World

South Korean K-pop pioneer SM Entertainment Co Ltd is poised to fall under the grip of social media giant Kakao Corp after HYBE Co Ltd, the agency representing boy band BTS, on Sunday dropped a bid to take control. Why is SM attractive? SM, founded in 1995 by South Korean …

In the middle of last week, Moody’s Investors Service Inc delivered alarming news to SVB Financial Group, the parent of Silicon Valley Bank: the ratings firm was preparing to downgrade the bank’s credit. That phone call, described by two people familiar with the situation, began the process toward Friday’s spectacular …

Ho Chi Minh City has cut short the procedures for issuing work permits for foreigners and digitalized the application process to make it easy for enterprises to get work permits for their foreign staff. According to Nguyen Van Lam, Vice Director of the municipal Department of Labor, Invalids and Social …

Hanoi plans to plant 400,000 more trees until 2025 for better urban aesthetics. The capital’s tree-planting plan for the 2021-2025 term would see 500,000 trees being planted during the period. Around 100,000 trees were planted in 2021 and 2022, and another 400,000 are expected to be planted in the next …

Police in India have arrested three men in eastern Bihar state in connection with the death of a Muslim man who was attacked because he was suspected of carrying beef, a police official said on Saturday. The victim, Naseem Qureshi, 56, died earlier this week after being attacked by a …

Four years before Li Qiang became known as the force behind the two-month Covid-19 lockdown of Shanghai, the man who became China’s premier on Saturday worked quietly behind the scenes to drive a bold revamp of the megacity’s sclerotic stock market. Li’s back-channeling – sources said he bypassed the China …

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son suggested Vietnam and China maintain high-level exchanges to quickly resume all international flights to facilitate travel and trade. Receiving Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Nong Rong in Hanoi on Friday, Son suggested that the two countries improve the quality and efficiency of …

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday nominated Li Qiang to become premier during the ongoing annual meeting of China’s rubber-stamp parliament, a role charged with managing the world’s second-largest economy. Li, the former Communist Party chief of Shanghai, China’s largest city, will replace Li Keqiang, who is retiring during the …

Residents of certain blacklisted areas in Vietnam cannot go as guest workers to South Korea under an employment program, the labor ministry said. The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said people in certain places in Ha Tinh, Hai Duong, Nghe An, and Thanh Hoa Provinces would temporarily be …

The Drug Administration of Vietnam on Friday ordered the recall of a batch of Indian drugs used to treat joint pain due to low quality. It said batch WLD21003E of Locobile-200 produced on Feb. 4, 2021, by M/S Windlas Biotech Limited has been found falling short of quality standards in …