World

ROVANIEMI, Finland: Workers at Santa Claus Village, a holiday theme park on the edge of the Arctic Circle, chipped away at a frozen dome, using chisels to put the final touches on an ice restaurant-hotel filled with sculptures of snowmen, penguins and huskies. The Christmas season is in full swing in Finnish Lapland, where venue operators happily report that visitors have returned in numbers approaching pre-pandemic levels. Tourists from elsewhere in Finland and abroad come to revel in the festive spirit at the sprawling theme park, take a reindeer or husky sleigh ride and, if they’re lucky, glimpse the Northern Lights. How long the winter fun will last is uncertain as the Omicron coronavirus variant leads to new travel restrictions, test requirements and quarantine measures. “It is a w...

Next year will mark 50 years since U.S. President Richard Nixon traveled to China to meet with Communist Party of China Chairman Mao Zedong and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai — a major step toward restoring relations after decades of estrangement and hostility. A half-century later, the progress they launched has been all but lost, and U.S. President Joe Biden is partly to blame. The ideological differences between the United States and China in 1972 could not have been starker. But both sides recognized the vast benefits of a detente. By isolating the Soviet Union, they hastened the end of the Cold War. And by enabling China to shift its focus to peaceful economic development, they bolstered global prosperity for decades to follow. Thanks to a large labor force and abundant land, China bec...

THG PLC Founder Matthew Moulding had reason to boast in February when he declared on Instagram that he had logged “500 consecutive days of making it into the gym.” He had plenty of other milestones to celebrate, too, including becoming a billionaire thanks to THG’s initial public offering in 2020. The company’s shares were trading near a recent record high, with customers and investors alike impressed by THG’s focus on products — such as makeup and fitness supplements — which have become wildly popular with social media users. The good times didn’t last. THG shares soon began a steady decline, which turned into a collapse in October his year. The stock fell 78% from its January high after the company failed to convince shareholders that it wasn’t just an e-commerce firm, but also a high-...

Next year looks to be a critical year for Southeast Asia with prominent presidential elections potentially deciding the future of democracy in the Philippines; politics heating up in Malaysia, Thailand and other countries; the region battling COVID-19 and its economic effects; and ASEAN trying to grapple with the chaos in Myanmar and its impact on the region. Big elections The biggest election in Southeast Asia in 2022, of course, will be the Philippine presidential vote, one that already has attracted a ream of contenders. Since Philippine presidents serve one, six-year term and often work with compliant legislatures and weak party systems, they often possess far more power once they are elected than peers in many other presidential systems. Next year’s presidential election is already...

China Minmetals Rare Earth said on Wednesday it would merge with two of China's other top rare earth producers into a new company under the state assets regulator, creating a global force in the strategic industry. China is the world's dominant producer of rare earths, a group of 17 minerals used in consumer electronics and military equipment. Moves to consolidate China's "Big Six" state-run rare earth companies have been seen as a way to boost influence over pricing. China's control of 85-90 per cent of the rare earths processing sector means an uneasy reliance on Chinese supply for the United States, especially at times of high trade tensions. Minmetals Rare Earth, which had flagged in September that talks about such a restructuring were underway, said in a filing its parent had been ...

Markets were hammered Monday as investors grew more concerned the Covid omicron variant could have a significant impact on the global economy. Five experts weigh in on what they think may be ahead for U.S. stocks: Chris Hyzy, chief investment officer at Bank of America Private Bank, says the stock market has come back to fundamentals. "Coming off the extraordinary gains of 2020 and 2021… we're almost back to the basics again. You have to take a position on earnings growth. And profit growth, from our perspective, should be better than expected. Consensus is out there with a 7% or 8% move. But when you look at some of the trends, particularly consumer spending despite the growth worries we're all talking about right now, when we look back on all this and we go to the summer of next year ...

JOHANNESBURG: South African batsman Keegan Petersen predicts the wicket at the Wanderers will get tougher to bat on as the second test against India progresses, offering the potential of a gripping contest between bat and ball. Petersen top scored for South Africa with a maiden half century on Tuesday as the home team managed a slender first innings lead over the tourists but then allowed India to score quickly near the close of play to take a 58-run lead with eight wicket second innings wickets in hand. "I think it's going to be tough for the rest of the test match and pitch is definitely not getting better," he told a virtual news conference at the close of play on Tuesday. But he warned that South Africa would need to bowl India out cheaply on Wednesday if they were to have a chance ...

MANILA :Citigroup Inc said on Thursday it is selling its consumer-banking business in the Philippines to UnionBank in the third of 13 planned exits from Asia franchises. Citigroup said the Philippines transaction will increase its tangible common equity by about US$500 million of the total US$7 billion increase it expects to eventually come from the Asia divestiture plan it announced in April. For Unionbank of the Philippines the purchase is part of a bid to boost growth in its retail banking sector. Unionbank will pay cash for the net assets of the Citi Philippines' consumer banking business plus a premium of 45.3 billion pesos, or about US$908 million, Citigroup said. The deal includes Citi's credit card, personal loans, wealth management and retail deposit businesses, as well as rea...

NEW YORK : Oil prices rose about 2per cent on Thursday, extending their new year's rally, on escalating unrest in OPEC+ oil producer Kazakhstan and supply outages in Libya. Brent crude futures rose US$1.19 cents, or 1.5per cent, to settle at US$81.99 a barrel, after hitting their highest since late November. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained US$1.61, or 2.1per cent, to US$79.46. The contract touched a session high of US$80.24. Russia sent paratroopers into Kazakhstan to help quell a countrywide uprising after deadly violence spread across the tightly controlled former Soviet state. There were no indications that oil production in Kazakhstan has been affected so far. The country produces about 1.6 million barrels of oil per day. Meanwhile in Libya, oil output was at 729,00...

The goal of net-zero carbon by 2050 is almost certain to be drastically curtailed by its costs and lack of feasibility. The International Renewable Energy Agency, an intergovernmental body, estimates that the world needs to invest $115 trillion in clean technologies such as solar and wind power and electric vehicles to limit global warming since 1900 to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the goal of the 2015 Paris climate agreement that was signed by 195 countries. Much of the reduction would have to come in India and China, which would need to invest $21 trillion to overhaul transportation and construction while building nuclear, wind and solar facilities to reach zero net carbon emissions by 2060, according to the Wall Street Journal. But 57% of China’s energy consumption in 2020 was supplied by coa...