of Arm China sowed the seeds of discord
TAIPEI — British chip designer Arm Limited has found itself in an extraordinary public row with its own Chinese subsidiary in recent days, with the two sides at loggerheads over a decision to shake up the management of the unit. But arguably the seeds of the dispute were sown two […]
Tokyo has 0.1% positive rate for coronavirus antibodies
TOKYO (Kyodo) — Antibody tests for the novel coronavirus suggest a 0.1 percent infection rate in Tokyo, health minister Katsunobu Kato said Tuesday, as the government seeks to better grasp the scale of the pandemic’s spread in Japan. The health ministry began earlier this month testing for coronavirus antibodies in […]
it’s dangerous to guess which way markets will go, so we’ll stick with the likes of Grafton
Such lopsided markets are not necessarily healthy ones and such concentration brings to mind the “Nifty Fifty” names of the early Seventies, into which investors herded for safety, regardless of valuation, until the inevitable final reckoning in the bear market of 1973-74. Given all of these issues, this column is […]
Mental health sufferers forced to cut back on food and heating to survive Covid cash crisis
People with mental health problems are three times more likely to run out of funds during the coronavirus outbreak, with many being forced to cut back on essential spending on food and heating. A report by the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, a charity, has warned that people with […]