Hyundai Motor Group said on Monday that it ranked third globally in car sales in the first half of this year – a first for South Korea’s largest carmaker.
According to its sales data, Hyundai Motor Co, its luxury Genesis brand and its smaller affiliate Kia Corp sold a total of 3.299 million vehicles globally from January to June this year.
The sales figure is the third-largest after Toyota Motor Group’s 5.138 million units and Volkswagen Group’s 4.006 million units.
Hyundai’s ranking jumped from No 5 a year ago, outpacing the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance and Stellantis Group which sold 3.14 million units and 3.019 million units in the first half, respectively.
While its global rivals were hit hard by chip shortages, Hyundai is said to have pulled through the crisis as it was able to secure enough chip supplies.
Adding to that, the robust sales of its luxury Genesis cars and new electric vehicle launches also helped drive overall sales.
Genesis sold a total of 25,668 units in the US alone during the first six months, the brand’s best-ever sales in the all-important market.
Its EV models, including Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6, performed well. Hyundai became the second-largest EV maker in the US with 27,000 units sold in the January-May period after Tesla, the world’s bestselling EV brand.
Despite its stellar performance, Hyundai’s first-half sales dropped 5.1 per cent compared to a year ago, possibly due to supply chain disruptions and weaker consumer demands.
Still, the drop was less severe considering its bigger rivals. Toyota and Volkswagen saw 6 per cent and 14 per cent drops in sales during the same period. The Renault-Nissan alliance and GM also suffered 17.3 per cent and 18.6 per cent on-year losses in sales.
On the occasion of its 75th Independence Day, India will hand over the maritime surveillance aircraft Dornier 228 to Sri Lanka on a gratis basis for two years.
The aircraft is being lent to Sri Lank for two years until a plane manufactured for the neighbouring country is ready. The aircraft comes as a sequel to a bilateral dialogue that took place on January 9, 2018, in New Delhi when the Sri Lankan government sought the possibility of obtaining two Dornier Reconnaissance Aircraft from India.
The Dornier 228 will be handed over in a ceremony at the Indian High Commission in Colombo on Monday (August 15). Present will be Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay.
The aircraft will be handed over by Indian Navy Vice Chief Vice Admiral Satish N Ghormade to his Sri Lankan counterpart.
The handing over of the aircraft comes one day before the Chinese ship “Yuan Wang 5” docks at the port of Hambantota for a week.
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Affairs Minister confirmed that the Chinese vessel, widely believed to be a spy ship, has been given clearance to arrive at Hambantota Port on Tuesday.
Hambantota port, located around 250km from Colombo was built with high-interest Chinese loans. The Sri Lankan government struggled to repay the debt they had taken from China following which the port was handed over to the Chinese on a 99-year lease.
“Having considered all material in place, the clearance to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China was conveyed for the deferred arrival of the vessel from August 16-22,” the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The Indian Naval Dornier (INDO – 228) is basically a Short Take-Off and Landing (STOL), multirole light transport aircraft used by the Indian Navy for electronic warfare missions, maritime surveillance, disaster relief and other work with a turboprop twin-engine, produced since 1981.
The Sri Lankan Air Force intends to employ the Dornier aircraft specifically to conduct Maritime and Coastal Surveillance Operations within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Search and Rescue Operations (SAR), Casualty Evacuation (CASEVAC) and Maritime Pollution Monitoring and Control within Sri Lankan Search and Rescue Region (SRR) to attain SLAF ultimate vision of “Ensuring the National Security through Effective Employment of Airpower” within Sri Lankan Airspace.
Thailand’s SNC Former PCL plans to set up a high-tech training institute in Cambodia to help develop human resources and raise the neighbouring country’s competitiveness in attracting foreign investment.
The plan was made known during a visit by the Cambodian Ambassador to Thailand Ouk Sorphorn, who led a group of delegates to 23 of SNC’s factories in Rayong on Saturday.
Original equipment manufacturer SNC, which was established in 1994, makes parts for branded air conditioners, home appliances and cars in Thailand and other Asian countries.
“We welcome the project to establish a high-tech training institute which would play an important role in the Cambodian economy as it’s in line with our Industrial Development Plan 2015-2025.
“The plan has the potential to help us achieve our vision to become an upper middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050,” said Sorphorn.
SNC founder and CEO Somchai Thaisa-nguanvorakul said his company has studied many areas from waste management to renewable energy in Cambodia.
“Now, [we] aim to establish a state-of-the-art standard technology institute to train Cambodian youth in the field of equipment and electronics manufacturing to support future investments in our company’s market expansion,” he said.
Speaking to the press last week, the Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry’s secretary of state Heng Sokkung said Cambodia was looking to establish three science, technology and innovation parks by 2025.
The objective is to attract investors, businesspeople and individuals with innovative ideas to contribute to the development of Cambodia’s digital economy.
“These parks are very important in mobilising domestic and foreign investments. Currently, domestic investment is steadily increasing, especially in the fields of science, technology and innovation.
“We expect that with the creation of these parks, it will help drive Cambodia’s economic growth even further,” he said, adding that Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have set up such parks many years ago.
The six littoral combat ships were supposed to be delivered in stages, with the last one scheduled for 2023, but today, not a single ship is ready.
When Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) Chief Admiral Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar was about to retire after serving for 40 years, he was offered the plum job as the executive deputy chairman/managing director of Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation (BHIC).
The highly respected career officer did not have to think twice.
He said no to the tempting offer, which would have included a remuneration of over RM80,000 a month and other perks.
“I refused. I was offered to take over from (Tan Sri Ahmad Ramli Mohd Nor). I refused and I said no. I did not want to go and eat my (word/decisions earlier),” he told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
It was clear from the testimony by Abdul Aziz, 66, that he made the decision because many of the actions by Boustead Naval Shipyard (BNS), a unit of BHIC, was allegedly against the interest of the navy.
Ahmad Ramli, a former navy chief, is one of the two names implicated and mentioned repeatedly in the PAC report on the RM9bil littoral combat ships (LCS) scandal.
The other is Anuar Murad, a former navy captain, whose name was mentioned 23 times in the PAC report.
He was the BNS’ LCS programme director.
In the 247-page report, Abdul Aziz said he had written 10 letters, including to the then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and then Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, as well as to the Chief Secretary to the Government and the secretaries-general of the Defence Ministry and the Treasury.
None of them, he said, bothered about his incessant protests.
Abdul Aziz’s main grievance was RMN’s objection to the design of the ships as he felt the navy, as the end user, should have a say but his views were ignored by the contractor, BHIC, which was supposed to build the six LCS.
The six LCS are supposed to be delivered in stages, with the last one scheduled for 2023, but today, not a single ship is ready and RM6bil has been paid to BNS.
In his testimony before the PAC in 2021, Abdul Aziz said RMN fought a “losing battle, right from the start” with “Boustead (BNS) given the leeway to choose what was right for themselves”.
The core of the dispute is that RMN had wanted the Sigma design of the LCS by a Dutch firm and the combat management system (CMS) from a French firm but following intense lobbying, BNS had opted for the Gowind design and the SETIS CMS – both from France.
Abdul Aziz said he felt “very dejected” as it was claimed then that Ahmad Zahid had agreed to Gowind-SETIS but he had not seen any letter from the then minister expressing preference for Gowind-SETIS.
Ahmad Zahid is said to have earlier agreed to the Sigma design.
“The French design was not a proven design while Sigma was already operational in Indonesia, Morocco and a few other countries,” he said, adding there was also a lost opportunity as the builder had wanted to make Malaysia its hub.
The Gowind design is by France’s Naval Group, formerly DCNS, which had also built the controversial Scorpene submarines in 2002 for Malaysia.
Abdul Aziz said: “We had bad experiences with the French, especially with the submarines. I did not want to tell the government that we have been cheated but short of saying it, there was some element there. If anybody were to be in my position, I say you must be ready.”
Although he felt “something gravely wrong” from the beginning, Abdul Aziz did not issue any statements externally but declared that the PAC was the best opportunity to say, “I have registered my greatest disappointment to everyone that was supposed to be listening to me”.
“If I were to build a house, if I say I want that, you will get it done. Betul atau tidak? (Right or not?) The fact that happened (was) the other way around, jelas menunjukkan bahawa tidak telus, (it just shows that it’s not transparent,” he said.
In his testimony, Abdul Aziz also asked to be put on record that he had called for an investigation into Contraves Advanced Devices Sdn Bhd (CAD) – one of the two companies appointed by BNS as main contractors for the LCS project. The other is Contraves Electrodynamics Sdn Bhd (CED), in which BNS has 51% stake with the foreign Rheinmetall Group having the other 49%.
The testimony by Abdul Aziz is serious as he has a shiny 41-year journey as a naval officer, including seven-and-a-half years as RMN chief.
He was enlisted into the RMN in 1974 soon after graduating from the Royal Military College in Sungai Besi.
Among the milestones Abdul Aziz had achieved were serving on board nine operational ships at sea, including commanding three of them.
He was also part of a commissioning crew for four RMN ships – the fast-attack craft KD Paus at the Hong Leong-Lurssen Shipyard in Butterworth, Penang, in 1976; the multipurpose command and support ship KD Seri Indera Sakti at Bremen Vulkan Shipyard in Bremen, Germany, in 1980; the corvette KD Kasturi at HDW Shipyard in Kiel, Germany, in 1984, and the missile corvette KD Laksamana Muhammad Amin at Fincantieri Shipyard in La Spezia, Italy, in 1999.
On page 80 of the PAC report, in an apparent reference to Ahmad Ramli, Abdul Aziz said there were many proposals made by the navy regarding 17 main management systems – 10 were agreed and seven disagreed by BNS.
“So I said ‘My God.’ Short of telling him, ‘Being an ex-navy, beliau ini (this person), you are not helping the navy at all,” he said.
Low-cost carrier (LCC) airlines in Southeast Asia are regaining momentum after having struggled with a decline in passenger numbers due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The recovery of the LCCs will likely affect the business strategies of many Japanese and Japanese-affiliated companies, which place importance on the Southeast Asian markets.
Entry regulations eased Don Mueang International Airport in the north of Bangkok serves as a major hub for LCCs, which operate short-distance routes within Asia.
“Thanks to the low prices of LCCs, I can visit my hometown more frequently than before,” said a 41-year-old company employee returning to the Thai capital from southern Thailand.
Southeast Asian economies rely heavily on the tourism industry. Following the easing of coronavirus-related entry restrictions, many LCCs in the region announced a major step-up in-flight service.
New airlines are making inroads in the market, too. In Indonesia last year, Super Air Jet began operating several routes, including one that connects Jakarta and Bali Island. The company aims to lure young people — dubbed the “millennial generation” — to local resorts. In Malaysia, meanwhile, plans are afoot to launch a new LCC in the near future.
Strategy shift Many major airlines in Southeast Asia are government-affiliated, which has impacted their business efficiency. From the 2000s, LCCs, buoyed by economic growth in the region, began offering lower airfares.
Many LCCs have increased their presence in areas where flying serves as a crucial means of mobility. During the pandemic, Southeast Asia, like regions all over the world, saw a sharp decline in passenger numbers, leading to disastrous business results. One LCC — a joint venture between Thailand and Singapore — was forced into liquidation.
A number of LCCs have rewritten their respective business strategies. In January, AirAsia, a pioneering LCC based in Malaysia, changed the name of its holding company to Capital A. The holding company now directs much of its energy to digital service fields, such as ride-hailing services and food delivery. Tony Fernandes, who heads the holding company, said in a statement that AirAsia is “no longer a mere airline firm.”
In related moves, Vietjet Air of Vietnam has bolstered its cargo flight service, and Nok Air of Thailand has upgraded its services across the board to help distinguish it from rivals.
Fierce competition Scoot of Singapore and Cebu Pacific Air of the Philippines have introduced larger planes and increased flights on their mid- and long-distance routes. Such moves will likely affect the business strategies of Japanese rival firms.
In the latter half of the next fiscal year, ANA Holdings will begin operating a new subsidiary airline, Air Japan Co., which will offer higher-level services than ANA group firm Peach Aviation Ltd. Both subsidiary airlines are eyeing Southeast Asian service routes.
Among group companies of Japan Airlines Co., Zipair Tokyo operates services between Narita Airport and Thailand, as well as Singapore.
Competition among LCCs is set to become increasingly fierce. An official of a Japanese LCC expressed a sense of urgency, saying, “Unless [Japanese LCCs] demonstrate advantages peculiar to Japan, such as high-quality services, it will be difficult for them to differentiate themselves [from foreign rivals].”
The Taliban marked a year in power on Monday with celebrations by the group’s fighters and leaders as Afghanistan struggles with rising poverty, drought, malnutrition and fading hope among women that they will have a decisive role in the country’s future.
Some people fired celebratory gunshots in the air in Kabul and Taliban fighters gathered, waving the group’s black and white flag to mark a year since they marched into the capital after a stunning series of battlefield victories.
A few hundred people, including supporters, soldiers, and officials gathered at the square in front of the U.S. Embassy to mark the day.
In a ceremony attended by Taliban government ministers, acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said their rule had brought security where the United States had failed and said the group wanted positive relationships with the world.
The country is physically safer than it was when the hardline Islamist movement was fighting against U.S.-led foreign forces and their Afghan allies, although a local offshoot of the Islamic State has carried out several attacks.
Yet that relative security cannot mask the scale of the challenge the Taliban face in setting Afghanistan on a path of economic growth and stability. There are huge pressures on the economy, caused in large part by the country’s isolation as foreign governments refuse to recognise its rulers.
Development aid upon which the country relied so heavily has been cut as the international community demands that the Taliban respect the rights of Afghans, particularly girls and women whose access to work and education has been curtailed.
The Taliban is demanding that $9 billion in central bank reserves held overseas to be returned, but talks with the United States face hurdles, including the U.S. demands that a Taliban leader subject to sanctions step down from his position as second in command at the bank.
The Taliban refuse to cede to these demands, saying that they respect all Afghans’ rights within the framework of their interpretation of Islamic law.
And until there is a major shift in either side’s position, there is no immediate fix in sight for spiralling prices, rising joblessness and hunger that would get worse as winter sets in.
Health officials identified the virus that causes polio in New York City’s wastewater, suggesting local transmission of the virus, state authorities said on Friday, urging unvaccinated New Yorkers to get vaccinated.
“The NYC Heath Department and the New York State Department of Health have identified poliovirus in sewage in NYC, suggesting local transmission of the virus,” the city’s health department said in a statement on Friday.
“Polio can lead to paralysis and even death. We urge unvaccinated New Yorkers to get vaccinated now.”
The identification comes weeks after a case of polio in an adult was made public on July 21 in Rockland County, marking the nation’s first confirmed case in nearly 10 years.
Earlier this month, health officials said the virus was found in wastewater in the New York City suburb a month before health officials there announced the Rockland County case.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said at the time it was not yet clear whether the virus was actively spreading in New York or elsewhere in the United States.
There is no cure for polio, which can cause irreversible paralysis in some cases, but it can be prevented by a vaccine made available in 1955.
New York officials have said they are opening vaccine clinics to help unvaccinated residents get their shots. Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) is the only polio vaccine that has been given in the United States since 2000, according to the CDC. It is given by shot in the leg or arm, depending on the patient’s age.
Polio is often asymptomatic and people can transmit the virus even when they do not appear sick. But it can produce mild, flu-like symptoms that can take as long as 30 days to appear, officials said.
It can strike at any age but the majority of those affected are children aged three and younger.
The United Nations has the logistics and security capabilities to support a visit by International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant if both Russia and Ukraine agree, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.
Dujarric was responding to an accusation by Russia that UN security had blocked a visit by IAEA inspectors to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which Russia seized in March after invading Ukraine on Feb. 24.
“The UN Secretariat has no authority to block or cancel any IAEA activities,” Dujarric told reporters.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for military activity around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power complex to end as Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other for the shelling of the area.
Dujarric said that “in close contact with the IAEA, the UN Secretariat has assessed that it has in Ukraine the logistics and security capacity to be able to support any IAEA mission to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from Kyiv.”
But he said both Russia and Ukraine have to agree. Both countries have said they want IAEA inspectors to visit. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said he was ready to lead a mission and called on Russia and Ukraine to cooperate.
At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that the world will lose to terrorism and give in to nuclear blackmail if it takes no action to prevent an accident at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station.
“If now the world lacks the strength and determination to protect one nuclear plant, it means that the world is losing,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video message.
Russia took over the station, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, soon after invading Ukraine in February in what Moscow calls a “special military operation.”
Norway is delivering all the gas it can to Germany, and any further boost would depend on making new discoveries, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Monday.
Norway, Western Europe’s largest petroleum producer, this year boosted its gas exports to take advantage of record prices and help Europe replace some of the volumes lost when Russia curbed supplies.
“Norway delivers as much gas as possible to Germany,” Stoere told a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“In total, we have been increasing our gas exports compared to what we had at the outset by close to 10%, which is really maximum, so we will do whatever we can with the companies to maintain a high level,” Stoere said.
Any further increase would depend on finding and developing additional resources, he added.
The German chancellor welcomed Norway’s effort.
Russia is Germany’s main gas supplier. The country’s Gazprom has cut gas flows to Germany through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 20% of capacity.
The value of Norway’s natural gas exports hit a record 128.4 billion Norwegian crowns ($13.22 billion) in July as prices and demand in Europe surged amid the continent’s effort to fill storage ahead of the winter season.
Meanwhile, Germany’s economy minister said his country had to introduce a new levy to help utility companies cover the cost of replacing Russian gas or its energy market would collapse.
“The alternative would have been the collapse of Germany’s energy market and with that the collapse of large parts of the European market,” Robert Habeck told reporters in Berlin.
German households will have to pay almost 500 euros ($509) more a year for gas after a levy was set to help utilities cover the cost of replacing Russian supplies, piling pressure on Berlin to come up with further relief measures for the public.
Trading Hub Europe, the German gas market operator, said on Monday it had set the charge at 2.419 euro cents per kilowatt hour (kWh).
The levy will be imposed from Oct. 1 and remain in place until April 2024 to help Uniper – the country’s largest importer of Russian gas – and other importers cope with soaring prices.
For an average family of four, the charge will amount to an additional annual cost of around 480 euros.
Germany’s Russia-dependent energy model had failed and would not be returning, he told reporters.
Germany is also awaiting a response from Brussels on a VAT exemption for the levy.
Thirteen young scientists from the 21 Apec member economies have been nominated for this year’s Apec Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education, or Aspire.
With this year’s theme of “Innovation to achieve economic, environmental, and social goals,” the prize aims to advance the integration of a bio-circular-green economy model with Apec members, as well as environmental, social and governance practices and responsible business conduct in the private sector—all of which align with Apec 2022 priorities of sustainability through renewable energy.
Young scientists nominated for Aspire also foster regional cooperation by collaborating with peers across Apec to advance scientific research and education in the region.
“The research conducted by these young scientists underscores how vital it is to highlight biological advances, promote sustainability and strengthen agricultural systems,” said Xuemei Yang, Chair of the Apec Policy Partnership for Science, Technology, and Innovation, which administers the annual prise.
“The Aspire provides a platform to highlight scientific research critical to envisioning a globally sustainable future. From combatting the plastics crisis to promoting smart environmental monitoring, this year’s nominees are truly making their marks by trying to change the world for the better,” Yang added.
The winner of the 2022 Aspire will be announced at an in-person award ceremony in Chiang Mai, Thailand, next week and will be awarded USD 25,000 supported by publishers of scholarly scientific knowledge, Wiley and Elsevier.
Work conducted by the 2022 nominees includes studies related to air pollution formation and its health impacts; microbial biotechnology for the recovery of clean water, renewable energy, and renewable materials; and the defence of human barrier organs against bacterial and viral infection.
“The brilliant work of these promising young scientists from across the Apec region lights the pathway to a more prosperous, sustainable and equitable future,” said Brian Napack, Wiley’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
“We are inspired by the work of these young scientists, who are part of the new generation of leaders,” added Youngsuk “Y.S.” Chi, Chairman of Elsevier. “Their outstanding research will help us find real-world solutions for the critical environmental, social and economic transformation of society. We must continue to encourage this kind of cooperation among Apec economies to effect change for a better future.”
Since its establishment in 2011, Aspire has recognized young scientists working on issues ranging from natural laboratories, food security, sustainable ocean development, biodiversity, strengthening international science and technology networks and promoting innovation.
THE 2022 ASPIRE NOMINEES
Australia / Georgina Gurney / Environmental social science
Canada / Arthur Chan / Atmospheric chemistry and health
China / Shan Guangcun / Precision instrument, smart environment monitoring for radionuclides
Hong Kong / Ren Jingzheng / Sustainability-oriented decision-making, circular economy, waste-to-energy
Indonesia / Risky Ayu Kristanti / Bioremediation of toxic pollutants, water and wastewater treatment, environmental chemistry and microbiology, water purification, waste recovery, bio-energy production
Korea / Jaweook Myung / Environmental biotechnology
Malaysia / Ahmad Zaharin Aris / Hydrochemistry, environmental forensics, environmental chemistry and analysis
Russia / Iullia Pentekhina / Screening of chitinolytic bacteria with phytopathogenic potential isolated from the environment, chitin-degrading enzyme system analysis, recombinant characterization, biocontrol agents for crop production
Singapore / Franklin Zhong / Immunology
Chinese Taipei / Hsiao Hsu-Chun / Computer and network security
Thailand / Varodom Charoensawan / Molecular biology, systems biology
The United States / Micah Fisher / Geography, environmental governance, disaster management and community planning
