Rogelio Villarreal knew nothing about French jeweller Cartier, he said, when an ad popped up on his Instagram feed in December. He clicked on it, perusing the pages of bling and other luxury items, including handbags, watches and necklaces, each listed for thousands of dollars. Then Villareal, who lives in …

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Mercedes Formula One team boss Toto Wolff has knocked back speculation about a meeting with Max Verstappen’s management after this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix. Mercedes are looking for a replacement for seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton, who is joining Ferrari at the end of the season. …

When Carrie Clark got a phone call on April 17 from a veterinarian in California informing her that her cat, which had vanished from her Utah home a week earlier, had been found some 500 miles away, her first reaction was disbelief. “I could not believe that it was true,” …

KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Group Holdings Bhd’s 92.5%-owned Indonesian arm, PT Bank CIMB Niaga Tbk’s (CIMB Niaga) pretax profit rose 7.8% year-on-year (YoY) to 2.2 trillion rupiah in the first quarter of 2024, translating to earnings per share of 66.96 rupiah. “Our healthy loan growth and improved asset quality indicators have …

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak obtained unanimous approval from the Cabinet in 2013 to approve a letter of support for the issuance of US$3bil in bonds by a subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), 1MDB Global Investment Bhd (1MDB-GIL), the High Court heard. Senior officer Nur Aida Arifin, 37, …

ROME (Reuters) – An Italian court sentenced former foreign minister Gianfranco Fini to two years and eight months in jail after he was convicted for his role in the sale of a Monte Carlo apartment by his political party. Elisabetta Tulliani, Fini’s partner, was handed a five-year sentence by the …

KUALA LUMPUR: Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil has slammed Bersatu supreme council member Dr Afif Bahardin for making sexist remarks against Pakatan Harapan’s Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election candidate Pang Sock Tao. Fahmi, who is also the unity government spokesman, said this when responding to Dr Afif’s video on Instagram recently which …

KUALA LUMPUR: Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd (F&N) has enjoyed the general rise in commodity prices but foresees challenges with increasing costs of raw materials, according to chief executive officer Lim Yew Hoe. “Nevertheless, we have taken measures to address these challenges as these commodities are vital to our business,” …

NEW YORK (Reuters) – E-commerce titan Amazon.com may be under increasing pressure to offer investors a dividend, as it now finds itself one of the few massive U.S. technology and growth companies not making regular payouts to shareholders. Google parent Alphabet last week became the latest of the so-called Magnificent …

PARIS (Reuters) – Weeks before his eighth birthday, Karam Singh joked about becoming a break dancer while watching a Justin Timberlake video and, 16 years on, Kid Karam is preparing for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The 26-year-old from Derby, England, the first breaker to land a sponsorship deal with Nike …