New Delhi / AFP New industries must be explored to lessen the country’s dependency on traditional commodities, especially in current times when prices are sliding, said Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak. Najib said developing new industries, like the biomass sector, had great potential for the country. Malaysia, he said, had set its sight on becoming a premier biomass processing hub ...

Singapore / DPA Developer CapitaLand’s serviced residence business unit, The Ascott, aims to fast-track its expansion into China by forging a strategic alliance with a major mainland player, Dongfu Investment Development Corp. The Ascott is already the largest international serviced residence owner-operator in China, with more than 14,000 units in 24 cities. The partnership, gives Ascott first right to manage ...

Singapore / DPA The strong wage growth that workers enjoyed last year might not be sustainable, given the lacklustre economic outlook and Singapore’s flagging labour productivity. Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) permanent secretary Ow Foong Pheng said at a press briefing that demand for labour may be more subdued this year, given the “challenging near-term outlook for the Singapore ...

Islamabad / DPA The number of Koreans who travelled abroad reached a monthly high in January, according to figures from a government-run tourism agency. Pakistani banks have been allowed to restore normal financial relations with Iran in the wake of lifting of ban on Tehran by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued on ...

Dublin / AFP Ireland faced political uncertainty on Saturday after two exit polls indicated voters had punished the governing coalition in Europe’s fastest-growing economy, still feeling the pain of years of austerity. As counting got under way following the parliamentary election, it appeared PM Enda Kenny’s centre-right Fine Gael and its Labour junior partner would lose support as voters angry ...

Bloomberg After the pound’s worst week since Britain’s 2009 recession, traders are betting there’s more pain to come. Sterling plunged 3.8 percent versus the dollar this week after the referendum on Britain’s European Union membership was set for June 23. The cost of six-month options suggests traders are the most bearish on the U.K. currency since 2010. “It’s difficult for ...

London / Bloomberg London Mayor Boris Johnson said the U.K. would have a “great future” if it votes to leave the 28-member European Union in a referendum planned for this June. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Johnson told The Times newspaper in an interview. “It is not going to come round again. If we don’t do it now this thing ...

Bloomberg Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne warned he may make further cuts in public spending in his annual budget on March 16 after data showed Britain’s economic recovery is not as advanced as he hoped. Osborne will seek further “efficiencies” in government departments before making cuts to services, he said in an interview with the BBC in Shanghai, where ...

Paris / Bloomberg President Francois Hollande was heckled on Saturday as France’s annual agricultural fair kicked off against the backdrop of the “worst crisis ever” facing the country’s farmers. Livestock farmers booed and whistled as Hollande and Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll made their way through the vast hall in southern Paris, walking past a large banner reading: “I am ...

Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook is such a respected figure that it’s easy to overlook the basic problem with his argument about encryption: Cook is asserting that a private company and the interests of its customers should prevail over the public’s interest as expressed by our courts. The San Bernardino encryption case was the wrong one to fight. Apple doubled-down ...