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Bloomberg The crash of Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 is another blight on Indonesia’s already poor aviation safety record. The country has had several incidents linked to safety issues in the past, including poor maintenance, pilot training, communications or mechanical failures and air-traffic control problems. It’s the worst place in Asia to take an airplane, with 104 accidents and 2,353 related ...

Bloomberg Singapore’s government plans to create urgent legislation to formalise the use of virus contact-tracing data in investigations of serious crimes. Legislation will be introduced in the next sitting of parliament in February to limit the use of the data to probes of seven categories of serious crimes, the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office said in a statement. Those ...

Bloomberg An online car hailing platform of DiDi Chuxing was fined 340,000 yuan ($53,000) for failing to implement the government’s requirements on coronavirus prevention, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport said at a briefing on Sunday. Didi’s drivers were fined a combined 1.07 million yuan for failing to sterilise cars, wear masks or failing to refuse passengers with no masks, ...

Bloomberg Global demand for Chinese goods has been so strong recently it’s creating a shortage of containers and driving up shipping costs, potentially impeding the nation’s exports in coming months. Exports have been on a tear since July last year, fuelled by pandemic-related purchases like medical masks and work-at-home equipment, including computers. Imports haven’t been growing at nearly the same ...

Bloomberg Vedanta Resources launched an open offer for a 10% stake in its India unit, two months after a failed delisting attempt for Vedanta Ltd. The London-based parent of Mumbai-listed Vedanta Ltd will buy as many as 371.75 million shares, comprising 10% of the outstanding equity of the Indian unit, according to an exchange filing. The open offer, which will ...

Bloomberg India will kick start one of the world’s largest coronavirus inoculation campaigns, aimed at stemming the spread of a disease that has infected 10.4 million people within its borders and plunged its economy into recession. Starting January 16, the South Asian nation will start administering the first shots of a Covid-19 vaccine on nearly 30 million healthcare workers and ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The United Arab Emirates has provided urgent humanitarian aid to those affected by the floods that swept the state of Pahang, Malaysia. The move is in implementation of the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and the follow-up ...

Bloomberg Oil posted the biggest weekly gain since late September as Saudi Arabia’s plan to slice output spurred a surge in physical crude buying. Futures in New York advanced $3.72 this week and Brent oil topped $55 a barrel for the first time since February. Saudi Arabia’s pledge earlier this week to cut production by 1 million barrels a day ...

DUBAI / WAM Infrastructure projects valued at AED 10 billion are currently underway along the East Coast of the UAE, said Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure. The project are part of the 2018-23 five year plan, which includes the ministry’s investment programme and the projects undertaken by the Follow up Committee of the Initiatives of ...

JAKARTA / WAM/Reuters A Sriwijaya Air plane with 62 people on board lost contact after taking off from Indonesia’s capital Jakarta on a domestic flight on Saturday and rescuers said suspected debris had been found in the sea off the city, Reuters reported. The Boeing 737-500, en route to Pontianak in West Kalimantan, disappeared from radar screens after taking off ...