June, 2016

• 16 June

  Didi Chuxing raises $7.3bn in new funding

  

    Beijing / AFP Chinese ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing, a bitter rival of US-based Uber, has raised $7.3 billion in one of the world’s largest private equity financing rounds, the company said on Thursday. Didi is locked in a war of attrition with Uber over drivers and riders but claims almost 90 percent of the market in the world’s most ...

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• 16 June

  Sri Lanka to tax capital gains from land sales

  

    Colombo / AFP Sri Lanka’s cabinet approved the introduction of a capital gains tax for the first time in 14 years, as the island battles a revenue crisis that has forced an IMF bailout. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s tax plans come after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month released the first tranche of a $1.5 billion loan in ...

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• 16 June

  Toshiba to expand geothermal business beyond turbines

    Tokyo/ Bloomberg Toshiba Corp., the world’s biggest supplier of turbines used to produce electricity from the heat trapped underground, will expand its geothermal power business into operation and maintenance services as it aims to extend its lead in a global market dominated by a handful of competitors. “We are just doing turbines now but we want to take full ...

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• 16 June

  Artistic expressions of angst

  

    Basel / AFP Hundreds of suitcases hang eerily from the ceiling, old publications depict colonial scenes of dark “savages” committing horrific acts of violence, and an anti-protestor gun blasts into life… with rounds of birdsong. A common theme — of angst at a world in political turmoil, beset by a migration crisis and dread of terrorism — unites many ...

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• 16 June

  EU’s Juncker warns Russia on sanctions ahead of Putin meet

  

    ST. PETERSBURG / AP EU Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker warned Russia on Thursday that the 28-nation bloc will only lift its sanctions if the Kremlin fully implements a Ukraine peace deal. “The next step is clear, full implementation of the agreement—no more, no less,” Juncker told Russia’s main economic forum in Saint Petersburg ahead of a meeting with President ...

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• 16 June

  S Korea to resume lifting of ‘sunken ferry’ next week

    Seoul / AFP South Korea said on Thursday it would resume salvage operations on the Sewol ferry next week, but underlined the enormous challenges posed by raising the vessel that sank in 2014 with massive loss of life. The Sewol was carrying 476 people when it went down off the southwestern island of Jindo, leaving 304—mostly school children—dead in ...

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• 16 June

  Seoul holds navy drill near disputed border with North

    Seoul / AFP South Korea on Thursday kicked off a live-fire naval exercise near its disputed sea border with North Korea — a move likely to fan already elevated military tensions with Pyongyang. The three-day exercise in the Yellow Sea is aimed at practising responses to simulated incursions by North Korean vessels and aircraft, the South’s navy said in ...

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• 16 June

  China fumes as Obama meets Dalai Lama

  

    Beijing / AFP China criticised US President Barack Obama on Thursday for hosting the Dalai Lama at the White House, despite efforts to avoid irking Beijing by holding the meeting off-camera and out of the public eye. Obama carried out what has become a political rite in Washington, spiriting the exiled Tibetan religious leader into the White House through ...

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• 16 June

  Philippines to resume ‘communist talks’ in July

    Manila / AFP Incoming Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte will resume stalled peace talks with communist rebels next month, negotiators said, a step towards ending one of Asia’s longest insurgencies that has killed tens of thousands of people. The long-running talks collapsed in 2013, but Duterte had made a campaign pledge to revive the negotiations aimed at bringing a swift ...

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• 16 June

  Democrats get USA Senate to consider gun control measures

  

    Washington / AFP Senate Democrats claimed a small victory early Thursday, forcing the US upper house to consider legislation to help keep guns out of the hands of terrorism suspects. The move, which could break a years-long logjam on gun control, follows demands for action after the weekend massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Florida. Democrats ...

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