BEIRUT (AFP) – Syrian government forces launched a counterattack against rebels around the key city of Hama yesterday after suffering a string of staggering losses, a war monitor said.
Hama is strategically located in central Syria and for the army, it is key to safeguarding the capital and seat of power Damascus.
The fighting around Hama follows a lightning offensive by the rebels who in a matter of days seized swathes of territory from President Bashar al-Assad’s control.
Key in the rebels’ successes since the start of the offensive last week has been the takeover of Aleppo, Syria’s second city, which in more than a decade of war had never fallen from government hands.
In Aleppo, a medical student told AFP that staff at the hospital where he worked were “largely absent, with departments working at 50 per cent capacity”.
“We try to tend to emergency cases that come to the hospital, using medical supplies sparingly,” he said on condition of anonymity.
While the advancing rebels found little resistance earlier in their offensive, the fighting around Hama has been especially fierce.
By Tuesday, rebel forces had reached the gates of Hama city, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, as the fighting sparked a wave of displacement.
AFP images showed people fleeing the town of Suran, between Aleppo and Hama, many of them carrying whatever they could take aboard their vehicles.
Anti government fighters ride in the back of a pick truck in the town of Suran, between Aleppo and Hama. PHOTO: AFP
BANGKOK (BERNAMA) – Thailand’s Semiconductor Board has approved a national strategy framework and skilled workforce development plan to prepare for an anticipated wave of foreign investments totalling THB500 billion over the next five years.
The Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) secretary-general Narit Therdsteerasukdi stated the country’s newly appointed National Semiconductor and Advanced Electronics Policy Committee (Semiconductor Board), chaired by Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, approved the framework for Thailand’s national semiconductor strategy yesterday.
He said it is a strategy for the development of a skilled workforce to prepare for a new wave of foreign direct investments (FDI) in the sector that could bring at least THB500 billion (USD15 billion) into the country by 2029 as per the government’s target.
“We have had promising meetings with many key investors in the sector, and we are preparing the ecosystem to ensure that Thailand is ready to welcome their investments,” Narit said in a statement after the meeting yesterday.
Narit said the workforce development strategy includes training, upskilling, and reskilling programmes for over 86,000 individuals, with a focus on producing 1,400 master’s and PhD-level researchers under a talent development scheme.
To refine the strategy, he said the BOI will collaborate with a leading global consulting firm for a detailed study based on the approved framework.
For the record, applications for investment promotion in Thailand in the first nine months of 2024 increased 42 per cent year-on-year in value to a combined THB722.5 billion, the highest level since 2015, led by a significant inflow of FDI in large projects in target sectors including the electrical appliances and electronics (E&E), and data centres.
During the period, the E&E sector led with 291 projects worth a combined THB183.4 billion, with several printed circuit board applications also being filed this year.
Meanwhile, Narit said the Thailand Electric Vehicle (EV) Board, also chaired by Paetongtarn, approved extensions for the production timelines of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and included mild hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) in the hybrid incentive package to support the industry’s electrification efforts. He said the EV Board chaired by Paetongtarn has approved giving more time to makers of BEV to meet their production commitment under the so-called EV 3.0 incentive package that required them to produce locally to compensate for the vehicles they imported from the start of the subsidies programme in 2022 to end 2023.
“The measures approved today by the EV Board further demonstrate our commitment to the electrification of the whole automotive industry and the full support we are providing to manufacturers during the transition,” he added.
A view of the city skyline in Bangkok, Thailand. PHOTO: AFP
PARIS (AFP) – The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) raised yesterday its 2025 global growth forecast to 3.3 per cent but warned of the risk of protectionist measures to spark inflation and slow the economy.
Just weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House with pledges to slap tariffs on United States (US) trading partners the OECD said “increases in trade-restrictive measures could raise costs and prices, deter investment, weaken innovation and ultimately lower growth”.
OECD, a Paris-based body that advises industrialised nations on policy matters, issues regular forecasts on the global economy and factors that could impact growth.
The 0.1 percentage point increase in its 2025 global growth forecast, to 3.3 per cent, was primarily due to stronger US growth.
But both France and Germany saw to 0.3 per centage point cuts to their 2025 growth forecasts, to 0.9 per cent and 0.7 per cent, as both countries face political crises amid mounting fiscal pressure.
The downgraded forecast comes as France’s new minority government faces being brought down yesterday by lawmakers after it forced though the adoption of the social welfare budget.
LONDON (AFP) – The British government said yesterday that it has agreed to a partnership with Qatar that will see the Gulf state invest GBP1 billion (USD1.3 billion) in climate technologies.
“The partnership is expected to create thousands of highly skilled jobs over its lifetime and will see the launch of world-leading climate technology hubs across the United Kingdom (UK) and Qatar to accelerate development in climate-friendly technologies,” according to a statement issued during a state visit by Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.
British industrial group Rolls-Royce, which manufactures aircraft engines, will receive investments for programmes dedicated to energy efficiency, the statement said.
Qatar’s investments in the British economy are estimated at more than GBP40 billion and the emirate indicated in 2022 that it intends to invest another GBP10 billion by 2027.
The press release also said the two countries will create a joint academy of genomic medicine, which uses information from genome sequencing, and a joint commission on research into artificial intelligence (AI).
Qatar’s emir was welcomed on Tuesday by King Charles III at the start of a state visit where he will also hold talks with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who wants to negotiate trade deals with Gulf monarchies.
Britain has been seeking new trade pacts since leaving the European Union and in late 2021 began talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council (CCG), which groups Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.
Britain has joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), signed trade pacts with Australia and New Zealand, and is in negotiations with India.
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani with Britain’s King Charles III at Buckingham Palace in London, United Kingdom. PHOTO: AFP
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Amazon unveiled a suite of artificial intelligence (AI) models in its boldest move yet to compete with tech giant rivals in the fast-growing generative AI sector.
The launch of its own line of foundation models marks Amazon’s latest push to strengthen its position against forerunners Microsoft, Google, Meta and OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT.
Until now, Amazon’s AI offerings through its AWS cloud service had largely been limited to providing access to models from other companies, including Anthropic, an AI startup it backs.
Even if Google, Microsoft and OpenAI have taken the lead on AI, AWS remains the market leader in cloud computing, which is needed to power AI tools and products.
“Inside Amazon, we have about 1,000 Gen AI applications in motion, and we’ve had a bird’s-eye view of what application builders are still grappling with,” said senior vice president Rohit Prasad, who is leading the company’s AI efforts. “Our new Amazon Nova models are intended to help with these challenges,” he added.
The Amazon Nova family includes six AI models handling tasks from text creation to video generation.
The company said the models are at least 75 per cent cheaper than comparable offerings available on AWS servers and faster than similar models.
The initial lineup includes Nova Micro for fast text processing, Nova Lite for basic multimedia tasks, and Nova Premiere, set for an early 2025 release, for complex reasoning.
Supporting 200 languages, the models can be customised using customers’ proprietary data – a feature Amazon hopes will attract enterprises developing specialised AI applications.
Two dedicated models target creative content: Nova Canvas for image generation and Nova Reel for video creation.
Amazon emphasised built-in safety measures for the new offerings, which will be available through AWS’s Bedrock service, with usage guidelines detailing specific use cases and limitations.
An Amazon employee passes by the company’s logo. PHOTO: AFP
SEOUL (AFP) – South Korea said it would provide “sufficient liquidity” to support its financial markets yesterday after the country was rocked by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief imposition of martial law overnight.
Equities sank more than two per cent in Seoul and the won initially plunged to a two-year low against the dollar after the dramatic move, which stunned traders already concerned about the state of Asia’s number-three economy.
In a bid to limit the fallout from the crisis, the country’s Central Bank and Finance Ministry moved to reassure markets.
“As announced together with the government, it has been decided to temporarily supply sufficient liquidity until the financial and foreign exchange markets stabilise,” the Bank of Korea said.
It added that “the range of securities eligible for (repo) transactions and the target institutions will be expanded”. Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, who is also the Minister of Economy and Finance, said financial authorities will keep international partners informed about developments.
“In order to ease concerns about our economic situation, we will closely communicate with international credit rating agencies, major countries such as the United States, domestic economic organisations and financial markets, and share the situation,” he said.
“In addition, we will operate a 24-hour economic and financial situation inspection task force to operate a real-time monitoring system to prevent a real-time economic shock, and we will thoroughly monitor with relevant organisations to prevent any disruptions in exports.”
Yoon said he had made the decision, which took Seoul’s global allies by off guard, “to safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s forces and to eliminate anti-state elements plundering people’s freedom and happiness”.
Dealers of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. PHOTO: AFP
AP – Global stocks were mixed yesterday after overnight political drama in South Korea added to regional uncertainties, though the Kospi in Seoul fell less than two per cent.
France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3 per cent in early trading to 7,278.18, as the minority government was facing a no-confidence vote yesterday in Parliament following a divisive budget debate.
Germany’s DAX added 0.4 per cent to 20,100.80, while Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.2 per cent to 8,343.17.
The future contract for the S&P 500 edged 0.2 per cent higher and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4 per cent.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was facing possible impeachment after he suddenly declared martial law on Tuesday night, prompting troops to surround the Parliament. Yoon accused pro-North Korean forces of plotting to overthrow one of the world’s most vibrant democracies. The martial law declaration was revoked about six hours later.
Yesterday, South Korea’s main opposition party called for President Yoon to resign immediately or face impeachment.
Yoon’s move caused the won to plummet to a two-year low against the US dollar, with losses of up to two per cent, the sharpest one-day drop since the market’s seismic reaction to Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory. The won recovered some of those losses yesterday. The dollar was trading at 1,412.87 won, down from Tuesday’s peak at 1,443.40.
South Korea’s Kospi closed 1.4 per cent lower to 2,464.00. Shares of Samsung Electronics, the country’s biggest company, fell 0.9 per cent. Meanwhile, the country’s financial regulator said they were prepared to deploy KRW10 trillion (USD7.07 billion) into a stock market stabilization fund at any time, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Elsewhere in the region, China announced on Tuesday it was banning exports to the United States of gallium, germanium, antimony and other key high-tech materials with potential military applications.
The Shanghai Composite fell 0.4 per cent to 3,364.65.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.1 per cent to 39,276.39. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.4 per cent to 8,462.60.
On Tuesday, US stocks tiptoed to more records, tacking a touch more onto what’s already been a stellar year.
The S&P 500 edged up less than 0.1 per cent to 6,049.88, setting an all-time high for the 55th time this year.
A person rides a bicycle in front of the Tokyo Stock Exchange building. PHOTO: AFP
LONDON (AFP) – Ange Postecoglou said yesterday that his Tottenham team are “progressing in all aspects of our game” despite a wildly inconsistent Premier League campaign so far.
Spurs, who travel to face Bournemouth today, are seventh in the table with six wins, five defeats and two draws in their opening 13 games – just three points off the top four.
They hammered champions Manchester City 4-0 late last month after being defeated 2-1 at home by struggling Ipswich.
Postecoglou last week launched an impassioned defence of his attacking approach, saying he was “not interested” in pragmatism after they conceded a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw against Roma.
And the Australian said on the eve of the Bournemouth game that his side are heading in the right direction.
Tottenham Hotspur’s Head Coach Ange Postecoglou. PHOTO: AFP
“We’re progressing in all our aspects of our game,” he said. “We’ve scored a lot of goals but even defensively, we’re much more consistent than we were last year.
“The fact that we have got quite a few significant absences is just something we have to work through.
“We had a very similar scenario last year and it’s fair to say we sort of ground our way through it and we’re kind of doing that at the moment.”
Despite his upbeat message, Postecoglou admitted there was room for improvement.
“We’ve obviously had a couple of games where we’ve been not great in executing our football, those two games in particular against Palace (a 1-0 defeat) and Ipswich we fell well below what we wanted to do,” he said.
“That’s probably again an area we’ve tried to iron out but aside from that, it’s progress in all areas.”
FRANKFURT (AFP) – The head of Germany’s central bank backed calls to reform the country’s stringent debt rules in comments published yesterday as years of underinvestment weigh down Europe’s second-largest economy. Relaxing the rules to allow more spending on defence and infrastructure would be a “very smart approach”, Bundesbank president Joachim Nagel told the Financial Times newspaper.
The idea of reforming the so-called debt brake, which limits state borrowing to 0.35 per cent of gross domestic product, has gained traction as the German economy has sputtered.
Berlin expects output to shrink by 0.2 per cent this year, while the outlook for business re-mains gloomy.
The spending cap, which was enshrined in the constitution in 2009, has seen Germany maintain some of the lowest debt levels in Europe.
But its critics said it has curbed sorely needed investments to boost growth or improve Germany’s defences. Differences over spending priorities under the limits imposed by the debt brake were a key reason for the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government last
month.
The disintegration of the Social Democrat’s three-way coalition is leading to new elections slated for late February.
Scholz has gone into the campaign with a promise to support a reform of the debt brake that would be “clearly limited to investments in security and the modernisation of Germany”.
The conservative opposition CDU-CSU bloc, which is currently ahead in the polls, has likewise signalled openness to changing the spending rules.
The conservative candidate for chancellor Friedrich Merz said last month a change could make sense if it promoted investment as opposed to allowing more day-to-day spending.
HANOI (AFP) – A multi-billion-dollar fraud scandal involving one of Vietnam’s most prominent tycoons exposed systemic weaknesses in the country’s banking sector, said analysts who warn other such cases could yet emerge.
Judges on Tuesday upheld the death sentence of property developer Truong My Lan, who was convicted this year of embezzling vast sums from the Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), which she controlled, having borrowed from tens of thousands of small investors.
Corruption is extensive in Vietnam, which ranked 83rd out of 180 in Transparency International’s most recent Corruption Perception Index.
But the monumental scale of Lan’s crime was unprecedented, with the USD27-billion in losses prosecutors said she caused equivalent to Bosnia’s entire annual gross domestic product.
Banking experts fear other damaging allegations are lurking in hidden recesses of the financial sector of the fast-growing economy, which is seen as a favoured destination for foreign investors.
“SCB is not a single problem, it is an illness of the whole economy,” banking expert Bui Kien Thanh told AFP.
Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan looks on at a court in Ho Chi Minh city. PHOTO: AFP
The Vietnamese financial system was “characterised by a lack of tight state management”, he said.
“Similar issues are rampant in society, so (Vietnam) needs to study and fix the problem before others arise.” Experts said a key systemic weakness is in the regulation of the corporate bond market, where companies borrow money from investors.
In most developed markets, bonds are issued through independently regulated brokers on the basis of a full prospectus, graded by ratings agencies, and traded on stock exchanges.
But SCB, through its branches, misleadingly sold its bonds directly to retail customers, with staff trained for weeks on how to falsely reassure them their money was secure and the investment carried little risk.
Tens of thousands of people invested their savings in the bonds and lost everything when the bank collapsed and had to be bailed out by authorities, some of them contemplating suicide.
Most Vietnamese company debt is not rated for creditworthiness at all, with local ratings agency FiinRatings saying there were no corporate bonds with credit ratings in the country in the years before Lan’s arrest.
That compared with an average of around 50 per cent across the 10-member ASEAN.
According to state media, a judge at Lan’s original trial asked police to look into the role played by staff at three of the world’s biggest accounting firms that audited SCB’s books – Ernst and Young, Deloitte and KPMG.
None of the three responded to requests for comment by AFP.
At every level of the Vietnamese financial sector – from employees on the ground to regulatory authorities – there is a lack of training on financial markets, the risks involved and regulatory obligations, Thanh said.
On paper, Lan owned just five per cent of shares in SCB, but at her trial, the court concluded that she effectively controlled more than 90 per cent through family, friends and staff who were asked to hold stocks on her behalf. She then used her position to direct SCB management staff to withdraw money from the bank, over time transporting the equivalent of USD4.4 billion in cash in trucks to her home and the offices of her Van Thinh Phat property firm.
“They don’t question the paperwork… they just say, how are we going to do it? How fast can we do it?” said economist based in the United States Khuong Huu Loc.
“The whole system is a game based on collusion,” he added. “The problem is, it gets so bad, (but) people let her continue on because you don’t want to open the can of worms.”
