Tag Archives: EASIA

World

Rescuers fight time, weather in Japan landslide; some 80 missing

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Members of Japanese Self-Defence Forces conduct rescue and search operartion at a mudslide site caused by heavy rain at Izusan district in Atami, west of Tokyo, Japan July 5, 2021, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Kyodo/via REUTERS

TOKYO, July 5 (Reuters) – More than a thousand Japanese rescuers combed through crumbled houses and buried roads on Monday two days after landslides tore through a seaside city, fighting time and poor weather to search for some 80 people believed missing.

At least three people have been killed in Atami after torrential rain at the weekend – more than a usual July’s worth in 24 hours some areas – touched off a succession of landslides, sending torrents of mud and rock ripping through streets.

The landslides are a reminder of the natural disasters – including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunami – that haunt Japan, where the capital Tokyo is to host the summer Olympics beginning this month.

“My mother is still missing,” one man told NHK public television. “I never imagined something like this could happen here.”

One 75-year-old evacuee said the house across from his had been swept away and the couple that lived there was unaccounted for.

“This is hell,” he said.

By Monday, the number of rescuers at the site had risen to 1,500, officials said, and could increase.

“We want to rescue as many victims … buried in the rubble as soon as possible,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told reporters, adding that police, firefighters and members of the military were doing all they could to aid the search.

There are 113 people believed missing in Atami, a city of almost 36,000 people situated 90 km (60 miles) southwest of Tokyo, spokesperson Hiroki Onuma told Reuters, confirming the third death. That fatality was a woman, Japanese media said

By noon, though, that number of missing had dropped to around 80, Kyodo said.

“We’re in touch with various groups and pushing forward with the searches,” Onuma said.

Over the weekend some 20 people were said to be unaccounted for, but the number rose sharply on Monday as officials began working from residential registers rather than phone calls from people unable to reach family and friends, he said.

Around 130 buildings were affected on Saturday morning when landslides ripped through Atami, a hot springs resort set on a steep slope that leads down to a bay.

The water, mud and debris are thought to have flowed along a river for about 2 km (1.2 miles) to the sea, local media said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato called on residents to remain vigilant, noting that the saturated earth has been weakened and even light rain could prove dangerous.

Though Onuma said rain had stopped in Atami for now, more is forecast, raising the possibility of further landslides.

“The situation is unpredictable,” he said.

Stocks in some engineering firms rose on Monday.

Raito Kogyo Co Ltd (1926.T), an expert in slope and foundation improvement, rose 1.5%, while CE Management Integrated Laboratory Co Ltd (6171.T), which offers geological survey and disaster prevention systems, gained 3.7%.

Reporting by Daniel Leussink and Elaine Lies; Additional reporting by Hideyuki Sano; Writing by Elaine Lies; Editing by Kim Coghill and Christopher Cushing

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

Canada’s Hong Kong diaspora helps new arrivals with jobs, housing, psychotherapy

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OTTAWA, July 4 (Reuters) – Hong Kongers in Canada are banding together to help the latest wave of immigrants fleeing Beijing’s tightening grip on their city.

Networks across the country, some descended from groups set up after China’s crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters in 1989, are offering new arrivals everything from jobs and accommodation to legal and mental health services and even car rides to the grocery store.

“We are in a battle. These are my comrades, people who share the same values,” one 38-year-old who asked to be identified only as Ho told Reuters. “Who is going to provide that helping hand if I’m not going to?”

Ho runs a cooking school near Toronto, and said he hired a former aide to a Hong Kong democratic politician to promote his business online, and recently took on a new kitchen assistant who took part in the city’s 2019 pro-democracy protests.

Ho, who came to Canada as a teenager before Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, is just one person helping the network of support groups that have been formed in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton in the past two years.

Immigrants looking after each other is not unique. But people in Canada, which has one of the world’s biggest overseas concentrations of people from Hong Kong, told Reuters the situation is urgent because many of the people they are seeking to help fear they will be arrested for taking part in past protests and may not be able to afford professional help to resettle overseas.

“It’s my natural duty,” said Ho, who asked not to be identified by his full name, and did not name his new employees, for fear of problems with Hong Kong authorities. “If I was in Hong Kong, I would be in a desperate position. If there was a helping hand, I would hold onto it.”

Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong a year ago, outlawing a wide range of political activities and effectively putting an end to public protests. Many pro-democracy activists and politicians, including prominent Beijing critics Joshua Wong and Jimmy Lai, have been arrested under the new law or for protest-related offences. Many people have already left the territory.

The Hong Kong government and China say the law was necessary to restore stability after the sometimes violent protests of 2019, and that it preserves freedoms guaranteed by Beijing after Britain handed Hong Kong back to China.

“The Hong Kong national security law upholds the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong people,” said a spokesperson for Hong Kong’s Security Bureau. “Any law enforcement actions taken by Hong Kong law enforcement agencies are based on evidence, strictly according to the law, for the acts of the persons or entities concerned.”

CANADIAN ‘PARENTS’

Britain and Canada are two of the most popular destinations for people leaving Hong Kong after the imposition of the national security law.

Some 34,000 people applied to live in Britain in the first two months after the country introduced a new fast-track to residency for Hong Kongers earlier this year, according to the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, citing government data.

About a fifth of that number applied for temporary and permanent residency in Canada in the first four months of this year, according to the government. The total number of Hong Kongers going to Canada is likely larger but hard to track as many already hold Canadian passports from earlier waves of emigration.

Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers moved there in the 1980s and 1990s for fear they would lose wealth and property, or much of their freedom, after Communist Party-ruled China took back control of the city.

But the city prospered and retained freedoms unavailable in mainland China, so many Hong Kongers returned home, or kept a foot in each country. The latest wave of emigration looks more likely to be permanent, as China stamps its authority on Hong Kong. read more

Canada loosened its restrictions on admitting Hong Kongers after the imposition of the national security law last year. It set up a new work visa programme aimed chiefly at young Hong Kongers with a degree or diploma from a post-secondary institution in the last five years, along with two pathways to permanent residency for Hong Kongers in Canada who have recently worked or completed post-secondary studies in the country.

The new coronavirus has complicated matters for new arrivals. Under Canada’s latest travel restrictions, even those who have obtained permission to live and work in Canada through the new programme are only allowed to enter the country if they have a job offer.

That is where the support network comes in. The Toronto Hong Kong Parent Group has so far assisted 40 people, half of whom have already received three-year permits, according to Eric Li, co-founder of the group and former president of the Canada-Hong Kong Link, a rights advocacy organisation established in 1997.

Li said the group has encouraged 20 employers to offer jobs to people arriving from Hong Kong, including Ho’s cooking school, restaurants, a construction company, a travel agency, and a family who hired a Cantonese tutor for their children.

The Toronto group also has interpreters, lawyers and psychotherapists on hand to help new arrivals and has 10 rooms it can provide as free, temporary accommodation. The rooms are in the members’ or their friends’ homes.

Volunteers in Calgary said they have helped at least 29 asylum seekers, picking many up from the airport and driving them to doctors’ offices, grocery stores and banks.

STEPPING STONE

Canada has long had one of the largest populations of overseas Hong Kongers, some of whom came together in 2019 to hold rallies in solidarity with the protests back home.

Many of the new groups can trace their roots to activist organisations that formed in response to Beijing’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989, or the 1997 handover. The groups already have contacts with social agencies, such as Community Family Services of Ontario or the York Support Services Network, or with churches and professionals willing to help.

The Vancouver Parent Group, supported by the Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement that formed in 1989, has raised more than C$80,000 ($65,963) to help Hong Kong protesters settling in Canada with living costs and legal fees.

Vancouver “parents” show new arrivals how to navigate public transport or get a library card, and organise donations of winter clothing or kitchenware, according to Ken Tung, one of the volunteers.

Tung said their aim is to “give them a stepping stone to move on.”

Alison, a protester who left Hong Kong last year after many of her friends there were arrested for taking part in protests, was one of those helped by the Calgary group.

Along with a few other new arrivals, she launched the Soteria Institute, named after the Greek goddess of safety and salvation, to offer free, weekly, online English lessons, resume-writing workshops and emotional support.

“We understand what they’re experiencing,” said Alison, who asked to be identified by only one name. “We try to use our experience to help out more Hong Kong exiles.”

Reporting by Sarah Wu in Ottawa
Editing by Marius Zaharia and Bill Rigby

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World

Hong Kong drinks company Vitasoy faces China netizen calls for boycott

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A policeman takes pictures at the site where a man allegedly stabbed a police officer in Causeway Bay, during the 24th anniversary of the former British colony’s return to Chinese rule and on the 100th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China, in Hong Kong, China July 1, 2021. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

HONG KONG, July 4 (Reuters) – Beverage maker Vitasoy (0345.HK) has become the latest target of Chinese netizens’ calls for a boycott after an employee circulated a memo online offering condolences to the family of a worker who had stabbed a Hong Kong police officer.

In a statement on the Chinese social media platform Weibo on Saturday, Vitasoy said a staff member had circulated a memo that it described as “extremely inappropriate” without authorisation, and the company reserved the right to take legal action.

The memo offered condolences to the family of a 50-year-old Vitasoy worker who had stabbed a police officer, 28, and then killed himself on Thursday, the anniversary the former British colony’s return to Chinese rule, media outlets reported.

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“What this employee wrote should not have been made public and should not have been published internally,” Vitasoy said.

“Vitasoy Group sincerely apologises for any troubles or grievances this has caused. We support Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity, stability and development.”

Police have described the stabbing as an attempted murder. The officer’s condition has improved from critical to serious.

The worker’s memo triggered a flood of online calls for a boycott of Vitasoy, which gets two-thirds of its revenue from mainland China.

The hashtag “#Vitasoygetoutofthemainland” has garnered almost 100 million views.

Hong Kong authorities warned on Sunday that advocating for people to mourn for the attacker was no different from “supporting terrorism” and criticised parents who took children to mourn him.

The Police National Security Department said it had taken over the case and initial investigations showed it was a “lone wolf-style act of domestic terrorism, in which the attacker was believed to be radicalised by myriad fake information.”

It warned members of the public “not to tolerate or glorify violence.”

A 20-year-old woman and a 26-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of inciting others to commit murder, as well as arson and seditious intention, said police Superintendent Wilson Tam.

Tam did not specify whether the arrests were related to the stabbing, telling a news conference only that the pair were suspected of posting messages on social media on Friday. One of the messages incited people to kill police, he said, adding that more arrests could not be ruled out.

On Friday, people went to the scene of the attack, some with children, to pay their respects to the attacker and lay flowers.

Mainland actor Gong Jun, who previously endorsed a Vitasoy lemon-flavoured drink, announced late on Friday he was ending commercial cooperation with the company, said Global Times, a tabloid published by the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper.

His announcement followed that of another mainland Chinese actor, Ren Jialun, who said he was also ceasing co-operation with Vitasoy, the newspaper added.

Fashion retailer H&M (HMb.ST) said on Thursday its sales took a hit in China after its concerns over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang led to a social media-inspired boycott by shoppers. read more

Reporting By Anne Marie Roantree and Jessie Pang in Hong Kong and David Kirton in Shenzhen; Editing by William Mallard

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Business

Britain’s Morrisons agrees $8.7 bln offer from Fortress-led group

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A Morrisons store is pictured in St Albans, Britain, September 10, 2020. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra//File Photo

  • Fortress-led group offers 254 pence a share
  • Tops CD&R’s proposal of 230 pence
  • Some investors want 270 pence
  • Morrisons says Fortress would be suitable owner
  • Fortress says it will be ‘good steward’

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) – Morrisons has agreed to a takeover led by SoftBank (9984.T) owned Fortress Investment Group, valuing Britain’s fourth largest supermarket chain at 6.3 billion pounds ($8.7 billion) and topping a rival proposal from a U.S. private equity firm.

The offer from Fortress, along with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Koch Real Estate Investments, exceeds a 5.52 billion pound unsolicited proposal from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), which Morrisons (MRW.L) rejected on June 19. read more

Including Morrisons’ net debt of 3.2 billion pounds, Fortress’ offer gives the group an enterprise value of 9.5 billion pounds.

“We have looked very carefully at Fortress’ approach, their plans for the business and their overall suitability as an owner of a unique British food-maker and shopkeeper with over 110,000 colleagues and an important role in British food production and farming,” said Morrisons Chairman Andrew Higginson.

“It’s clear to us that Fortress has a full understanding and appreciation of the fundamental character of Morrisons.”

The Fortress deal underlines the growing appetite from private funds for British supermarket groups, seen as attractive because of their cash generation and freehold assets.

Fortress, an independently-operated subsidiary of Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, is a global investment manager with about $53 billion in assets under management as of March. It purchased British wine seller Majestic Wine in 2019.

“We are committed to being good stewards of Morrisons to best serve its stakeholder groups, and the wider British public, for the long term,” said managing partner, Joshua A. Pack.

Fortress intends to retain Morrisons’ existing management team led by CEO David Potts and execute its existing strategy. It said it was not planning any material store sale and leaseback transactions.

RECOMMENDATION

Under the terms of the deal, which Morrisons’ board is recommending to shareholders, investors would receive 254 pence a share, comprising 252 pence in cash and a 2 pence special cash dividend. CD&R’s proposal was 230 pence a share, worth 5.52 billion pounds.

Last week JO Hambro, a top ten shareholder in Morrisons, said any suitor for the group should offer about 270 pence a share or 6.5 billion pounds. read more

Morrisons, based in Bradford, northern England, started out as an egg and butter merchant in 1899. It now only trails market leader Tesco (TSCO.L), Sainsbury’s (SBRY.L) and Asda in annual sales.

Morrisons owns 85% of its nearly 500 stores and has 19 mostly freehold manufacturing sites. It is unique among British supermarkets in making over half of the fresh food it sells.

It said the Fortress offer represented a premium of 42% to its closing share price of 178 pence on June 18 – the day before CD&R’s proposal. The stock closed at 243 pence on Friday.

Morrisons’ directors, who own 0.23% of the group’s equity, would make 14.3 million pounds from selling their shares to Fortress.

CD&R, which under British takeover rules has until July 17 to come back with a firm offer, had no immediate comment.

Morrisons has a partnership agreement with Amazon (AMZN.O) and there has been speculation it too could emerge as a possible bidder.

FIVE PROPOSALS

Morrisons said an initial unsolicited proposal was received from Fortress on May 4 at 220 pence a share. This offer was not made public. Fortress then made four subsequent proposals before it offered a total value of 254 a share on June 5.

The bids for Morrisons follow February’s purchase by Zuber and Mohsin Issa and private equity firm TDR Capital of a majority stake in Asda from Walmart (WMT.N). The deal valued Asda at 6.8 billion pounds. read more

That transaction followed Sainsbury’s failure to take over Asda after an agreed deal was blocked by Britain’s competition regulator in 2019.

In April, Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky raised his stake in Sainsbury’s to almost 10%, igniting bid speculation.

read more

($1 = 0.7235 pounds)

Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Jane Merriman

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Business

Tesla Q2 deliveries meet analysts’ estimates despite chip shortage, shares gain

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  • Shares up 3% on record vehicle deliveries
  • Deliveries of higher priced models fell

July 2 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) on Friday posted record vehicle deliveries for the second quarter that were in line with Wall Street estimates as the electric-car maker coped with a shortage of chips and raw materials.

Tesla delivered 201,250 vehicles in total during the second quarter. Analysts had expected Tesla to deliver 200,258 vehicles, according to Refinitiv data.

“Congrats Tesla Team on over 200,000 car built & delivered in Q2, despite many challenges!!” Musk said in a tweet.

Shares of the company were up 3% in early trading on Friday.

The numbers showed that strong deliveries of its Model 3 sedans and Model Y crossovers, its two lower priced variants, offset a drop in deliveries of higher-end Model S and X variants.

Tesla has been raising prices for its vehicles in recent months, which its billionaire boss, Elon Musk, blamed in May on “major supply chain price pressure”, especially raw materials. read more

He also said in early June that “Our biggest challenge is supply chain, especially microcontroller chips. Never seen anything like it.”

Tesla sold 21,936 cars to Chinese customers in May, rebounding from a sales slump in April, but still well below March numbers. read more

MODEL S,X DELIVERIES FALL

Overall deliveries of its higher priced Model S and X cars fell to 1,890 during the April to June period, from a meager 2,020 the preceding quarter, Tesla said.

After delays, the company launched the Model S Plaid in June, a high-performance version of its Model S, starting at $129,990. read more

A Tesla Model S Plaid electric vehicle burst into flames on Tuesday while the owner was driving, just three days after the car was delivered. Tesla did not have an immediate comment when contacted by Reuters. read more

Total production in the second quarter rose about 14% to 206,421 vehicles from the first quarter.

Reporting by Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru and Hyunjoo Jin in Berkeley, Calif, Additional reporting by Subrat Patnaik; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Philippa Fletcher

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World

France probes fashion retailers for concealing ‘crimes against humanity’ in Xinjiang

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Customers enter a Zara shop in Nantes as non-essential business re-open after closing down for months, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in France, May 19, 2021. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo

PARIS, July 1 (Reuters) – French prosecutors have opened an investigation into four fashion retailers suspected of concealing “crimes against humanity” in China’s Xinjiang region, a judicial source said on Thursday.

The procedure is linked to accusations against China over its treatment of minority Muslim Uyghurs in the region, including the use of forced labour, the source said.

China denies all accusations of abuse in the region.

The source told Reuters Uniqlo France, a unit of Japan’s Fast Retailing (9983.T), Zara owner Inditex (ITX.MC), France’s SMCP (SMCP.PA) and Skechers (SKX.N) were the subject of the investigation, confirming a report by French media website Mediapart.

“An investigation has been opened by the crimes against humanity unit within the antiterrorism prosecutor’s office following the filing of a complaint,” the source said.

France has a Central Office to Fight Crimes against Humanity, Genocide and War Crimes, founded in 2013.

Inditex said it rejected the claims in the legal complaint, adding that it conducted rigorous traceability controls and would fully cooperate with the French investigation.

“At Inditex, we have zero tolerance for all forms of forced labour and have established policies and procedures to ensure this practice does not take place in our supply chain,” the company said in a statement.

SMCP said it would cooperate with the French authorities to prove the allegations false.

“SMCP works with suppliers located all over the world and maintains that it does not have direct suppliers in the region mentioned in the press,” SMCP said, adding that it regularly audited its suppliers.

Fast Retailing said in a statement from Tokyo that it had not been contacted by French authorities and that none of its production partners are located in Xinjiang.

“If and when notified, we will cooperate fully with the investigation to reaffirm there is no forced labour in our supply chains,” it said.

The company lost an appeal with United States Customs in May after a shipment of Uniqlo men’s shirts were impounded because of suspected violations of a ban on Xinjiang cotton. read more

Skechers said it does not comment on pending litigation. It referred Reuters to a March 2021 statement in which it said it maintained a strict supplier code of conduct.

Two nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) filed a complaint in France in early April against multinationals for concealment of forced labour and crimes against humanity.

United Nations experts and rights groups estimate over a million people, mainly Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, have been detained in recent years in a vast system of camps in China’s western Xinjiang region.

Many former inmates have said they were subject to ideological training and abuse. Rights groups say the camps have been used as a source of low-paid and coercive labour.

China initially denied the camps existed, but has since said they are vocational centres designed to combat extremism. In late 2019, China said all people in the camps had “graduated.”

Several Western brands including H&M (HMb.ST), Burberry (BRBY.L) and Nike (NKE.N) have been hit by consumer boycotts in China after raising concerns about reports of forced labour in Xinjiang. read more

In March, the United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada imposed sanctions on Chinese officials, citing human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Beijing retaliated immediately with its own punitive measures. read more

Human Rights Watch this year documented what it said could constitute crimes against humanity being committed in Xinjiang.

Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten in Paris
Additional reporting by Richard Lough in Paris, Jesus Aguado in Madrid and Rocky Swift in Tokyo.
Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Matthew Lewis

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Technology

Apple, Intel become first to adopt TSMC’s latest chip tech – Nikkei

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A 12-inch wafer is seen at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) in Hsinchu June 15, 2010. REUTERS/Pichi Chuang

July 2 (Reuters) – Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Intel Corp (INTC.O) will be the first adopters of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (2330.TW) next-generation chip production technology ahead of its deployment, possibly next year, Nikkei Asia reported on Friday.

Apple and Intel are testing their chip designs with TSMC’s 3-nanometer production technology, the report added, citing several sources briefed on the matter. Commercial output of such chips is expected to start in the second half of next year, Nikkei Asia said.

Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger

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Business

China’s Didi raises $4.4 bln in upsized U.S. IPO -sources

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  • Didi sold 317 mln ADS, more than planned 288 mln -sources
  • Sells ADS at $14 a piece – sources
  • Would give Didi $73 bln valuation on fully diluted basis

June 29 (Reuters) – Chinese ride hailing company Didi Global Inc (DIDI.N) raised $4.4 billion in its U.S IPO on Tuesday, pricing it at the top of its indicated range and increasing the number of shares sold, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Didi sold 317 million American Depository Shares (ADS), versus the planned 288 million, at $14 apiece, the people said on condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement.

This would give Didi a valuation of about $73 billion on a fully diluted basis. On a non-diluted basis, it will be worth $67.5 billion. The company is expected to debut on the New York Stock Exchange on June 30.

The increase in deal size came after the Didi investor order book was oversubscribed multiple times, one of the sources said.

Investors have been told to expect their orders to be scaled back once allocations are completed on Wednesday, according to a separate source with direct knowledge of the matter.

Didi did not respond to a request for comment.

The listing, which will be the biggest U.S. share sale by a Chinese company since Alibaba raised $25 billion in 2014, comes amid record IPO activity this year as companies rush to capture the lucrative valuations seen in the U.S. stock market.

Didi’s IPO is more conservative than its initial aim for a valuation of up to $100 billion, Reuters has previously reported. The size of the deal was cut during briefings with investors ahead of the IPO’s launch. read more

This suggests increasing investor worries about China’s potential anti-trust related crackdown and a more volatile IPO environment globally in 2021, said Douglas Kim, a London-based independent analyst, who writes on Smartkarma.

A Didi logo is seen at the headquarters of Didi Chuxing in Beijing, China November 20, 2020. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo

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“But it seems like many investors like this deal, the volatile IPO environment helped to lower IPO price and valuation looks attractive,” Kim told Reuters.

Didi’s IPO was covered early on the first day of the book-build last week and the investor books were closed on Monday, a day ahead of schedule. read more .

An over-allotment option, or greenshoe, exists where another 43.2 million shares can be sold to increase the deal size.

DIDI HISTORY

Didi was co-founded in 2012 by former Alibaba employee Will Wei Cheng, who currently serves as the chief executive officer. Cheng was joined by Jean Qing Liu, a former Goldman Sachs banker and the current president of the ride-sharing company.

The company counts SoftBank (9984.T), Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) and Tencent (0700.HK) as its main backers.

Didi is also known for successfully pushing Uber out of the Chinese market after the U.S. company lost a price war and ended up selling its China operations to Didi for a stake. Liu Zhen, the head of Uber China at the time, is Didi’s Liu’s cousin.

Like most ride-hailing companies, Didi had historically been unprofitable, until it reported a profit of $30 million in the first quarter of this year.

The company reported a loss of $1.6 billion last year and an 8% drop in revenue to $21.63 billion, according to a regulatory filing, as business slid during the pandemic.

Its shares are due to start trading under the “DIDI” symbol.

Reporting by Echo Wang in New York and Anirban Sen in Bengaluru and Scott Murdoch in Hong Kong; Editing by Greg Roumeliotis, Bill Berkrot and Himani Sarkar

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World

Indonesia searching for missing submarine with 53 on board

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Indonesia’s navy is searching for a missing submarine with 53 people on board that went missing on Wednesday and is seeking help from neighbouring Australia and Singapore in the hunt, the Indonesian military chief told Reuters.

The German-made submarine, KRI Nanggala-402, was conducting a torpedo drill in waters north of the island of Bali but failed to relay the results as expected, a navy spokesman said.

“We are still searching in the waters of Bali, 60 miles (96 km) from Bali, (for) 53 people,” military chief Hadi Tjahjanto told Reuters in a text message.

The military chief confirmed that assistance in the search for the submarine and missing crew members had been sought from Australia and Singapore. He said that contact with the vessel was lost at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Representatives of the defence departments of Australia and Singapore did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The 1,395-tonne KRI Nanggala-402 was built in Germany in 1978, according to the Indonesian cabinet secretariat’s website, and underwent a two-year refit in South Korea that was completed in 2012.

Indonesia in the past operated a fleet of 12 submarines purchased from the Soviet Union to patrol the waters of its sprawling archipelago.

But now it has a fleet of only five including two German-built Type 209 submarines and three newer South Korean vessels.

Indonesia has been seeking to upgrade its defence capabilities but some of its equipment still in service is old and there have been deadly accidents involving in particular ageing military transport planes in recent years.

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