SeaPRwire

S&P 500, Nasdaq end at records on coronavirus vaccine, stimulus hopes

elean 2 12 月

3 minutes

NEW YORK (AFP) - Major US stock indices closed at records again on Tuesday (Dec 1) as optimism over potential coronavirus vaccines and revived stimulus talks in Congress offset worries about rising Covid-19 cases. All three major indices won solid gains, with the broad-based S&P 500 ending at 3,662.45, up 1.1 per cent, topping last week's record. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.3 per cent to finish at 12,355.11, also a record, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.6 per cent to 29,823.92. The market was back in rally mode after pausing Monday when equities finished lower. The European Medicines Agency said it would hold an extraordinary meeting on December 29 "at the latest" to consider emergency approval for a vaccine developed by Germany's BioNTech and US giant Pfizer. The announcement further advances the timeframe to finally bring the pandemic under control after it has dragged down the global economy. France plans to prioritise the most fragile and exposed groups to receive the vaccine in early 2021, followed by a second campaign for the rest of the population between April and June, President Emmanuel Macron announced. "For the first time since the pa...

CapitaLand divests 3 malls, office building for $448.7m

elean 2 12 月

3 minutes

CapitaLand has divested three malls in Japan and an office building in South Korea for a total of $448.7 million, as part of its ongoing portfolio reconstitution strategy, it said yesterday in an exchange filing. The real estate giant also announced it has made its first foray into Japan's logistics sector, entering into a joint venture with Mitsui & Co Real Estate, with CapitaLand as the majority partner, to develop and operate a logistics project in Greater Tokyo. The divested properties in Japan are La Park Mizue and Vivit Minami-Funabashi in Greater Tokyo, as well as Co-op Kobe Nishinomiya Higashi in Greater Osaka, which were sold for a total of 21.99 billion yen (S$283.6 million). It also divested Icon Yeoksam in Seoul for 142.2 billion won (S$165.1 million) in August. The office building was held through a private fund, Ascendas Korea Office Private Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) 5. CapitaLand remains the asset manager of Icon Yeoksam and will continue to receive fee income. The group said the divestments were done above valuation, and the buyers are unrelated third parties. Post-divestment, CapitaLand will retain $3.8 billion of assets under management (AUM) in Japan an...

Successful Conclusion of KOBITA Online Business Conference to Develop Overseas Export Channels for Domestic Beauty Companies

pandora 1 12 月

4 minutes

Seoul, Korea - The video conference for cosmetics in the Greater China region (China, Southeast Asia) hosted by the Korea Beauty Industry Trade Association (KOBITA, a Korean corporation) ended successfully with the participation of 39 promising Korean beauty companies over two days (November 19th and 20th) at a consultation center established in Seoul. The video conference had participation from 39 SMEs in the Korean cosmetics and beauty field, along with cosmetics field employees and some 80 foreign buyers with a high interest in Korean cosmetics from the Greater China Region and Southeast Asian countries. As a large-scale video conference with 120 companies participating both domestic and foreign, a great deal of attention was fixed on workers in the domestic beauty industry. This overseas buyer conference served as an alternative export consortium through a conversion of the existing overseas business conference (trade mission) into an online business video conference with support by the Korean Federation of SMEs (KBIZ) to develop overseas markets for the shrinking cosmetics market and SMEs that are having difficulty in exporting overseas due to the continued spread of COVID-19....

2 months’ jail for trainer who asked for pictures of underage student in underwear

aseanpr 1 12 月

3 minutes

SINGAPORE - A workshop trainer preyed on a 15-year-old student by first befriending the boy on social media and then asking him to send pictures of himself in underwear. This was after the trainer conducted a leadership workshop for the boy's class, following which he also sent the boy semi-nude pictures of himself. On Tuesday (Dec 1), Tay Yi Hui, 28, was sentenced to two months' jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a young person. Deputy Public Prosecutor Tay Zhi Jie told the court that Tay was working as a trainer with High Achievers Training Consultancy and that he had requested to follow the boy on Instagram on May 30, 2019. The boy accepted his request that night and Tay told him to keep their conversation secret as he was not allowed, under Education Ministry regulations, to be in contact with students after the end of the workshop. Tay first asked the boy about his results in school, but the conversation soon "took a sexual turn", when he asked why the boy's classmates had made remarks about him being homosexual, said DPP Tay. Tay told the boy he was cute and he sent him a photo of his laptop, which had a picture of Tay in the nude with his rig...

Slew of new transport-related apps vie for attention

aseanpr 1 12 月

1 minute

SINGAPORE - Transport-related apps are being rolled out in a flurry, with around half a dozen new ones - in as many weeks - now vying for taps. The newest app on the block is transport engineering group Goldbell's ST33R (a play on Steer), which is touted as a "flexible, personalised and transparent" car leasing app with flat monthly fees, starting as low as $1,280 for a Mazda 3. Please subscribe or log in to continue reading the full article. Get unlimited access to all stories at $0.99/month Latest headlines and exclusive stories In-depth analyses and award-winning multimedia content Get access to all with our no-contract promotional package at only $0.99/month for the first 3 months* Subscribe now *Terms and conditions apply.

Learn more about Singapore Army at virtual exhibition as it marks 55th anniversary

aseanpr 1 12 月

4 minutes

SINGAPORE - Step into the boots of a soldier and take down your enemies in a forest in Mandai, or solve jigsaw puzzles of pictures related to the army. These games are part of the activities in the Singapore Army's first virtual exhibition, launched on Tuesday (Dec 1) to commemorate its 55th year since the passing of the Singapore Army Bill on Dec 23, 1965. Visitors can also learn more about the Army's history, weapons and vehicles at the exhibition, which is accessible on laptops or smartphones online till Dec 13. Senior Minister of State for Defence Heng Chee How, who launched the exhibition, said the Army has come a long way from its modest beginnings, from two infantry battalions when Singapore became independent to the third-generation, networked force of today. "Over the past 55 years, our Army has given strength and confidence to Singapore and Singaporeans, especially in times of crisis. This enduring commitment was exemplified most recently in our national fight against Covid-19," he said in a pre-recorded message. Mr Heng said more than 5,000 Army personnel stepped forward to contribute during the pandemic, in areas such as contact tracing, taking care of migrant workers a...

NUS political science professor sacked for sexual misconduct against student

aseanpr 1 12 月

4 minutes

SINGAPORE - A top professor from the National University of Singapore (NUS) was dismissed on Tuesday (Dec 1) for sexual misconduct, the university said in a statement. Professor Theodore G. Hopf, the provost chair professor at the department of political science in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), “had sexually harassed the student in physical, verbal and written forms", it added. In the statement listing the sequence of events and a summary of key findings, NUS said an anonymous complaint was sent to the university in August this year and investigations began immediately. After interviews with the student and Prof Hopf, a No-Contact Order was issued to the professor on Sept 15, prohibiting him from contacting any NUS student. The 61-year-old American was later suspended and told to stay off campus while investigations were ongoing. A Committee of Inquiry (COI) was appointed on Oct 7. It interviewed the student, who was accompanied by a care officer from the NUS Victim Care Unit (VCU), on Oct 21. As Prof Hopf needed to seek treatment for a serious medical condition, the COI interviewed him on Nov 13 after his medical leave, NUS said. The COI submitted its inquiry rep...

Primary school teacher allegedly committed indecent acts on 14-year-old girl

aseanpr 1 12 月

2 minutes

SINGAPORE - A male primary school teacher is accused of committing indecent acts on a 14-year-old girl last year. Micky Ng Chee Siong, 38, whose case was last heard in a district court on Nov 12, now faces three charges under the Children and Young Persons Act. There is no gag order on the Singaporean's identity even though there is one on the girl. Court documents do not state how they got to know each other. In a statement to The Straits Times on Monday (Nov 30), the Ministry of Education (MOE) said that Ng has been suspended from duty since August last year when the police investigation started. Its spokesman added: "MOE takes a serious view of staff misconduct and will not hesitate to take disciplinary action against those who fail to adhere to our standards of conduct and discipline, including dismissal from service." According to court documents, Ng allegedly kissed the girl's lips in a car in Upper Thomson Road in early April last year. He is also accused of touching and kissing her upper body sometime between April and June last year. Ng is said to have committed similar acts on the teenager on June 3 last year. It was not stated how his alleged offences came to light. Ng's...

APEX Network and Red Pulse Phoenix to Merge and Develop Horizon DeFi Platform

pandora 1 12 月

2 minutes

SHANGHAI, Nov 27, 2020 - (ACN Newswire) - After months of meticulous planning and discussion, the blockchain projects APEX Network and Red Pulse Phoenix have made a strategic maneuver to combine their platforms and ecosystems through a merger that will create a comprehensive enterprise data blockchain platform. The merger creates a larger, more powerful infrastructure and ecosystem, effectively leveraging the best resources both companies have to offer (technology, platforms, token economics, liquidity, human talent, investor base, and marketing). This is the first notable instance of a token merger.The combined entity will become Phoenix Global. APEX Network token holders will be granted Phoenix tokens at a ratio calculated based on moving average price, with the swap already executed as of early November, and the Phoenix Global merged token trading on major exchanges such as Binance. The Phoenix Global community will have a reach of over 60,000 individuals through social media and over 100,000 through mailing list subscriptions. Phoenix Global has announced a new Defi platform called Horizon, an on-chain DeFi platform for exposure to real-world assets. Phoenix Horizon is a unique...

Bitcoin soars to all-time high as bulls say this time is different

elean 1 12 月

4 minutes

LONDON (REUTERS, BLOOMBERG) - Bitcoin soared to a record high against the US dollar on Monday (Nov 30), as its 2020 rally steamed ahead, boosted by increased demand from both institutional and retail investors that saw the virtual currency as a safe-haven and a hedge against inflation. The digital unit touched an all-time peak of US$19,864.15 (S$26,615), breaking its prior record set nearly three years ago. It was last up 6.1 per cent at US$19,306.35. Bitcoin, however, remains highly volatile. Last Friday, it dropped more than 8 per cent, below US$17,000, before rebounding on Monday. Bitcoin has posted an average daily move of 2.7 per cent this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with swings of 0.9 per cent for the price of gold, which is sometimes contrasted with digital assets and also hit a record in 2020. Bitcoin overall has gained more than 170 per cent this year, fuelled by a demand for riskier assets amid unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimulus, hunger for assets perceived as resistant to inflation, and expectations that cryptocurrencies would win mainstream acceptance. "Bitcoin is a natural safe haven for those seeking shelter from rapidly increa...

US food delivery giant DoorDash, with GIC among its investors, in $3.8b IPO

elean 1 12 月

3 minutes

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - DoorDash, the biggest US food delivery company, is seeking to raise as much as US$2.8 billion (S$3.8 billion) in an initial public offering (IPO) that's part of an end-of-year US listings rush. The San Francisco-based company said in a filing on Monday (Nov 30) that it plans to sell 33 million shares for US$75 to US$85 each. At the top end of this range, the company could be valued at about US$32 billion. This valuation is an increase from when private investors valued DoorDash at about US$16 billion in June. The company's IPO price range could still change depending on demand for its stock on its roadshow with investors over the next week. After the listing, co-founder and chief executive officer Tony Xu will hold almost 42 per cent of DoorDash's Class B super-voting shares, which have 20 votes each. He also has voting control over the rest of the 20-vote shares, which are split between his co-founders, Stanley Tang and Andy Fang. They will control about 79 per cent of the voting power, according to the filing. SoftBank Group's Vision Fund will be the largest outside investor, with 25 per cent of the Class A shares. Venture capital firm Sequoia will own more...

Dow wraps best month since 1987 on Covid-19 vaccine hopes

elean 1 12 月

2 minutes

NEW YORK (AFP) - The Dow concluded its best month in more than three decades on Monday (Nov 30), with gains propelled by expectations for a 2021 recovery based on coronavirus vaccine progress. The blue-chip index suffered a 0.9 per cent drop in the session to finish at 29,638.64, but that's nearly a 12 per cent gain for all of November, making it the best month since January 1987. The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.5 per cent to 3,621.63, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.1 per cent to 12,198.74. The November gains followed a bruising October amid worries over rising coronavirus cases and fears of a contested US presidential election. But stocks have gained ground since the Nov 3 US presidential election as investors now expect an uneventful transfer of power at the White House, even though President Donald Trump has not conceded the race to former vice-president Joe Biden. Mr Trump has filed dozens of lawsuits but Mr Biden's victory has been confirmed after key states certified the results. Besides easing fears over political uncertainty, markets have rallied in the wake of a series of upbeat announcements on coronavirus vaccines, including one on Monday from Mod...

S&P Global to buy IHS Markit for $59 billion in 2020’s biggest merger

elean 1 12 月

5 minutes

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - Business information provider S&P Global agreed on Monday (Nov 30) to pay US$44 billion (S$59 billion) in stock to acquire IHS Markit in the year's biggest acquisition that will create a new data powerhouse serving Wall Street and the corporate world. The deal raises the stakes in the consolidation sweeping the fragmented financial information services industry, as companies race to create one-stop shops to lure the biggest clients and invest in artificial intelligence and machine learning. The agreement comes after London Stock Exchange Group's US$27-billion deal last year to acquire financial data provider Refinitiv from buyout firm Blackstone Group and Thomson Reuters, the parent of Reuters News. It puts pressure on rivals such as Bloomberg, Intercontinental Exchange, Factset Research Systems and Moody's to pursue similar moves. Not all of them provide the same financial data, yet most of them chase the same clients, from investment bankers and traders to corporate executives and treasurers. The combination of S&P Global and IHS Markit is bound to be reviewed extensively by antitrust regulators given the scrutiny that the London Stock Exchange's acquisition ...

S&P 500 ends down after rallying to best November ever

elean 1 12 月

3 minutes

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - The S&P 500 index ended lower on Monday (Nov 30) as investors took profits following a sharp rally in recent weeks that led to the benchmark's best November ever. Nine out of 11 of the major S&P 500 sectors fell, with the energy index tumbling 5.4% and leading losses, tracking a drop in crude prices. The S&P 500 technology index rose 0.7%, thanks in part to a 2.1% rise in Apple Inc shares. IHS Markit jumped 7.4% after data giant S&P Global agreed to buy the financial information provider in a US$44 billion deal that would be the biggest corporate acquisition of 2020. Month-end rebalancing of portfolios played into Monday's weakness, analysts said, as investors cashed in on gains after a strong month marked by updates of Covid-19 vaccines making headway and hopes of a swift economic rebound next year. A rotation into energy, industrials and financials, all expected by many investors to outperform as the economy recovers from its downturn, drove gains of almost 11% for the S&P 500 in November and helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average make its biggest monthly gain since 1987. "I would attribute (Monday's drop) to compounding concerns over the coronavirus, combin...

Captiva Verde Land Corp. Announces Solargram Farms’ Completion of Successful New Brunswick Outdoor Cannabis Harvest in Canada

pandora 30 11 月

4 minutes

Coquitlam, British Columbia, Nov 30, 2020 - (ACN Newswire) - Captiva Verde Land Corp. (CSE: PWR) (the "Company"), is extremely pleased to announce that Solargram Farms Corporation ("Solargram"), a holder of a Federal Health Canada License to cultivate, test, harvest and sell cannabis, has successfully completed its first large scale cannabis outdoor farm harvest with record THC and terpene results.First Year Harvest ResultsThe Solargram cannabis harvest began on September 17th and was completed on October 30th with final processing completed on November 27, 2020. The Solargram team is credited with a final harvest of approximately 13,000 plants over 350,000 square feet of outdoor farm grown canopy resulting in 15,000 kg of wet cannabis. This harvest is ranked as one of Canada's top single largest, and lowest cost outdoor legal cannabis crop in Canadian history and is also the largest outdoor cannabis crop ever grown and harvested in New Brunswick.Very Low Cost of Production ResultsExceeding expectations, the year one total grow cost of production, including direct labor and direct materials, were CDN $0.05/gram wet; $0.22/gram dry which ranks as one of the top tier, lowest cost of ...

LTA calls for bids to build 600 electric vehicle charging points in 200 carparks

aseanpr 30 11 月

2 minutes

SINGAPORE - The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has put up a tender calling for the installation of 600 electric vehicle (EV) charging points. It is believed to be the first time the LTA is calling such a tender. In a Facebook post on Monday (Nov 30), the authority said the 600 charging points will be installed at "over 200 public carparks" across the island. Successful tenderers will be required to complete the deployment by 2022, the LTA added. "This marks an important first step towards our goal of deploying 28,000 such charging points over the next 10 years to speed up the adoption of cleaner energy vehicles," the authority said. The most ambitious EV charging point installation project thus far is by homegrown solar power company Sunseap Group, which announced in September that it aims to install 10,000 charging points here by 2030. Following up with his own Facebook post, Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said with tax rebates from the EV Early Adoption Incentive and recently tweaked Vehicular Emissions Scheme, “we hope more drivers will be encouraged to go electric”. Mr Ong said: “We will not stop here. Technology is evolving, and we will keep reviewing our strategy. I am quite ...

Not suing siblings didn’t mean ‘carte blanche’ for anyone else to defame me, says PM Lee in libel suit

aseanpr 30 11 月

6 minutes

SINGAPORE - Not suing his siblings over statements they made regarding their 38 Oxley Road family home did not mean "carte blanche" for anyone else to use what they had said to defame him, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. He was speaking from the witness stand in court on Monday (Nov 30), on day one of a week-long hearing for his defamation suit against Mr Terry Xu, editor of The Online Citizen (TOC) website. In his testimony, PM Lee also said the public family feud over the fate of the Oxley property is one-sided, and stressed that he and his wife Ho Ching held no animosity against his brother Lee Hsien Yang and sister Lee Wei Ling. The defamation suit involves a TOC article published in August last year, titled "PM Lee's wife, Ho Ching weirdly shares article on cutting ties with family members". The piece references a Facebook post made by Dr Lee, in which she claimed PM Lee had misled their late father, founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, into thinking 38 Oxley Road had been gazetted by the Government. The TOC article, PM Lee's lawyers have said, contains "sensational" allegations that gravely injure his character and reputation. In his cross-examination of PM Lee, Mr Xu's...

S’pore inventor creates portable PCR test kit that can detect Covid-19 in 5 minutes

aseanpr 30 11 月

6 minutes

SINGAPORE - Local medical technology company Cell ID has created a portable polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test kit that can confirm if someone has Covid-19 in five minutes. Chief technology officer Xander Sim said those administering the test would not need specialised training or a laboratory to produce results. The nasal swab test is run through an app on a laptop, and requires less than two hours of training to operate. However, the operator must be trained to take nasal swab samples. "This way, when passengers come in at an airport, you only need to hold them for a short time before you get a result," Mr Sim said on Monday (Nov 30) at a press conference to announce the Quiz PCR Biochip test kit. The "gold standard" for Covid-19 testing is the PCR test. However, PCR tests require highly specialised labs and technicians to run the tests, and liquid reagents that must be kept refrigerated. It can also take days to return the results. Increasingly, as Singapore seeks to reopen its economy further, it has been tapping antigen rapid tests (ARTs), which can produce results in under 30 minutes. But ARTs have lower sensitivity and specificity, and may carry a higher risk of false posi...

Morning Briefing: Top stories from The Straits Times on Nov 30

aseanpr 30 11 月

2 minutes

Good morning! Here are our top stories to kick-start your Monday, Nov 30. Jewel struggling to keep its shine with business still slow; retail sales at Changi terminals plunge 74% Some businesses have left Jewel in the last few months but it has also been able to attract new tenants. READ MORE HERE Diversification of food sources cannot be only strategy in the face of global disruptions Efforts have sped up to help local farms ramp up production over the next six to 24 month. READ MORE HERE Republicans turn to Biden transition as Trump's legal options dwindle However, Donald Trump said he will continue to fight the results of the election. READ MORE HERE More on this topic Related Story ST newsletters: Get alerts on the latest news Maid-less in Singapore: Fewer FDW entry approvals, travel restrictions, fee hikes among woes faced by would-be employers MOM approved only 630 entry requests for maids out of about 4,100 applications and appeals received. READ MORE HERE Time to allow foreign workers out of dorms? Health experts weigh in MOM said it will further ease the restrictions if infection rates are "sustained at low levels". READ MORE HERE 876 tested in Tekka Centre community scree...

PM Lee takes the stand in defamation suit against TOC’s Terry Xu

aseanpr 30 11 月

3 minutes

SINGAPORE - Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong arrived in court on Monday (Nov 30) to testify in his defamation suit against The Online Citizen (TOC) editor Terry Xu. Mr Xu's lawyer Lim Tean began his cross-examination of PM Lee. The week-long hearing could also see the Prime Minister's siblings, Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang, take the witness stand to testify in court. The case revolves around claims made by TOC in an article published on Aug 15 last year, titled "PM Lee's wife, Ho Ching weirdly shares article on cutting ties with family members". The TOC article had commented on how PM Lee's wife, Ms Ho Ching, had shared a link on Facebook to an article titled "Here's why sometimes it is okay to cut ties with toxic family members". It also referenced a Facebook post that Dr Lee made in May. Mr Lee Hsien Yang had also shared the post by Dr Lee. In September last year, PM Lee asked TOC to remove the article, along with a Facebook post linking to it, and publish a full and unconditional apology. His press secretary Chang Li Lin said the allegations in the article and post were libellous and repeated several false allegations against PM Lee that were previously made by his sister...

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