Baidu to make AI chatbot Ernie Bot free of charge from Apr 1
CHINESE search engine leader Baidu said on Thursday (Feb 13) it would make its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Ernie Bot free starting Apr 1, citing improved technology and reduced…
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Fashion
Indonesia says UAE’s Emirates Global Aluminium plans nuclear power plant
UAE firm Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) plans to build a nuclear power plant with a capacity of up to five gigawatts in Indonesia, the Indonesian economic affairs ministry said in a…
Asia: Stocks rise, oil falls as Trump fans Ukraine peace hopes
ASIAN markets mostly rose on Thursday (Feb 13) and oil prices extended losses as forecast-topping US inflation was overshadowed by hopes for an end to the Ukraine war after news Donald…
South Korea’s tech exports lose growth momentum as risks rise
The outlook for chip sales is turning less optimistic this year as growth in shipments has slowed in recent months SOUTH Korea recorded a contraction in technology exports for the first…
China’s coal plant boom is undercutting clean energy push
Long-term coal-power contracts are also reinforcing the fuel’s dominance at the expense of renewables CHINA embarked last year on its biggest coal-power building boom in a decade,…
Ron Sim’s Osim overhauls product details after competition watchdog raises concerns
THE Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) received a complaint in 2021 from a customer who purchased an Osim product and realised it was not suitable for use after…
Singapore shares open lower on Thursday; STI down 0.1%
SINGAPORE equities began Thursday (Feb 13) in negative territory, following mixed performance overnight in the US and Europe. As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) fell 4.98 points…
Seatrium inks MOU with BP for deepwater production unit in offshore US
The company will provide engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning services for the Tiber FPU OFFSHORE and marine specialist Seatrium inked a memorandum of understanding…
Meta accounting move on AI servers to boost profit this year
META Platforms made a small change last month that’s likely to increase the company’s profit by billions of US dollars this year. It was not the release of a new product or cost cuts. It…
Robinhood revenue doubles, fuelled by surge in crypto trading
ROBINHOOD Markets reported revenue that more than doubled as the online-trading firm was buoyed by crypto-market transactions around the US presidential election. Revenue grew to US$1.01…
Pimco opens office in Dubai as asset managers flock to region
PACIFIC Investment Management Co (Pimco) opened a Dubai office, becoming the latest major fund manager to deepen its presence in the Middle East. The Newport Beach, California-based firm,…
Oil sinks 2% after Trump calls Putin, Zelensky to discuss end to war in Ukraine
OIL prices settled down more than 2 per cent on Wednesday (Feb 12) after US President Donald Trump took the first big step towards diplomacy over the war in Ukraine he has promised to end,…
Sorry, T-bills. It’s time now to look elsewhere for yields
INTEREST in Singapore’s Treasury bills (T-bills) surged over the past two years, as rising interest rates elevated demand for yield and stable returns. T-bills also found favour as…
Sorry, T-bills. It’s time to look elsewhere for yields
INTEREST in Singapore’s Treasury bills (T-bills) surged over the past two years, as rising interest rates elevated demand for yield and stable returns. T-bills also found favour as…
Hollywood writers say AI is ripping off their work. They want studios to sue
When the Writers Guild of America approved a contract with major studios in 2023, ending a 148-day strike, the union became the first bargaining group to gain significant guardrails around…
Thomson Medical incurs net loss of S$12.9 million for H1 2025
HEALTHCARE provider Thomson Medical has posted a net loss of S$12.9 million for the first half of its 2025 fiscal year ending Dec 31, 2024, a reversal of its net profit of S$2 million for…
US: Wall St opens sharply lower as hot inflation data dents rate cut hopes
WALL Street’s main indexes dropped at the open on Wednesday (Feb 12), as a hotter-than-anticipated inflation reading added to concerns that the Federal Reserve would not cut interest rates…
iFast Q4 net profit up 46.3% to S$19.3 million
DIGITAL bank and wealth management platform iFast has reported a 46.3 per cent increase in net profit to S$19.3 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2024, from S$13.2 million in…
Alibaba becomes China’s new AI darling with US$87 billion rally
THE frenzy over Chinese artificial intelligence is turning Alibaba Group Holding into an investor favourite again, injecting new life into an e-commerce giant that had nearly sunk into…
Digital Core Reit H2 DPU up 1.1 per cent to US$0.018
DIGITAL Core Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) posted a distribution per unit (DPU) of US$0.018 for the six months ended Dec 31, 2024, up 1.1 per cent from the year-ago period. The data…
Hanwha Group’s Pinetree Securities joins Alta Exchange as member firm
PINETREE Securities, the Singapore-based unit of South Korea’s Hanwha Investment & Securities, has joined Alta Exchange as a member firm. Under the strategic partnership with the Asian…
Singapore shares track regional gains; STI up 0.4%
Across the broader market, gainers outnumber losers 347 to 186 after 1.9 billion securities worth S$1.5 billion change hands SINGAPORE shares ended Wednesday (Feb 12) in a positive…
Indian central bank’s surprise, outsized intervention eases bearish bias on rupee
THE Indian central bank’s unexpected and decisive intervention in the foreign exchange markets over the past two days, worth as much as US$11 billion by one estimate, has reduced the…
GlobalFoundries sinks into the red with US$730 million Q4 loss due to impairment charge
GLOBALFOUNDRIES, which operates a wafer plant in Singapore, sunk into the red with a net loss of US$730 million for its fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2024, compared with a net profit of…