BEIJING: China on Friday (Jul 3) vowed to gradually phase out the slaughter and sale of live poultry at food markets, in a move welcomed by animal rights activists amid the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement came as China stepped up inspections of wholesale food markets and outlawed the sale and […]
Business
A Democratic U.S. senator says he has written to Attorney General William Barr outlining his concerns about potential “political interference” by the Trump administration in an investigation of a private espionage firm that targeted environmental groups in the United States. WASHINGTON: A Democratic U.S. senator says he has written to […]
SINGAPORE: More than 16,000 jobs, traineeships and skills training opportunities were available at the inaugural SGUnited Jobs and Skills Fair on Friday (Jul 3). Of these, almost 7,000 were job vacancies from the public and private sector, for fresh graduates and mid-career job seekers. The jobs fair, held at the […]
BRUSSELS: The European Commission said on Friday (Jul 3) it had given conditional approval for the use of COVID-19 antiviral remdesivir following an accelerated review process. The EU executive said the drug, produced by Gilead, was the first medicine authorised in the European Union for treating COVID-19 following a “rolling […]
SINGAPORE: Singapore authorities said they have launched an investigation into Citadelle Corporate Services, Senjo Group and its subsidiaries after scrutinising collapsed German payments firm Wirecard’s local operations. The investigation was for “suspected falsification of accounts … as well as carrying on a trust business without a licence”, the Commercial Affairs […]
MILAN: Fiat Chrysler (FCA) said the terms of its merger with France’s PSA had not changed after an Italian newspaper report that it was looking to spin off assets to reduce a planned 5.5 billion euro (US$6.2 billion) cash pay-out to its shareholders. FCA said on Friday (Jul 3) that […]
TOKYO: Uber launched a ride-hailing smartphone application in Tokyo on Friday (Jun 3) in partnership with three domestic taxi firms, even as strict regulations block its popular ride-sharing service in Japan. The taxi-hailing app, already introduced in smaller cities, connects app users to taxis run by Hinomaru Limousine, Tokyo MK […]
SAN FRANCISCO: A group of European digital advertising associations on Friday (Jul 3) criticised Apple’s plans to require apps to seek additional permission from users before tracking them across other apps and websites. Apple last week disclosed features in its forthcoming operating system for iPhones and iPads that will require […]
SINGAPORE: Singapore’s total retail sales fell a record 52.1 per cent on a year-on-year basis in May, while the country was still under a COVID-19 “circuit breaker”, according to data released by the Department of Statistics (SingStat) on Friday (Jul 3). The drop was the steepest since records began in […]
PARIS: The French government on Friday (Jul 3) called on Air France to avoid mandatory layoffs as the airline prepared to announce some 7,500 job cuts to cope with a collapse in travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Managers at the airline, part of Air France-KLM Group, are due to […]