World

HONG KONG: The United Arab Emirates kept their slim hopes of automatic qualification for the Qatar World Cup alive on Thursday with a 2-0 win over Syria in Group A of Asia's preliminaries in Dubai. Failure to defeat Tita Valeriu's Syria side would have left the UAE 11 points adrift of South Korea and out of the running for second place in the group after the East Asians claimed a 1-0 win over Lebanon earlier in the day. But Caio Canedo scored two minutes before halftime to give Bert van Marwijk's UAE team the lead and Yahya Al Ghassani doubled his side's advantage 20 minutes from time to earn the UAE a win that puts Korean qualification on hold. The UAE remain third in Group A, eight points behind the second-placed Koreans and a further two points adrift of Iran, who confirmed their spo...

AMSTERDAM: ASML forecast sales growth of 20 per cent in 2022 despite a fire this month at its Berlin plant as the supplier to chipmakers on Wednesday reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit. Europe's largest technology company by market capitalisation said that the Jan 3 fire had damaged part of one building and caused smoke damage at a second. ASML Chief Executive Peter Wennink said "the expected impact of the fire in part of a building at our Berlin site is included" in the 2022 growth forecast. An initial assessment on Jan 7 said shipments of ASML's DUV products would not be affected, but left open the possibility EUV shipments could be impacted as the facility in Berlin made one part needed for the systems. "Based on our current insights, we believe we can manage the co...

BANGKOK : Thailand's central bank said on Monday the country's economy could see lower growth in the first half of 2022 than a baseline scenario due to uncertainties caused by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. While Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy has been supported by domestic spending and a rebound in tourism, a growing outbreak of Omicron remained a key risk, the Bank of Thailand said in a statement. Thailand is expected to bring the Omicron outbreak under control within the first quarter of 2022, it said. "There are great downside risks in the first half of 2022 because of the Omicron outbreak, which could be more severe and longer than expected," Sakkapop Panyanukul, a senior director at the Bank of Thailand, told a meeting with analysts. Thailand's economy is foreca...

JAKARTA: Indonesia's government is hoping to reach a decision on resuming coal shipments in the coming days, its energy minister said on Monday (Jan 10), as pressure mounts on the world's biggest thermal coal exporter to end a ban imposed at New Year. "We have done stocktaking and we hope in coming days there will be more clarity so we can have coal security and resume exports," energy minister Arifin Tasrif said in a meeting with Japan's industry minister, Koichi Hagiuda, which was broadcast virtually. Japan is among several countries which have pressed Indonesia to ease its coal exports suspension, which was imposed on Jan 1 after state power utility PLN reported critically low inventory levels of the fuel, putting it on the brink of widespread power outages. The Philippines on Monday...

China has accelerated settlement-building along its disputed border with Bhutan, with more than 200 structures, including two-story buildings, under construction in six locations, according to satellite image analysis conducted for Reuters. The images and analysis supplied by U.S. data analytics firm HawkEye 360, which uses satellites to gather intelligence on ground-level activities, and vetted by two other experts, provide a detailed look into China’s recent construction along its frontier with Bhutan. Construction-related activity in some of the locations along Bhutan’s western border has been underway since early 2020, with China initially building tracks and clearing out areas, based on material provided by satellite imagery firms Capella Space and Planet Labs, said Chris Biggers, t...

JAKARTA: Tens of thousands of Indonesia's indigenous people are at risk of being expelled from their lands to make way for the construction of a new capital on jungle-clad Borneo island, a rights group warned on Friday (Jan 21). At least 20,000 people from 21 indigenous groups live in the area designated for the construction of the new capital with laws enabling the move from Jakarta not providing enough protection for the communities' land rights, according to the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN). The group issued its warning after parliament last week approved the capital's relocation from Jakarta, on Java island, to the East Kalimantan province on the Indonesian part of Borneo, which the country shares with Malaysia and Brunei. "The project will trigger problems ...

The United States on Wednesday laid out its most detailed case yet against Beijing’s “unlawful” claims in the South China Sea, rejecting both the geographic and historic bases for its vast, divisive map. In a 47-page research paper, the State Department’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs said China had no basis under international law for claims that have put Beijing on a collision course with the Philippines, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations. “The overall effect of these maritime claims is that the PRC unlawfully claims sovereignty or some form of exclusive jurisdiction over most of the South China Sea,” the paper said, referring to the People’s Republic of China. “These claims gravely undermine the rule of law in the oceans and numerous ...

SINGAPORE: After forking out more than S$2,000 for a three-night staycation at Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa in November last year, Ms Wendy Chong and her family were told that their room was not ready when they arrived at the scheduled check-in time. They were asked to wait at a restaurant that was a 10-minute walk away, where they were served only water. “The counter staff weren’t apologetic,” said the 55-year-old assistant manager at a logistics firm, who was on staycation with her husband and two daughters, aged 12 and 16. “It didn’t bother them that they were checking us in later and it seemed like it happens very frequently.” Their room was finally ready at about 5pm, close to two hours after her check-in time. But when they entered their room, they found that the television and...

He expects, though, that in the spring and summer, demand for business travel will be strong "as people get back into the regular routine and feel safe traveling." Right before its capital markets day in mid-December, and right before its earnings call, the airline surveyed corporate clients. "And what we saw was that the percentage of customers who thought in the first quarter that they would travel the same or more went down slightly, but it was still 80% of the corporate travel survey respondents thought they would travel the same or more in the first quarter than they did in fourth quarter," said Glen Hauenstein, Delta Air Lines president, on the earnings calls. "Office reopenings have been pushed out, as you know." Business travel, though, is a different story, but Delta doesn't see...

PARIS :French technology consulting company Atos issued a profit warning on Monday, its second in seven months, causing its shares to slump to their lowest level since around mid-2012. The company's latest profit warning also came just several days after its new CEO Rodolphe Belmer, appointed in October, officially took over the reins. Atos shares plunged by 15per cent in early session trading. Atos said its financial objectives stated in July could not be met, due both to delays on deals with customers and to lower margins at its hardware and software resales unit. "I joined the company last week, at the time when the figures were being collected and consolidated. The current state of financial insight leads us to the obligation to issue a profit warning today due to the significant v...