SINGAPORE (CNA) – Singapore’s e-commerce giant Sea will freeze salaries for most employees and pay out lower bonuses this year as part of measures to prepare for a “worsening global economic environment” in 2023, according to reports on Thursday.
Sea is the parent company of gaming unit Garena and e-commerce platform Shopee.
Bloomberg reported that Sea founder Forrest Li announced in an internal memo that the company “needs to focus on profitability after a difficult 2022”, adding that the economy next year “may prove to be even more challenging” amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and rising inflation rates.
As such, the company will halt salary increases for employees who have not been promoted, said Li, who added that the majority of the changes have been made.
According to reports, Li said, “I know such news can be hard to bear, especially around the holiday season. These are temporary but necessary measures to help us build toward a bigger, brighter future.”
After the announcement was made, Sea’s shares dropped more than four per cent.
Over the past few months, Sea has laid off more than 7,000 employees – or about 10 per cent of its workforce.
Staff cuts were also made at Garena in September 2022, including shutting down some major projects to boost Sea’s profitability.
LONDON (AFP) – New coach Steve Borthwick has cautioned against an immediate upturn in the England rugby team’s fortunes, saying they won’t be “perfect” in their Six Nations opener against Scotland in February.
Borthwick, previously in charge of Premiership champions Leicester, succeeded Eddie Jones on Monday after the Australian coach was sacked following England’s worst year of results since 2008, with six losses from 12 games.
Borthwick, a former England captain, has barely nine months to revive the team’s fortunes for the Rugby World Cup in France.
“There’s a lot of potential in the players we have and I want to produce a team that delivers, so I’m going to devote myself wholeheartedly to try to help this team deliver and be a team that we can all be proud of,” Borthwick said.
England play oldest rivals Scotland at Twickenham on February 4.
England coach Steve Borthwick. PHOTO: AFP
“Ultimately, on that first game of the Six Nations are we going to be perfect? No,” said Borthwick. “Is it going to be exactly how the team is going to play? No. It is going to be the start but what is absolutely clear is the team needs to go out there and it needs to fight.”
Borthwick, 43, worked as an assistant to Jones over an eight-year period with both Japan and England.
“My job is to bring the players together as quickly as possible, to be really clear on how we’re going to play and what those top priorities are that we’re going to focus on going into that first game because that first game matters,” said Borthwick. “Every game matters.”
Meanwhile Steve Hansen, the former All Blacks coach who will take charge of a World XV against Jones’ Barbarians at Twickenham in May, was taken aback by the Rugby Football Union’s timing in ditching his old rival.
“It was pretty surprising that they would replace him now, when all along Eddie’s been saying ‘look, this is what we’re building for’,” he said on Thursday.
“He been their most successful coach in history. Some might say that Clive (Woodward) is because he won a World Cup (in 2003) – however the record speaks for itself, doesn’t it?
“I know Eddie had a big focus on the World Cup and that’s probably what in the end cost him, because he didn’t have such a good Autumn and people were frustrated by that.”
ANN/THE STAR – Since the first motion picture, adults have worried about how children would respond to violent imagery.
Now that mobile screens offer kids unlimited access to violent images and videos, we have even more to worry about.
Virtual violence is any act of aggression your child might absorb through TV, movies, video games, social media and other digital channels.
It includes the simulated violence in blockbuster films and amateur videos, and the animated violence in cartoons and interactive games.
News reports of real-life tragedies also deliver an endless loop of virtual violence. Virtual violence needn’t involve physical harm.
Aggressive, threatening, racist or hateful statements can be just as damaging to children who witness them. What children see (or play) influences how they behave.
Decades of research link virtual violence to aggressive thoughts, feelings and actions in children.
Even though we’re still learning about the effects of violent content in video games and on social media, experts agree that kids are deeply influenced by brutality wherever they experience it. Whether real or simulated, witnessing violent acts may give kids the sense that aggression is normal and acceptable.
This may lead them to act out what they see and hear, especially if they witness violence at home or in their communities.
Newer studies show that exposure to virtual violence can trigger mental health struggles, including depression and anxiety. You can’t shield your child from all forms of virtual violence.
But these five steps can help minimise the harm that violent content can do to your child’s health:
– Limit what very young children watch and play;
– Use parental controls and media ratings;
– Watch or play with your kids;
– When enjoying entertainment with your child, take time to talk with them about it;
– Create a family media plan
No single violent movie or video game will make your child violent.
What matters is the amount and intensity of virtual violence your child absorbs over time.
You can protect your child’s health by monitoring what they watch and play, and putting common-sense rules in place, based on your child’s age, temperament and unique needs.
SEOUL (AP) – North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters on yesterday, South Korea’s military said, its latest weapons demonstration that came days after United States (US) and South Korean warplanes conducted joint drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.
South Korea’s military detected the missile launches from North Korea’s capital region at around 4.32pm, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
It said the South Korean military has strengthened its surveillance posture and is maintaining readiness with close coordination with the US.
The US flew nuclear-capable bombers and advanced stealth jets near the Korean Peninsula for joint training with South Korean warplanes last Tuesday.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the drills were part of a bilateral agreement on boosting a US commitment to defend its Asian ally with all available military capabilities, including nuclear.
Flags of North Korea and South Korea at the border between the two countries. PHOTO: AP
North Korea typically calls such military exercises by the US and South Korea an invasion rehearsal, though the allies have steadfastly said they have no intention of attacking the North.
The South Korea-US training came after North Korea recently claimed to have conducted key tests needed to develop its first military spy satellite and a new strategic weapon, a likely reference to a more mobile intercontinental ballistic missile.
North Korea said it launched a pair of rockets last Sunday to test cameras and other systems for the development of its first military reconnaissance satellite. Its state media published low-resolution photos of South Korean cities as viewed from space.
Some civilian experts in South Korea and elsewhere said the photos were too crude for surveillance purposes and that the launches were likely a cover for tests of North Korea’s missile technology.
South Korea’s military said North Korea fired two medium-range ballistic missiles.
Such assessments have infuriated North Korea, with the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un issuing crude insults of unidentified South Korean experts.
Kim Yo-jong said there was no reason to use an expensive, high-resolution camera for a single-shot test and that North Korea’s space agency used two old missiles as space launch vehicles.
A landslide that have partially damaged homes in Kampong Belimbing has worsened after heavy rains over the last two days.
Continuous heavy rain on Thursday night and early yesterday left more of Yong Sim Fong’s house along Jalan Subok buried under earth after it was initially damaged from a landslide last Saturday.
Yong told the Weekend Bulletin the wall has begun to crack.
“The contractor said the project to repair the wall will only start next week and will take four to five months to complete. But it all depends on the weather,” he said, adding that authorities told him they will do their best to keep the place safe.
Meanwhile another house owner, Mohan said the situation is worrying and endangering residents.
“The more it rains, the more it will affect other houses in the area.”
On Thursday, a road in Kampong Dadap, Mukim Kilanas was also flooded.
The Brunei Darussalam Meteorological Department said the Sultanate is currently in the first phase of the Northeast Monsoon, and unsettled weather conditions with showers or thunderstorms are expected.
ABOVE & BELOW: Photos show the damage from a landslide to a house in Kampong Belimbing last Saturday; and the same house yesterday. PHOTOS: AZLAN OTHMAN
LONDON (AFP) – World Rugby announced on Thursday that a time limit for kicks at goal will be introduced at the start of next year in an attempt to speed up the game.
From January 1, players will have 90 seconds to take a conversion and a minute for penalties or the kick will be disallowed. The French Top 14, organised by the French national league (LNR), already uses the system.
“World Rugby, member unions and competitions will work with broadcasters and match hosts to implement on-screen (stadia and broadcast) shot clocks for penalties and conversions to ensure referees, players and fans can view the countdown, mirroring what happens in the LNR and Sevens,” World Rugby’s Director of Rugby Phil Davies said.
Three other law applications coming into force are a maximum of 30 seconds to start a scrum, a requirement that lineouts be formed without delay and free kicks for wasting time. Four directives that will also be implemented by World Rugby include less reliance on Television Match Official reviews and fewer water carrier interventions.
HAS, ALBANIA (AFP) – In the town hall of Has, in Albania’s mountainous northeast, the Union Jack flag has pride of place next to a framed photo of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
It is an expression of gratitude towards the United Kingdom (UK) as the small town, dubbed ‘Little London’, owes everything to residents who left to find work across the Channel.
Like their Prime Minister Edi Rama, people in Has are outraged by accusations from London that they are part of a migrant “invasion”.
Has residents said leaving for the UK allows them to earn a living – but comes with the pain of uprooting, dangerous journeys and hard work which also benefits their British employers.
Albanians are now the largest single group making small-boat crossings of the Channel, according to the UK’s official statistics.
More than 12,000 arrived in Britain this year compared to 50 in 2020.
Nationals of the Balkan country of 2.8 million people have been fleeing unemployment to Britain for decades.
Speaking in his office where British and Albanian flags stand side by side, Has mayor Liman Morina told AFP that 80 per cent of his constituents “survive thanks to the hard and honest work of their relatives in Britain”.
A vendor shows traditional clothes in a city shop of Has. PHOTOS: AFPChildren pose for a photograph in a British phone cabin
A sociologist who works in Has Klodian Kastrati, said: “Emigration is an epidemic that affects all young people here contaminated by the idea of leaving for Britain in the hope of creating a better future.”
The Has region is Albania’s poorest and “emigration is the only real resource to support its inhabitants”, he added.
In the region, which has a population of around 22,000, numerous houses owned by emigrants are being built.
There are tributes to their adopted homeland – a restaurant named “Britain”, cars with UK registration plates, and even a replica of a famous red telephone booth.
Mayor Morina has recently launched a tender for projects to build a statue of Queen Elizabeth.
Since Albania opened its borders in the 1990s, residents have left en masse, desperate to escape hardship and isolation after weathering brutal oppression at the hands of the country’s communist dictatorship.
Nearly 1.7 million Albanians have departed, notably for Italy, Greece and the UK, official figures show.
In the first six months of the year emigrants sent home USD389 million, according to the national bank.
About 140,000 Albanians live in the UK where some joined Kosovo Albanians who found refuge there during the war against Serbian forces in late 1990s.
While the richest can send their children to British universities, most Albanians work in catering or construction.
Has residents put the recent peak in Channel crossings down to word of mouth.
Rumours about the need for labour in the UK under the combined effect of the pandemic and Brexit “have been circulating at lightning speed”, Granit Gojani told AFP.
After living in London for a decade, the 31-year-old recently returned to Has to open his own shop.
“Social networks also offer more favourable prices (to cross the Channel) in inflatable boats,” he said.
“The desire to believe rather than to know quickly unleashed the crowds,” he added, saying the idea had spread “like a virus”.
This year, the high school in Has had 40 fewer students than in 2021. French authorities have confirmed the increase in the number of Albanians on their side of the Channel, including among smugglers, although Iraqi Kurd gangs still dominate the market.
Ani, a young man who asked to use a pseudonym, bitterly regrets having made the trip from Dunkirk in northern France.
He described it as a “hellish crossing of more than six hours aboard a full boat in a hostile sea”.
Ani left in late September hoping for a well-paid job in the construction industry in London.
He held out for a month before returning home, yielding to the pleas of his mother – who closely followed unpleasant comments about Albanians made by some British politicians and media.
“I’m not a criminal, I just dreamt of a better life in a big country”, Ani told AFP, disgusted by what he described as an anti-immigrant atmosphere in Britain.
“To hell with the USD4,789 that this trip cost me,” he said.
Now, he plans to continue studying law at the University of Tirana.
Britain’s Home Secretary Suella Braverman has spoken of an “invasion” of migrants and singled out “Albanian criminals”, sparking anger in Tirana.
“Albanians in the UK work hard and pay tax,” Prime Minister Rama tweeted in early November.
Rama said the UK should “stop discriminating… to excuse policy failures”. Some migrants are involved in illegal activities, in particular to reimburse smugglers.
But a “handful of people having problems with the law can’t harm an entire community, including businessmen, teachers, doctors, construction workers and children aspiring to grow up”, Gojani said.
For all the money it has brought, red phone booths and royal photos, emigration to the UK has also left a legacy of pain in Has. Drita Meshi’s family suffered a devastating loss in 2016, and she has since made it her life’s aim to convince young Albanians to stay.
Her son, who moved to England to seek a better life, was killed by two British teenagers, who hurled a flare into the car where he had been sleeping. He was 32. Every day, she mourns at his grave.
Meshi, a Has town hall employee, has two other children still living in London.
ISLAMABAD (AP) – A powerful car bomb detonated near a residential area in Islamabad yesterday, killing two suspected militants and an officer, police said, raising fears that militants have a presence in one of the country’s safest cities.
At least three police officers and seven passersby were wounded in the bombing. The Pakistani Taleban claimed responsibility for the explosion.
Friday’s bombing in Pakistan’s capital city happened 15 kilometres from the garrison city of Rawalpindi, home of the military and government spy agencies.
Police said in a statement that the blast happened when police officers spotted the car and ordered the driver to halt for routine checking. Instead of stopping, its driver detonated explosives hidden inside. A female passenger in the car also was killed, Suhail Zafar Chattha, the Deputy Police Chief in Islamabad told reporters at the scene.
TV footage showed a burning car as police officers cordoned off the area.
Residents said they saw policemen on motorcycles chasing a car and ordering a man inside the vehicle to come out.
Security officials and rescue workers gather at the site of a bomb explosion, in Islamabad. PHOTO: AP
Chattha confirmed that account, saying the suspect blew up the explosive-laden vehicle after being surrounded by police.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif condemned the bombing and thanked the police. “Police officers stopped the terrorists by sacrificing their blood and the nation salutes its brave men,” Sharif said in a statement.
Mohammad Khalid Khurasani, the spokesman for the Pakistani Taleban or TTP, said in a statement one of the group’s militants carried out the suicide attack to avenge the killing of a senior leader.
Abdul Wali, widely known as Omar Khalid Khurasani, was killed in a roadside bombing in August in Afghanistan’s Paktika province. His death was a heavy blow to the militant group, who blamed Pakistani intelligence agents for the killing without offering any evidence or elaborating.
Pakistani Taleban have stepped up attacks on security forces since November, when they unilaterally ended a months-long cease-fire with the country’s government. The latest violence comes days after several Pakistani Taleban detainees overpowered their guards at a counterterrorism center in northwestern Pakistan, snatching police weapons and taking three officers hostage.
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s special forces raided the detention centre, triggering an intense shootout in which the military later said 25 detainees linked to the Pakistani Taleban were killed in Bannu, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and part of a former tribal region.
Three troops and at least three hostages were killed in that incident.
AP – Microsoft is headed for a battle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over whether the United States (US) will block the tech giant’s planned takeover of video game company Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft on Thursday filed a formal response to the FTC’s claims that the USD68.7 billion deal is an illegal acquisition that should be stopped.
After years of avoiding the political backlash that has been directed at big tech peers such as Amazon and Google, the software giant now appears to be on a collision course with US regulators emboldened by President Joe Biden’s push to get tough on anti-competitive behaviour.
The FTC claims the merger could violate antitrust laws by suppressing competitors to Microsoft’s Xbox game console and its growing Xbox Game Pass subscription business.
At the centre of the dispute is Microsoft’s rivalry with PlayStation-maker Sony to secure popular Activision Blizzard franchises like the military shooter game Call of Duty.
Microsoft’s response to the FTC tries to downplay Xbox’s role in the industry, describing itself as the “third-place manufacturer of gaming consoles” behind Sony and Nintendo, and one of just many publishers of popular video games with “next to no presence in mobile gaming,” where it is trying to make gains.
Activision Blizzard filed its own rebuttal to the FTC complaint on Thursday criticising what it described as the FTC’s “unfounded assumption” that Microsoft would want to withhold Call of Duty from platforms that compete with Xbox. Its CEO Bobby Kotick said he believes the companies will prevail.
The dispute could be a difficult test case for Biden-appointed FTC Chair Lina Khan, who has sought to strengthen enforcement of antitrust rules. The FTC voted 3-1 earlier in December to issue the complaint seeking to block the deal, with Khan and the two other Democratic commissioners voting in favor and the sole Republican voting against.
The deal is also under close scrutiny in the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK), where investigations aren’t due to be completed until next year.
The FTC’s complaint points to Microsoft’s 2021 acquisition of well-known game developer Bethesda Softworks and its parent company ZeniMax, as an example of where Microsoft is making some upcoming game titles exclusive to Xbox despite assuring European regulators it had no intention to do so.
Microsoft on Thursday objected to the FTC’s characterisation, saying it made clear to European regulators it would “approach exclusivity for future game titles on a case-by-case basis, which is exactly what it has done”.
The FTC’s suit describes top-selling franchises like Call of Duty as important because they develop a base of loyal users attached to their preferred console or streaming service.
“With control of Activision’s content, Microsoft would have the ability and increased incentive to withhold or degrade Activision’s content in ways that substantially lessen competition – including competition on product quality, price, and innovation,” the FTC lawsuit says. “This loss of competition would likely result in significant harm to consumers in multiple markets at a pivotal time for the industry.”
Microsoft signalled that it will vigorously fight the case in court with a team led by high-profile corporate attorney Beth Wilkinson, while also leaving open the possibility of a settlement.
“Even with confidence in our case, we remain committed to creative solutions with regulators that will protect competition, consumers, and workers in the tech sector,” said Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, in a statement on Thursday.
“As we’ve learned from our lawsuits in the past, the door never closes on the opportunity to find an agreement that can benefit everyone.”
Microsoft’s last big antitrust battle occurred more than two decades ago when a federal judge ordered its breakup following the company’s anticompetitive actions related to its dominant Windows software. That verdict was overturned on appeal, although the court imposed other penalties on the company.
CARACAS, VENEZUELA (AP) – Juan Guaidó has been the face of Venezuelans’ efforts to restore their democracy since he took to the streets to challenge the rule of President Nicolás Maduro in early 2019.
But the 39-year-old former head of the country’s legislature, the National Assembly, is at risk of being pushed aside by some of his one-time allies who feel that his leadership of the opposition isn’t working and that they need to find a better way to connect with disillusioned voters ahead of the 2024 presidential elections.
Three of the four main opposition parties that make up the so-called interim government voted on Thursday to replace Guaidó with a leadership by committee.
Guaidó, fighting for his political future, has warned that such a move would be unconstitutional and open the door to recognising Maduro’s “dictatorship”.
But the former lawmakers – who were elected to the National Assembly in 2015 but saw their terms expire five years later and now operate as a symbolic shadow to Maduro’s rubber-stamping legislature – pressed ahead, approving the measure by a vote of 72 to 23. A second vote to ratify the decision was expected to take place in the coming days
“The process that we began in January of 2019 has weakened and is no longer perceived as a real option for change,” the group of opposition leaders said in a statement on Wednesday.
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó speaks to residents to present his unity plan to Venezuelans in Maiquetia, Venezuela. PHOTO: AP
“This country requires new paths that will help us to return to democracy.”
In January 2019, the National Assembly, then controlled by the opposition, voted to stop recognising Maduro as president after several top potential opponents were barred from running against him.
It then appointed Guaidó, a backbench lawmaker who was one of the few leaders in his Popular Will party to avoid arrest or exile, to be the nation’s “interim president” following the order of succession outlined in Venezuela’s constitution.
Guaidó was quickly recognised as Venezuela’s legitimate leader by the United States (US) and dozens of governments in Europe and Latin America. But his interim government was unable to gain control of any government institutions and, crucially, failed to win over the military.
In the meantime, Maduro has only strengthened his grip on power, even as regular Venezuelans suffer from high inflation, deepening poverty and widespread shortages made worse by US oil sanctions.
Venezuelan analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America Geoff Ramsey said the proposal to reshape the interim government reflects efforts by the opposition to adapt to Venezuelans’ growing frustration.
In an opinion survey conducted in November by one of the nation’s leading universities, 57 per cent of Venezuelans said the interim government should be dissolved and only six per cent said they would vote for Guaidó in the event of primaries to see who would run against Maduro should he decide to seek a third term, as is widely expected.
“Venezuelans have moved on from the interim government experiment,” Ramsey said.
“This proposal is a recognition from the wider opposition that they need to find ways to reconnect with the population beyond simply sitting back, folding their arms and waiting for the military to unplug from Maduro.”
Venezuelan analyst at the think tank the International Crisis Group Mariano de Alaba said removing Guaidó from his post would make primaries more competitive because he wouldn’t have as much access to the funds and machinery of the interim government.
“They are trying to close this chapter because the opposition is seeking a new leader,” de Alba said.
Guaidó officially lost his position as the head of the National Assembly at the start of 2021, when the legislature’s five-year mandate ended. But opposition parties boycotted congressional elections staged that year by Maduro’s government, and instead, lawmakers chosen in 2015 continued to legislate in parallel to the Maduro-controlled National Assembly.
Earlier this month, Guaidó asked the opposition to extend his term as leader of the interim government for another year.
But on Wednesday, 67 opposition legislators signed a statement saying they would vote to change how the interim government operates.
One of the circulating proposals calls for the creation of a commission comprised of opposition legislators that will promote the transition to democracy, handle cooperation with foreign governments and protect Venezuelan government assets abroad.
