JAKARTA / Reuters Congress potentially has small window to ratify trade deal Vietnam is set to delay ratifying a massive U.S.-led Pacific trade pact until next year, as anxiety rises over the fate of the deal in Congress with America’s presidential election campaign exacerbating an anti-free trade mood. Ha Ngoc Chien, head of a parliamentary committee, suggested the National …

  Singapore / AFP Ride-hailing startup Grab said on Tuesday it has raised $750 million from investors to expand in burgeoning Southeast Asian markets including Indonesia, as it aims to build its lead over US-based rival Uber in the region. The new investments led by Japan’s SoftBank Group raised the Singapore-based firm’s total capital to more than $1.0 billion, it …

  JAKARTA / Reuters Harvard and Columbia university research showing smoke from land fires in Southeast Asia led to more than 100,000 premature deaths last year “makes no sense at all,” an official at Indonesia’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday. Indonesian government records show only 24 deaths related to forest fires in 2015, but the disaster was estimated to have …