MELBOURNE (Reuters) – BHP Group has teamed up with Microsoft Corp to improve copper recovery from its Escondida mine in Chile, the world’s biggest copper mine, by using machine learning and artificial intelligence, it said on Tuesday. BHP estimates the world needs to double the amount of copper produced over the next 30 years to…
(This May 29 story has been refiled to fix a typographical error in paragraph 19) By Khalid Abdelaziz and Aidan Lewis DUBAI (Reuters) – Sudan’s warring military factions agreed on Monday to a five-day extension of a ceasefire agreement, after renewed heavy clashes and air strikes in the capital threw fresh doubts on the effectiveness…
By Uditha Jayasinghe COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s central bank is expected to keep rates unchanged at its policy meeting this week as it continues to support the debt-laden economy amid persistently high inflation. The island nation defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time in April last year, as the worst financial crisis…
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…
