HONG KONG (Reuters) – Singapore’s private home prices have surpassed Hong Kong as the most expensive in Asia Pacific in 2023, while rents in the city-state were also the region’s highest, the Urban Land Institute said on Tuesday. The institute’s 2023 APAC Home Attainability Index showed the median price for a Singapore home was $1.2…
By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) -Papua New Guinea said a proposed security treaty with neighbour Australia would be delayed as it consults “domestic processes”, a week after signing a defence agreement with the United States that sparked student protests. Papua New Guinea (PNG), a few kilometres (miles) to Australia’s north, is being courted by China…
By Byron Kaye and Harish Sridharan (Reuters) -Crown Resorts, the Australian casino operator bought by Blackstone Inc after three damaging inquiries, agreed to pay a A$450 million ($294 million) fine for breaking anti-money laundering laws, a step toward ending its darkest chapter. The company, dominated by billionaire founder James Packer before he agreed to sell…
(Reuters) – Australian regulators have over the recent years fined a slew of companies over breaches and non-compliance issues, with the country’s “Big Four” banks penalised the heaviest over money laundering and plenty of other charges. Here are some of the major penalties imposed by the regulators: AMP LTD Troubled Australian wealth manager AMP Ltd…
SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea and Australia’s defence chiefs agreed on Tuesday to step up defence cooperation, South Korea’s defence ministry said. Korean Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup met his Australian counterpart Richard Marles on the sidelines of the inaugural S. Korea-Pacific Islands Summit in Seoul. Lee expressed the South Korean military’s willingness to join the Indo-Pacific…
By Lewis Jackson SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia’s Treasury department may not renew a A$1 million audit contract with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) when it ends this year, an official told a senate hearing amid a scandal over the firm’s misuse of confidential government tax plans. The global professional services firm is reeling after a former Australian tax partner…
By Fatos Bytyci LEPOSAVIC, Kosovo (Reuters) – Around 25 NATO peacekeeping soldiers defending three town halls in northern Kosovo were injured in clashes with Serb protesters on Monday, while Serbia’s president put the army on the highest level of combat alert. KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping mission to Kosovo, condemned the violence. “While countering the most…
ZURICH (Reuters) – The Swiss economy grew by a faster than expected rate at the start of the year, the government said on Tuesday, supported by robust domestic demand and rising exports. Economic output, when adjusted for sporting events, grew by 0.5% in the first three months of 2023 compared with the last quarter of…
BEIJING (Reuters) – A private jet used by Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk has arrived in Beijing, according to a Reuters witness. Musk is expected to meet senior Chinese officials and visit Tesla’s Shanghai plant, sources have said, in what would be his first trip to China in three years. Tesla did not immediately…
By Sam Jabri-Pickett and Nia Williams (Reuters) -United Conservative Party (UCP) leader Danielle Smith’s election victory in Canada’s main oil-producing province Alberta on Monday is likely to herald further friction with Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, particularly over climate change. The populist premier’s win signals a further rightward shift in the traditionally conservative province, and…
