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Asia stocks mixed after Wall St breaks losing streak

BANGKOK (AP) – Shares in Asia were mixed yesterday after Wall Street broke its longest losing streak since December with a modest rally led by tech stocks.

Benchmarks rose in Tokyo and Sydney but fell in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul. Oil prices rose while United States (US) futures edged lower.

Japan reported its core consumer price index, excluding volatile fresh foods, rose the most in 41 years in January. But the nominee to head its central bank, economist Kazuo Ueda, told lawmakers he favours keeping Japan’s benchmark interest rate near zero to ensure stable growth.

Ueda is expected to succeed Bank Of Japan (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda when he steps down in April after two five-year terms marked by unprecedented easing. The change of leadership has prompted speculation about a possible change in the ultra-lax monetary stance, though Ueda sought to dispel such expectations.

“Time is needed before the effects of monetary policy kick in,” Ueda told Parliament, noting the price rises are peaking.

Wages in Japan have failed to keep pace with price increases, and worries over a potential global recession have left the BOJ wary of altering course.

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. PHOTO: AP

“The fading momentum in food inflation suggests that it has already peaked,” Darren Tay of Capital Economics said in a report. “And with government energy subsidies taking effect from this month, we still expect inflation to fall below the Bank of Japan’s two per cent target by mid-year.”

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index added 1.3 per cent to 27,453.48 and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gained 0.3 per cent to to 7,307.00.

India’s Sensex fell 0.2 per cent at 59,467.56. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index lost 1.2 per cent to 20,099.79 while the Shanghai Composite index gave up 0.6 per cent to 3,267.16.

South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.6 per cent to 2,423.61. Bangkok and Taiwan also declined.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.5 per cent for its first gain in five days, closing at 4,012.32.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3 per cent to 33,153,91, and the Nasdaq composite surged 0.7 per cent to 11,590.40.

Tech stocks helped lead the way after Nvidia reported better results for the latest quarter than expected. Its shares jumped 14 per cent after it also gave a forecast for upcoming revenue that topped some analysts’ expectations.

It cited recovering strength in video gaming and demand for artificial intelligence products.

Tech and high-growth stocks have struggled recently because of worries about rising interest rates.

Horschel and Bramlett set the pace at Honda Classic

MIAMI (AFP) – Americans Billy Horschel and Joseph Bramlett shared the first round lead at the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic on Thursday after shooting five-under rounds of 65.

The event at Palm Beach Gardens traditionally marks the start of the Florida Swing but has lost some appeal to many of the top players on the tour due to the changes in the schedule.

None of the world’s top 10 golfers are playing this week and sponsors Honda are ending their 42 year backing for the event after this year.

Horschel has lamented the decline of the tournament, but the Floridian, who has seven career PGA Tour wins, is hoping to take advantage of the absence of the top stars to finally clinch a win in his home state.

The 36-year-old has been struggling with a sinus infection and said that ailment had counter-intuitively helped him relax for the round, which featured six birdies and a bogey.

“There’s a saying – beware of the injured or sick golfer. I’m not like super, super sick, but I’m just not like a hundred per cent,” he said. “I think you are just sort of, a little bit easier on yourself. You’re sort of not worrying about everything.”

Billy Horschel tees off on the fourth hole. PHOTO: AP

Starting on the back nine, Horschel sank 30-foot birdie putts on the par-four 11th and 13th holes but then missed a seven-footer on the par-three 15th to bogey.

He got up and down from the bunker for birdie on the par-five 18th and then after the turn enjoyed a streak of three straight birdies from the third hole on.

“The course is really receptive. It’s not nearly as firm and as fast as it has been in the past,” said Horschel.

“I think that’s sort of a conscious thing they have done. The rough’s down a little bit. So, the course itself is a little bit softer and it’s lending itself to some better scores.

“But you’ve still got to hit quality golf shots around here. It’s not like it’s just easy now. You still got to step up and make some good swings on a lot of these holes,” he said.

Bramlett, searching for a first win on the PGA Tour, was bogey free, starting his round with a 28-foot birdie putt on the par-four 10th before a brilliant 42-footer for birdie on the par-three 5th hole.

The 34-year-old Californian ended with a birdie on the par-four 9th after a fine approach shot from 119 yards landed 14 feet from the hole.

“I thought my speed on the greens was the biggest thing I took away from today,” said Bramlett.

“I felt like I had really good feel for speed all day. I kept it out of trouble off the tee. So when I do those two things I usually score pretty well,” he said.

Americans Pierceson Coody and Justin Suh were both in the clubhouse a stroke behind the leaders while Carson Young was one back through 15 holes when darkness stopped play.

Poland’s Adrian Meronk, South Korea’s Im Sung-jae and English pair Matt Wallace and Ben Taylor were among eight players two shots off the lead.

On a tightly packed leaderboard, 13 players shot 68, leaving themselves just three strokes behind Horschel and Bramlett.

Local chef bags silver at culinary world cup in Malaysia

Lyna Mohamad

Bruneian Chef Noreen binti Sapri may have missed the 39th National Day celebrations in the Sultanate, but she did not miss bagging the silver medal at the Malaysia Culinary World Cup 2023 (MCWC23) as a representative from Brunei from February 21 to 23.

She received a diploma certificate for her dish she named Kerabu Nenas Buah Delima. She was also awarded for her Malaysia burger dish.

The 42-year-old has worked as a chef since she was 24 and currently works at the British Forces Brunei. She decided to put her skills to test by participating in the MCWC23 after encouragement from hamily and friends.

She wanted to prove to herself that she can be better, along with her friend Chef Rohana binti Mahmod who was invited by the Malaysia Bersatu Culinary Association (MBCA) to be one of the juries for the event. “I am glad I followed my heart to compete with over 600 chefs in the competition. Being the only Bruneian to compete in the event, I express gratitude to Allah the Almighty for this achievement as well as my family and friends who have supported me along the way.”

Chef Noreen and Chef Rohana plan to compete in the world chef championship in Johor in May.

MCWC23 was launched by Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan accompanied by Director General of Tourism Malaysia, Dato’ Haji Zainuddin Abdul Wahab on February 21.

The world’s largest inaugural cooking competition saw over 650 local and international participants cooking concurrently at the same venue in an attempt to earn a place in the Guinness World Records.

Chef Noreen binti Sapri bagged a silver medal at the Malaysia Culinary World Cup 2023. PHOTO: LYNA MOHAMAD

Biden nominates ex-Mastercard CEO to lead World Bank

WASHINGTON (AFP) – United States (US) President Joe Biden on Thursday announced the nomination of former Mastercard chief executive officer (CEO) Ajay Banga as a candidate to lead the World Bank, after the development lender’s current head announced plans to step down early.

The World Bank has just started accepting candidate nominations in a process set to run until March 29, with the bank saying that women contenders would be “strongly” encouraged.

The president of the Washington-based Bank is typically American, while the leader of the International Monetary Fund is customarily European.

Banga, who is Indian-American, was previously chief executive at Mastercard, and has also served on the boards of the American Red Cross, Kraft Foods and Dow Inc. He currently is vice chairman at private equity firm General Atlantic.

The 63-year-old Sikh was born and raised in India, travelling regularly as a child due to his father’s military career, and started his career there before emigrating to the US.

Banga has “critical experience mobilising public-private resources to tackle the most urgent challenges of our time, including climate change”, Biden said in a statement.

Last week, current World Bank President David Malpass said he would step down nearly a year early, ending a tenure that has been clouded by questions over his climate stance.

Former Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga. PHOTO: AP

Malpass was appointed to the post in 2019 when Donald Trump was president, and would originally have ended his term in 2024.

Banga’s nomination comes amid a push for development lenders to revamp and more effectively address global problems like environmental issues.

Any of the bank’s 189 members can nominate a candidate, though in 2019, Malpass was the lone nominee to take over the helm of the institution.

In recent years, growing emerging market countries have challenged the unwritten arrangement of an American heading the World Bank.

“We had hoped that President Biden would use this opportunity to ditch the old gentlemen’s agreement of World Bank and IMF appointments in favour of a more transparent and merit-based global process,” said Oxfam International senior policy advisor Christian Donaldson.

The US is the World Bank’s largest shareholder.

Speaking to reporters, a senior US administration official said: “At Mastercard and General Atlantic, Banga has made combatting climate change and mobilising private capital to help power the green transition a priority.”

“These are experiences and priorities that will guide and drive his work in the years ahead at the World Bank,” the official added.

In a separate statement, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Banga’s record of forging partnerships between the public sector, private sector and non-profits will help him in mobilising the private capital and pressing for necessary reforms.

Brazil mobilises largest warship to assist landslide victims

SAO PAULO (XINHUA) – Brazil mobilised its largest warship on Thursday to assist victims of landslides caused by last Sunday’s heavy rains, which killed 49 people and displaced over 2,500 others in the coastal area of Sao Paulo state.

The aircraft carrier arrived at the port of Sao Sebastiao, the municipality hardest hit by the worst rains ever recorded in Brazil, with Minister of Integration and Regional Development Waldez Goes and Minister of Ports and Airports Marcio Franca on board. Goes announced upon arrival that the government will invest an estimated BRL60 million (USD11.6 million) on reconstruction and assistance to the victims.

While the army, firefighters and volunteers searched under the mud for dozens of people still missing after the landslides in the hills surrounding the exclusive beaches of Barra do Sahy, Baleia and Camburi, the Navy mobilised the aircraft carrier Atlantico, 200 metres long and capable of carrying 1,400 people and 18 aircraft.

The ship will serve as a safe port for logistics and assistance to the injured, along with the reconstruction of neighbourhoods, since the main roads in the northern part of Sao Paulo were destroyed or disabled, and as a mobile hospital with 28 doctors, including specialists in general surgery and orthopedics, as well as anesthesiologists, pharmacists and nurses.

According to Agencia Brasil, the ship also carried marines to assist the Civil Defense in road clearing and rescue efforts.

An aerial view of rescuers in the destruction path left by a landslide after torrential rain in the Barra do Sahy district in Sao Sebastiao, Sao Paulo State, Brazil. PHOTO: AFP

Combining security with style

Safes don’t have to look like safes to ensure security. Designed by Dr Jin Wu (Richman, pic below), the safes are crafted with fine material and meet international quality standards.

The safes were designed with imagination in mind and can match any home’s interior.

Mother run over as SUV stolen with her child still inside

LIBERTYVILLE, ILLINOIS (AP) – A suburban Chicago woman was run over and her two-year-old son was temporarily abducted by a thief who forcibly stole her SUV yesterday, police said.

The woman returned home in the afternoon to Libertyville with her two children and had taken one child inside when another vehicle drove up and a man hopped out and commandeered her SUV, battering the woman as she tried to get to her two-year-old son, who was still in her vehicle, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said.

As the two vehicles fled, one of the drivers ran her over, causing serious injuries to her extremities, the office said in a news release. She was hospitalised in serious condition.

A short time later, someone working at a Waukegan business called 911 to report that two vehicles entered its parking lot and the driver of one of the vehicles abandoned a small child, the sheriff’s office said. The caller brought the child in from the parking lot.

The stolen SUV was located shortly afterward in another parking lot, the sheriff’s office said.

Wales eye England victory after player strike grief

CARDIFF (AFP) – Threatened player strike assuaged, Wales will now focus on a first win in this season’s Six Nations when they take on England in Cardiff today.

A dispute over player contracts reached a head this week, with Welsh players threatening a strike over contractual issues.

But compromises were reached and the game at Principality Stadium will go ahead as planned.

Wales coach Warren Gatland, who made nine changes to the team that lost 35-7 to Scotland in their last outing, admitted that the dispute had been “a challenge, there is no doubt about that”.

“I support the players in terms of the action that was taken,” he said. “Maybe there could have been a little bit more warning but that’s the way it is and they made those calls.”

As of today, professional players in Wales now know that playing overseas is an option should you have 25 rather than 60 caps.

Player representation at Professional Rugby Board (PRB) meetings is also guaranteed while there has been a move on contract to include solely fixed ones alongside fixed-variable hybrid contracts (80 per cent in set wages, with 20 per cent as bonus payments).

The players, Gatland said, “are pretty happy with the outcome and what’s going to happen moving forwards”.

Gatland admitted that Wales having been successful in his first tenure as head coach between 2007-19, when he oversaw four Six Nations titles including three Grand Slams and two Rugby World Cup semi-final appearances, in 2011 and 2019, had “probably papered over the cracks a little bit”.

FTX’s Bankman-Fried faces new charges in updated indictment

NEW YORK (AP) – FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried faced new fraud charges on Thursday, as prosecutors accused him of cheating thousands of investors out of billions of dollars while casting himself as a trustworthy “saviour of the cryptocurrency industry” – an image boosted by celebrity-studded Super Bowl advertising and big donations to political figures.

New charges, including securities fraud and conspiracy fraud counts, were unveiled with the unsealing of the refreshed indictment in Manhattan federal court.

In a statement, United States (US) Attorney Damian Williams hinted, as he has several times previously, that prosecutors were not finished building their case.

“We are hard at work and will remain so until justice is done,” he said.

A spokesperson for Bankman-Fried’s attorneys declined comment.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. PHOTO: AP

The new charges raised the prison sentence Bankman-Fried could face if convicted from 115 years to 155 years, authorities said.

It also boosted the number of counts in the indictment to 12, as prosecutors more thoroughly and eloquently told their story of what happened to FTX, Bankman-Fried’s global cryptocurrency exchange, and its affiliated cryptocurrency trading hedge fund, Alameda Research.

The description cast FTX customers, investors, financial institutions, lenders and the Federal Election Commission as victims of fraudulent schemes Bankman-Fried allegedly carried out from 2019 until last November.

Prosecutors said Bankman-Fried stole billions of dollars in FTX customer deposits to support the operations and investments of FTX and Alameda and to fund speculative venture investments, make charitable donations and spend tens of millions of dollars on illegal campaign donations to Democrats and Republicans in an attempt to buy influence over cryptocurrency regulation in Washington.

They said Bankman-Fried cast himself as a “figurehead of a trustworthy and law-abiding segment of the cryptocurrency industry” that sought to protect investors and clients.

Female converts complete religious guidance course

Daniel Lim

Thirteen new Female Muslim converts in the Belait District completed a basic guidance course during a closing ceremony for the 198th Muallaf Basic Guidance Course Scheme on Wednesday.

Khadijah A’ishah Michelli binti Abdullah Merdan, on behalf of the 198th cohort in the Belait District, expressed gratitude to the teaching staff and officers for the guidance.

“During the past 14 days, we learnt more about the various aspects of the Islamic faith while also establishing a closer relationship with one another.”

The participants performed a Dikir and Selawat followed by the presentation of certificates.

Aaira Rosita binti Abdullah Andrew Sungkoi was placed first in the course, while Nur Aina Marissa binti Abdullah Momin and Najibah binti Kunchil were second and third. They received a special plaques and gifts.

The ceremony, held at the hall of the Belait District Dakwah Unit, was attended by the Religious Development Officer (i-Ready) Juliana @ Siti Shatirah binti Haji Jailani as the guest of honour and was welcomed by Acting Head of Belait District Dakwah Unit Muhammad Nur Aisamuddin bin Muhammad Hanafi.

The Islamiah Da’wah Centre hopes that the basic guidance course will help the participants and prepare them to join in the Advance Guidance Course I and II, and other religious programmes.

Participants in a group photo with Religious Development Officer (i-Ready) Juliana @ Siti Shatirah binti Haji Jailani and officers of the Belait District Dakwah Unit. PHOTOS: DANIEL LIM
Aaira Rosita binti Abdullah Andrew Sungkoi receives a prize from the guest of honour

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Borneo Bulletin is the leading English daily in the country. It was first published by Brunei Press. Today, Borneo Bulletin has become the foremost source of information on local and foreign affairs, and the region’s business news.

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