Policing the crisis

Thai health officials are expected to gather more data in coming weeks as the highly transmissible BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of Omicron spread in Thailand. There is a new wave of the two Omicron sub-variant infections hitting a number of countries that had, until recently, seen a large drop in their Covid case loads. Germany, Italy, Australia, Taiwan, Brazil, UK, Mexico, the US states of Florida, Texas and New York, Chile and Greece are some of the countries which have seen sudden spikes and rises in hospital admissions. South Africa and Portugal both had sudden spikes of the new sub-variant area and are now in the decline phase. The UK, for example, is now going through what it describes as its third major wave of infections over the past 6 months. An estimated 1.7 million people in the UK were infected in the 7 days leading up to June 18, a 23% rise on the week before and a 43% jump from the previous week. With people out and about for the region’s summer, medical … [Read more...] about Thailand News Today | Police arrested for bribery over Chinese adult films

A man wearing a tactical vest and armed with several firearms was shot and killed by police Sunday, according to a press release from the Pueblo Police Department. Pueblo police received a call around 2:58 p.m. about a suicidal male in the 2700 block of 6th Avenue. More calls continued coming in, claiming that the man was going to shoot himself and others in his vicinity. According to police, the man was “trying to stop cars traveling in the area.” Police say that upon their arrival, officers made attempts at contacting the man in the roadway, but he ignored them and raised his weapon. A police officer then fired his weapon and shot the man, who was pronounced dead on the scene. No officers were injured, and an investigation is underway to learn more about what unfolded on Sunday. … [Read more...] about Pueblo police shoot and kill armed man on Sunday

- A + A FRANKFURT (June 27): European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers gather on a Portuguese hillside on Monday with the sinking feeling that their rush to tackle the inflation shock they failed to forecast risks both a recession and echoes of the euro area's sovereign debt crisis. As president Christine Lagarde and colleagues meet in the resort of Sintra for their version of the Federal Reserve's (Fed) Jackson Hole conference, they face competing tasks: cool the fastest consumer-price growth in the euro's history without delivering an economic downturn or sparking a 2012-style spike in borrowing costs in Italy, the region's third-largest economy, and other vulnerable states. Markets are already sounding an alert on what may lie ahead. Italian government bond yields jumped past 4% this month for the first time since 2014 as investors took fright at the ECB's plan to raise interest rates in July for the first time in a decade. With that hike locked in, and another … [Read more...] about ECB’s pivot towards rate hikes feeds fears of new bond crisis

- A + A HONG KONG (June 27): China's fourth-biggest developer may miss a local bond payment for its first time ever, pressuring an onshore credit market that has remained resilient amid a property debt crisis and record offshore defaults. Sunac Real Estate Group Co said in an exchange filing on Friday it likely would not be able to raise enough funds to make a 400 million yuan (US$60 million) payment due June 30 for a portion of the note principal along with related interest. The deadline is part of an instalment plan Sunac got approval for several months ago that extended full repayment of the four billion yuan security by 18 months. A separate note maturing next year fell 15% on Monday while some due in 2025 closed at record lows, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. China's US$12.3 trillion local bond market has so far held up relatively well despite a cash crunch in the property sector sparked by a government crackdown on excessive leverage and housing … [Read more...] about Chinese builder Sunac may miss local bond payment in a first

- A + A MUMBAI/MANILA (June 27): Signs of distress flashing in bond markets suggest the world's poorest nations are set to see a wave of debt restructurings. But a growing cohort of investors say that is a buying opportunity. Panic selling in the aftermath of Sri Lanka's economic collapse has sent the average yield in junk-rated emerging economies to almost 900 basis points above US Treasuries, the highest risk premium in 13 years except for the Covid-19-related rout in 2020, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co data. Yet, initial fears about a widespread default Armageddon across emerging markets is easing, and money managers are looking beyond the handful of countries that may reschedule their debt. This shift in perception means at least some smaller developing nations, called frontier markets, have been unduly punished in the recent sell-off and now offer highly attractive yields. Even in the event of debt restructuring, their bonds will offer greater recovery … [Read more...] about Frontier-debt buyers look past default risk in hunger for yield

- A + A PUTRAJAYA (June 27): The government is willing to bear the projected huge subsidy totalling RM77.3 billion for this year towards stabilising the prices of goods and avoiding high inflation rates of up to 11.4%, says Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed. He said the government had a choice of removing subsidies and strengthening the country’s finances to a better level, but it chose to bear the subsidies instead for the welfare and well-being of the people. Mustapa said the announcement on June 24 by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob of no increase in the water and electricity tariffs, and the chicken price not being floated showed the government’s caring side and commitment to maintaining the subsidies. Referring to the projected consumer subsidy expenditure amounting to RM77.3 billion for 2022, he said RM51 billion of it made up the biggest component of fuel, cooking oil, electricity, water, chicken … [Read more...] about Govt continues giving subsidies to stabilise prices, avoid high inflation

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on June 20, 2022 - June 26, 2022. - A + A IF Bank Negara Malaysia’s eight-member monetary policy committee (MPC) raises the overnight policy rate (OPR) by 25 basis points (bps) at its next scheduled meeting on July 6, it will mark its first back-to-back increase since mid-2010, when interest rates were normalised following the recovery from the 2008 global financial crisis. It will not be the first central bank to do so. Compared with just a month ago, more economists now (at the time of writing) reckon that a 25bps hike will happen in July, but many still think a pause is possible in July ahead of the Hari Raya Aidiladha celebrations. In any case, at least one more rate increase (if not two) is expected to take place by the conclusion of the Sept 8 meeting to bring the OPR to at least 2.25% (if not 2.5%), consensus data show. “Our house has also shifted expectations for Bank Negara to frontload … [Read more...] about The State Of The Nation: What the Fed’s 75bps hike and near 4% terminal rate mean for the OPR

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on June 20, 2022 - June 26, 2022. - A + A LAST week, CTOS Digital Bhd made a bold move to raise its stake in RAM Holdings Bhd (RAM), in which it already owns a 19.225% stake. This is the third acquisition that CTOS has undertaken within a year. CTOS, which bought into RAM shortly after it was listed in July last year, launched a general offer last week to buy out the remaining shares that it does not own in the credit rating agency (CRA) soon after it got the green light from the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) to own more than 51%. CTOS has so far spent the bulk of the RM173.8 million raised from a private placement in March on mergers and acquisitions (M&A). RAM will be the first local CRA to have a controlling shareholder upon the completion of the takeover offer. Dollars and cents aside, the takeover bid has prompted some quarters to question whether the independence of RAM’s rating … [Read more...] about Making sense of CTOS’ venture into RAM

- A + A MUMBAI/BUENOS AIRES/LONDON (June 27): It only took 24 hours last month for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in India — the world's second-largest producer of wheat — to shelve its plans to "feed the world". In April, Modi had said publicly that the world's most populous democracy was ready to fill part of the gap left by Ukraine in global grains markets by increasing its wheat exports, following five consecutive record harvests. India traditionally exports only a modest amount of wheat, retaining most of its crop for domestic consumption. On May 12, India's Ministry of Commerce & Industry said it was preparing to send delegations to nine countries to export a record 10 million tonnes of wheat this fiscal year — sharply up the previous season. But a barrage of alarming data changed all that. First came a downward revision to India's wheat crop in early May as a sudden heatwave hammered yields. Then data on May 12 showed inflation in the nation … [Read more...] about Food export bans, from India to Argentina, risk fueling inflation

Stock image LEGAZPI CITY — A farmer was wounded after he was allegedly shot by his cousin in Mandaon town in Masbate province on Monday (June 27) morning. In a report, Masbate police identified the victim as Nicolas Dela Cruz, 64, a resident of Barangay (village) Cabitan. Investigators said while Nicolas was herding his carabao, the suspect identified as Manuel Dela Cruz, 67, approached him and shot him several times in his right thigh using an undetermined firearm at around 6:30 a.m. in the said village. The suspect was arrested in the hot pursuit operation, while the victim was brought to a hospital. Authorities were investigating to determine the motive behind the incident. INQ Related Stories: Suspect in slay of college student in Albay town nabbed Crime group member slain in clash with cops in Albay town JMS Subscribe to our daily newsletter … [Read more...] about Farmer wounded in Masbate gun attack