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The Amazon Singapore website announcing deliveries in Singapore is seen in this illustration photo July 27, 2017. An employee works at Amazon's Prime Now fulfillment centre in Singapore July 27, 2017. Amazon.com Inc launched its two-hour delivery service in Singapore on Thursday, marking the e-commerce giant's biggest push into Southeast Asia and its first head-on battle with Chinese rival, Alibaba Group Holding. While Amazon already delivered to Singapore, higher-end services had not been available, including Prime subscriptions which provide access to the company's video-streaming service. The Prime Now Singapore app promises to deliver everything from Tiger Balm ointment to eggs, hammer drills and Pampers nappies within two hours. In Asia, Amazon has largely sidestepped China and focused on India, where it is the number-two player behind local rival Flipkart. But its arrival in Singapore, a tiny but wealthy city state of just over 5 million people, has been hotly a...

In a  report  by Swiss multinational financial institution Credit Suisse, bitcoin and blockchain are deemed to be ‘relatively safe’. Bitcoin has some unique risks, the report noted. The value of the cryptocurrency has been three times more volatile than the price of oil and 11 times more than the post-Brexit exchange rate between the British pound and the U.S. dollar, according to the bank’s markets research department. Bitcoin transfers are also irreversible, so someone making a mistake entering an account number when making a payment will be out of luck. In addition, if a bitcoin user loses their private key, they can lose all their bitcoin. Blockchain’s Immune Structure Bitcoin’s blockchain architecture has demonstrated immunity to hacking risks. The blockchain is not an interconnected series of individual accounts, but a record of past transactions. When a user wants to transfer bitcoins, all computers running the bitcoin software process the sender...

Following yet another sharp price drop due to the secretive, closed-door and private actions of China’s Central Bank, the bitcoin community turned today to angry rhetoric directed at PBOC. “You can’t live in a fascist state and not expect the fascist state to come bursting through your door to slap you around, every now and then.” – says one bitcoiner. “I am about sick of China.” – says another. “It’s safe to say that China is going to keep saying something every time Bitcoin gets close to the value of Gold.” – says a third. PBOC stands accused of taking measures against bitcoin every time price rises. Just as bitcoin surpassed gold parity, they  announced  the opening of an “investigation” into China’s big three exchanges: BTCC, OKCoin and Huobi. Price fell sharply by around $300, but then slowly recovered, increasing by around $170 from the beginning of this month to reach around $1,070. PBOC again interfered. Telling Bloomberg they were to hold a  clo...

A small interest-rate rise shows the central bank testing the limits of its independence IF ASKED before the start of 2017 to bet on which important central bank would be the first to raise interest rates this year, the safe choice would have been the Federal Reserve. Some gamblers, relishing the long odds, might have gone for the Bank of England or even taken a flutter on the European Central Bank. All these guesses would have been wrong. The first to budge this year? The People’s Bank of China. On February 3rd the Chinese central bank raised a series of short-term rates. The decision received scant attention. The increases were, after all, small: one-tenth of a percentage point for the main rates. It also seemed quite technical, primarily affecting liquidity tools that lenders can tap if short of cash. And there was no fanfare: the central bank did not publish an explanation. China Public finance Central banking But China’s move is important for two reasons. First, it highlights...

South Africa will introduce a national minimum wage of 3,500 rand ($261) per month in 2018, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday, according to a Reuters report. The announcement follows protracted negotiations between the government and labour unions. Nigeria’s current minimum wage is N18,000 ($60) with organised labour asking it be increased to at least N50,000 ($166), despite several state and local governments defaulting on the existing amount. The Nigerian government has not acceded to labour’s request amidst a biting recession that has crippled Africa’s largest economy. Workers have meanwhile complained the N18,000 is way below a living wage and cannot meet basic needs of workers. Supporters of a South African minimum wage say it can stimulate growth as workers can spend more, and reduce inequality. Critics say it could lead to increased unemployment as employers will be unable to afford higher wage bills. Credit ratings agencies have said agr...

National flags of U.S. and China wave in front of an international hotel in Beijing February 4, 2010. (Photo by Reuters) China says it has protested to the US for putting Chinese companies and individuals on a new sanctions list targeting Iran.  Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Monday Beijing had "lodged representations" with Washington after Trump's administration imposed sanctions on 25 people and entities on Friday for trade with Iran. "We have consistently opposed any unilateral sanctions," Lu told a regular press briefing in Beijing. Unilateral US sanctions in the past have infuriated China. Last March, Beijing was outraged after the US government punished China’s largest telecom equipment maker ZTE Corps for alleged violations of sanctions on Iran. Read more:  China irate as US targets Iran trade China's Foreign Ministry expressed anger at the action, saying it is “opposed to the US citing domestic laws to place sanctions on Chinese ...

More than half of Britain’s major businesses are already experiencing the implications of leaving the EU, a survey shows. Over half of Britain’s major companies have experienced the negative impacts of the country’s pending withdrawal from the European Union (EU), shows a new survey of British business leaders. About 58 percent of bosses from Britain’s largest 500 firms think their businesses are already facing the implications of last year’s public vote to leave the EU, according to an Ipsos Mori poll published on Monday. This is while, only 11 percent of the respondents thought the outlook of the divorce has worked to the benefit of their businesses. In June last year, nearly 52 percent of Britons voted to end the country’s decades-long membership in the EU. The decision meant that while the UK would free itself from the EU regulations and have more control over its borders, it would lose access to the Single Market, a scary prospect for busi...