South-East Asia

The England & Wales Cricket Board has not selected Phil Salt for the upcoming home white-ball series against West Indies. Will Jacks, a batting all-rounder, has been recalled to the England squads that will face West Indies in three ODIs (over 20-overs) and three T20s between May 29 and July 10. Harry Brook, the white-ball captain, is leading both teams. Luke Wood and Tom Hartley have both returned to England's T20 and ODI teams, respectively, after not playing white-ball cricket since September 2023. Jacks was playing in the Indian Premier League along with Jos buttler, Jacob Bethell and Jamie Overton,...

Singapore's energy regulator announced on Wednesday that the country had established a wholly government-owned company called Singapore GasCo, to centralise gas procurement and supply to the power sector of the city-state. Energy Market Authority (EMA), in a press release, said that the entity would also benefit from economies of scale, negotiate better gas contracting terms and procure gas from different sources. It would sign contracts for longer periods to ensure a more stable gas supply and price. Alan Heng was also named as Singapore GasCo CEO by the EMA. He was previously the Group Chief Executive of Singaporean LNG company...

These are the most popular stories from the Wall Street Journal. These stories have not been verified and we cannot vouch their accuracy. The budget proposal for fiscal 2026, which is set to be released on Friday, will propose a cut of over $160 billion from programs in the areas of renewable energy, education and foreign aid. Kohl's fired CEO Ashley Buchanan after learning that he had directed the retailer to make a "highly abnormal" business deal with a woman with whom he was romantically involved. A spokesperson for the Chinese Commerce Ministry said that China would consider trade talks...

Mao Saigo, a Japanese player, won the Chevron Championship after beating four other players in a sudden-death playoff. The 23-year old won his first major after being tied with Ryu Haeran of South Korea after three rounds. However, a few late mistakes led to a score of two over par on Sunday. She sank a birdie on the par five 18th hole to keep herself in it. She joined China's Yin Ruoning and South Korean Kim Hyo Joo as well as Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn, and Lindy Duncan from the United States, in the playoff. In a televised statement, she said:...

Amitava Mukherjee, chairman of the Indian miner NMDC, said that it is looking for coking coal assets in Indonesia and Australia. Coking coal is a key ingredient used to make iron ore and styrene. India, which is the second largest producer of crude iron and steel in the world, imports 85% of coking coal. More than half of Australia's coking-coal imports are accounted for by the country. Mukherjee stated that the company views this as an opportunity for business. The negotiations (for explorations) are at different stages. Due to confidentiality, he did not reveal the specifics of these discussions. NMDC,...

New Zealand and Australia announced on Thursday that they were each working with other countries on a potential joint response to bolster free trade in the face of a barrage U.S. Tariffs. Christopher Luxon, the New Zealand Prime Minister, said that he spoke with leaders from Singapore, Vietnam, and Malaysia as well as with the head of the executive of the European Union about international trade. Luxon, in a speech he gave on Thursday, floated the idea that members of the European Union and Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership(CPTPP) could work together. The global trade system has been...

Authorities reported that a fire on a gas pipe operated by the state-owned energy company Petronas in Malaysia injured 33 people Tuesday, just outside the capital Kuala Lumpur. Astro Awani reported that Selangor Fire Department Director Wan Md Razali Wan Ismail said six of the injured had been sent to hospital. The fire is still burning and efforts are being made to put it out. Selangor Disaster Management Committee Chairman Mohd. Najwanhalimi told the state news agency Bernama that there are still people trapped in homes in Kampung Sungai baru, and rescue efforts continue. In a press release, Petronas said...

Puma Energy, a Trafigura-owned refinery products company, reported a 5% increase in net profit for 2024 in financial results published on Thursday. This is the third consecutive year that the business, which was once in a state of struggle has made a profit. Trafigura, a global commodity trading company, bought Sonangol’s stake in Puma Energy (then a loss-making company) in 2021. It took full control of the company and integrated it to its company as a way to increase its downstream market share. The company announced that its net profit was $39million. The company will not be paying a dividend....

The trade of Venezuelan crude oil to China, its top buyer, slowed on Tuesday following the U.S. President Donald Trump’s order that threatened tariffs against countries purchasing from Caracas. This came days after U.S. sanctioned China's imports of Iranian oil. Trump's surprise order caught Chinese traders and refiners by surprise. It states that, at the discretionary discretion of the Secretary of State, the U.S. can impose 25% tariffs starting April 2 on any goods imported from countries importing Venezuelan crude oil. Chinese traders and refiners are waiting to see the implementation of the order and if Beijing will instruct them...

Trafigura’s top executive for Mongolia has been suspended pending an investigation into a fraud scheme worth billions of dollars at the Swiss trading firm. The executive, however, lent more than $500 million from Trafigura to a company owned by his aunt. Lex Oil is Trafigura’s main counterparty in Mongolia. According to three sources and a document, it belonged to Erdenetuul who is the aunt of Trafigura’s suspended local boss Jononbayar Erdenesuren. Trafigura announced last October it had suffered a loss of $1.1 billion after an internal investigation found that employees within its Mongolian petroleum product supply business had engaged in...

The Singapore-based Jadestone Energy PLC, an oil and gas company that develops offshore gas fields, has submitted to the state-controlled PetroVietnam a plan for a joint development of two offshore gasfields in southwest Vietnam. Jadestone stated in a press release that the proposal included drilling two wells at the Nam Du and U Minh field to support a plateau production rate of 80 millions standard cubic feet per day. Jadestone, a separate company, said that the development of Nam Du and U Minh's gas fields will reduce Vietnam's future dependency on expensive liquefied gas imports. Gas will be transported to...

Freeport-McMoRan CEO Kathleen Quirk expressed her hope that U.S. president Donald Trump will declare copper to be a critical metal. This would allow tax credits for the American production of red metal, and help offset its global competitors, she said. Trump said to the U.S. Congress that he would take "historic action" to expand production of vital minerals, but he has not yet provided details. Copper is widely used in the global economy for power generation, electronic devices and construction. The U.S. Geological Survey identifies lithium, nickel and other minerals as essential. Quirk said that adding copper to Freeport's portfolio...

The Cobalt Institute published a study on Wednesday that showed demand for cobalt would rise faster than the supply. This will allow the market to decrease the surplus of 2024 in the coming years, and then swing to a deficiency in the early 30s. The future of cobalt in the short-term depends on the decision that the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world's largest producer of the mineral, which is used to manufacture the lithium-ion battery packs that power electric cars, makes after the four-month ban on exports, which was imposed late February. The ban was imposed by the central...

Amanda Lacaze, CEO of Lynas Rare Earths, said that the company is looking at potential purchases of rare-earth deposits in Malaysia and Brazil. It also plans to work with developers who are still in the early stages to bring their mines on line. She said that the Macquarie Australia Conference, held in Sydney, was a forum where she discussed how to grow the world's second largest producer of rare earths outside China. She said that Lynas' processing facilities in Malaysia have a similar geology to many other parts of Southeast Asia. This includes Myanmar. Myanmar is an important supplier of...

Chinese media, citing anonymous sources, reported that Ant Group, a subsidiary of China's ecommerce giant Alibaba Group, plans to list Ant International on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Caixin reported, citing sources close to the company that Ant was in communication with regulators regarding the possible listing. The report didn't specify whether discussions took place with regulators from China or other countries. Ant International is a Singapore-based company. Alibaba controls 33% of Ant, which was founded by Jack Ma. It runs China's ubiquitous Alipay mobile payment app. Chinese authorities pulled Ant's $37-billion IPO in Shanghai & Hong Kong in 2020....

The CEO of Brazilian nickel miner Vale said that the company is looking at alternatives to sell its nickel assets, including partnerships and putting them in care and maintenance. This is because the market has a difficult short-term outlook, he added. The chief executive of the company, Gustavo Pimenta, told reporters in Rio de Janeiro that there is a surplus on the market due to Indonesian production. "Nickel is attractive on a medium- and long-term basis," said Pimenta, citing the demand for electric car production. The executive said, "The question now is how to stay profitable in the short-term." Vale's...

Cemex, the Mexican cement manufacturer, reported a 18% drop in its core earnings in the first quarter of the year on Monday. This was largely due to headwinds in local markets. Cemex's earnings were $601 million in line with expectations, due to the weaker peso and lower volumes in Mexico, according to its filing. Cemex reported that the peso had caused an EBITDA hit of $65 million, and volumes in Mexico dropped due to a rush to complete government infrastructure projects last year before presidential elections. On Monday, the firm reiterated its forecast that it expects to reach an EBITDA...

In a Thursday statement, the U.S. Trade Rep Jamieson Greer said that he and his Vietnamese counterpart had a productive meeting in which they both agreed to make rapid progress in reciprocal trade. Greer and Vietnam’s Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Han Dien spoke Wednesday and "instructed [their] teams to engage in technical discussion in the coming days in order to discuss efforts on expanding market access and addressing unfair trade practices," according to the statement. The statement stated that "Both sides agreed it is important to make rapid progress toward reciprocal and equal trade between the United States...

Eramet, a French mining company, maintained its full-year production targets on Thursday despite lower manganese and Nickel volumes which contributed to flat sales in the first quarter. The company reported quarterly sales adjusted to 742 million euros (842 million dollars) and said that sales volumes at its manganese mining in Gabon were down 15% on an annual basis due to a strike by workers and logistical issues at Owendo Port. Eramet, the Indonesian nickel ore miner, attributed this decline to destocking of local processing plants. The Chairwoman and CEO Christel Bories also attributed the "more difficult" than expected first quarter...

Secretary general Meidy Kathrin, of the Indonesia Nickel Miners Association, said that on Wednesday they called on the government to reevaluate a recent regulation imposing higher royalty rates on nickel ore. Meidy says that the new royalties will burden miners already facing rising costs. She said that she understood that the policy had been officially enacted but hoped that the government would still allow for dialogue. Meidy stated that under the new rules Indonesia will impose a royalty rate of 14% to 19.0% on nickel ore. This is an increase from the existing single tariff of 10.0%. Semi-refined nickel pig...

B2Gold, a Canadian gold mining firm, plans to reduce 300 jobs in Namibia by the end of this year. The company will continue its phased downscaling at Otjikoto after it has exhausted open pit reserves. Otjikoto, which started commercial production in March of 2015, produced an unprecedented 198,142 gold ounces last year. This accounted for almost a quarter B2Gold’s total output. "By 2025, we will reduce our permanent staff from 700 to 400. This means that 300 employees will be affected during 2025", B2Gold Namibia’s country manager John Roos told reporters Monday at a company presentation. Otjikoto also reported a...

A top official said that Indonesia's social security fund BPJS Ketenagakerjaan (a $48 billion institution) aims to increase the local equity share in its portfolio up to 20% in three years. The recent stock market crash has created room for investing in undervalued stocks, he added. Edwin Ridwan is the director of the state-owned agency's investment development. He said that, since the Indonesian stock market crash, the fund has increased its investment in stocks with large market capitalisation. In an interview, he stated that "these are the conditions in which people sell, if you look at the history, whenever the...

S ingapore-headquartered real estate investment manager SC Capital Partners has emerged as a potential bidder for British data centre group Global Switch, two people familiar with the matter told . One of the sources said that the firm, which is backed by the global real estate manager CapitaLand Investment is working with advisors to purchase the London-based Jiangsu Shagang Group. The matter is a private one, so both sources requested anonymity. The people cautioned that the talks are still ongoing and will depend on market conditions. The first person who spoke said that the transaction could be valued between $4...

The mining minister announced on Wednesday that an Indonesian regulation will increase the royalties mine companies pay on commodities like coal, nickel and copper as well as gold, tin, and gold. The regulation aims to improve industry governance by increasing royalties for metal products, such as nickel ore and nickel matte, based on prices. The Miners Group has urged the Government to reconsider this hike as they already struggle with increasing operational costs. Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said to reporters, "We are appreciating all the inputs, but we see the greater interest for our nation." He said that the regulation would...