August, 2021

• 31 August

  Biden’s Big Tech alliance shows a power shift

  It would normally be awkward asking a group of companies worth more than $4 trillion for help. But the leaders of Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google sat up and listened when President Joe Biden sought their cooperation last week in protecting US infrastructure from cyber threats. They weren’t just being polite. All four firms are ...

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• 31 August

  Asian currencies face more risk from slowdown in China

  

  Bloomberg From Covid risks to talk of a reduction in US stimulus, there’s been no shortage of bad news for Asian currencies. An upcoming report on China’s manufacturing sector may add to the pressure. Traders are looking to Chinese factory data for clues on the global outlook after the world’s second-largest economy slowed more sharply than expected in July. The ...

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• 31 August

  HK’s OneDegree raises $28m in new funding

  

  Bloomberg OneDegree, a Hong Kong-based insurance technology company, raised $28 million in a new round of funding as the startup looks to expand in Asia. Sun Hung Kai & Co and AEF Greater Bay Area Fund took part in the series B1 round along with six existing investors, according to a statement on Monday. The latest investments take OneDegree’s total ...

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• 31 August

  Ride-hailing firm Ola to pick banks for $1b IPO

  Bloomberg Ride-hailing startup Ola has selected banks including Citigroup Inc and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd to manage its Mumbai initial public offering that could raise about $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The company, backed by SoftBank Group Corp and Tiger Global Management, has also picked Morgan Stanley for the listing, said the people, who asked not ...

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• 31 August

  China’s NetEase in talks to hire creator of Sega Yakuza series

  

  Bloomberg NetEase Inc is in final negotiations to poach Yakuza franchise creator Toshihiro Nagoshi from Sega, a sign of how Chinese games companies are expanding beyond their home turf during a government-led crackdown. The hire from Sega Sammy Holdings Inc would mark the biggest coup in a contest between NetEase and close rival Tencent Holdings Ltd to scoop up video ...

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• 31 August

  Sri Lanka bonds set to gain most in Asia

  Bloomberg Sri Lanka’s volatile dollar bonds are set to jump the most in Asia this month after its central bank unexpectedly raised interest rates earlier in August in a move that may help boost the country’s foreign exchange reserves. But default concerns remain for the notes, with S&P Global Ratings last week cutting the outlook on its junk CCC+ ratings ...

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• 31 August

  Twitter’s India clash buoys rival Koo to 10 million users

  

  Bloomberg Koo, India’s alternative to Twitter Inc, has surged past 10 million users to narrow the gap with the US microblogging site after its repeated clashes with the local government over the past few months. The 16-month-old app, which allows users to send tweet-like posts in English and seven Indian languages such as Hindi and Kannada, has seen about 85% ...

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• 31 August

  Afghan crisis: UN taking up call for continued safe passage of people

  

  Bloomberg The US continued to evacuate people out of Afghanistan despite a rocket attack aimed at Kabul’s international airport on Monday. As the deadline looms for the last US troops to leave and hand over control of the airport to the Taliban, the United Nations plans to take up a resolution proposed by UK and France aimed at allowing exits ...

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• 31 August

  Top China diplomat rips Blinken on virus probe, Afghanistan

  

  Bloomberg A senior Chinese diplomat called on the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to work with the Taliban government and stop pressuring Beijing over the virus origin probe in order to improve ties between the world’s biggest economies. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the US to work with the international community to provide economic assistance to the new ...

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• 31 August

  North Korea may have restarted nuclear reactor: UN watchdog

  

  Bloomberg North Korea may have resumed operations at its plutonium-producing Yongbyon nuclear reactor in the past few months, the United Nations atomic watchdog said, a move that could help Kim Jong Un’s regime add to its stockpile of fissile material. For the first time in about three years, it appears there were operations of the five megawatt reactor at North ...

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