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After a long three-and-a-half months break, the QNB Stars League will resume today with Al Duhail taking on Al Gharafa at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium today. Qatar’s top flight was put on pause after the round seven fixtures as the country hosted the FIFA World Cup from November 20 to December 18, while national players were also in Europe for a training camp.Three matches are scheduled for this week, while the other three was postponed. Tomorrow, Al Rayyan will take on Al Sailiya, while Al Ahli host Al Arabi.Arabi are leading the table with 16 points, one more than Al Wakrah while Duhail are third with 14 points. Reigning champions Al Sadd are placed ninth after a poor start to the season.Today, Duhail’s task will not be easy against Gharafa, who replaced Italian coach Andrea Stramaccioni with Portuguese Pedro Martins. That was the only change on the coaching front among all 12 teams.Al Gharafa will be motivated to achieve a positive result under the new coach, while Al Duhail, under Argentinian Hernan Crespo, will seek to be on top of the table. Duhail will be without Paolo Edmilson, who recovering from injury at Aspetar.Crespo said Duhail were ready to make a charge towards the title in the second half of the season. “We are ready for the resumption of the league despite the difficulties we faced in preparing players during the World Cup,” he said.“We succeeded in discovering a number of young players who are the future of the team although we suffer from the absence of a number of our players who are with the national team. That will make us carry out a process of balancing between experienced and young players. I do not think about resting our international players who played in the World Cup as the team is having strong matches in the coming period,” Crespo added.Gharafa coach Martins said his team was ready for a tough game against Duhail. “The team is waiting to show its strength and be a strong competitor. We have the ability to control the match in order to win. Duhail are a great team with good players. I know them well because I have watched many of their matches, including the final of Amir Cup last season,” he said.“There are doubts about the participation of Moyad Hassan, who suffers from an injury, and we will see how ready he is for the match. We will also miss national team players Amro Seraj, Ahmed Alaaeldin and Homam al-Ameen, but the rest of the players are in good condition and 100 per cent ready for the match,” said Martins.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva led the tributes yesterday as Brazil said its final farewell to late football legend Pele, widely regarded as the greatest player of all time. A flood of fans, politicians and football dignitaries turned out to pay their respects to the player known as “The King” in the southeastern city of Santos, home to the club where Pele, who died last week at age 82, spent most of his storied career.Santos FC said some 250,000 people had attended his 24-hour wake in the Vila Belmiro stadium, where mourners continued arriving straight through the night. That was followed by a massive funeral procession, as Pele’s casket - draped in the black-and-white flag of Santos and the green-and-yellow one of Brazil - was placed atop a firetruck for a final parade through the city, including an emotional stop in front of the house where his 100-year-old mother still lives.Lula, who took office Sunday in a ceremony that started with a minute’s silence for Pele, was visibly moved as he and First Lady Rosangela “Janja” da Silva paused before the coffin at the wake and embraced the player’s widow, Marcia Cibele Aoki, who was in tears. “Goodbye to the King. Rest in peace, Pele,” the president wrote on Twitter.Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pele is the only player in history to win three World Cups (1958, 1962 and 1970). He scored a world record 1,281 goals during his more than two-decade career with Santos (1956-74), the New York Cosmos (1975-77) and the Brazilian national team. He died last Thursday after a battle with cancer.Tributes have poured in from around the world since his death, with current and former football greats hailing his genius for the “beautiful game,” including Brazil star Neymar, France’s Kylian Mbappe and Argentina’s Lionel Messi. FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who attended the wake Monday, called Pele “a global icon of football” and said the sport’s governing body would ask all member countries to name a stadium in the player’s honour.The wake ended yesterday morning with a brief Catholic service, after which 10 state police guards in dress uniform placed the lid on Pele’s black casket. A bright red firetruck then transported the coffin through the city, as huge crowds of fans, some in tears, lined the streets and gathered on balconies to say a last goodbye, chanting “1,000 goals, only Pele!”The longest stop was outside the beige house where Pele’s mother, Celeste Arantes, still lives. “Dona Celeste,” as she is known, has cognitive difficulties, and is unaware her world-famous son has died, according to the family. But Pele’s sister, Maria Lucia, who lives with her, clasped her hands and tearfully bowed her head to the massive crowd in gratitude, surrounded by family on the house’s balcony.The funeral procession ended at the port city’s Memorial Cemetery, near the stadium, where a private funeral service will be held before Pele is interred in a 10-story mausoleum that holds the Guinness World Record as the tallest cemetery on Earth. The cemetery said Pele’s embalmed body would rest in its coffin, displayed in the middle of a 200-square-metre (2,150-square-foot) replica football stadium with artificial turf, surrounded by gilded images from his glory days.Life-long Santos fan Katia Cruz, 58, who lives a block from the stadium, said she had stood in line for four hours overnight to get into the Vila Belmiro, attending Pele’s wake without her husband because he was “inconsolable.” “Pele was everything. He was the King. He deserves this,” she said.Tributes continued pouring in from around Brazil, which held three days of national mourning. Rio de Janeiro’s mayor said the city would rename the street outside the iconic Maracana stadium Pele Avenue. At the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation, a giant poster with Pele’s image bore the word “eternal.” Pele’s son Edinho said the family was grateful for the gestures. But “any homage we can pay to him is small compared to what he represents and the life story he wrote,” he said. “I am just so grateful and proud.”

Qatar, having already rested many senior players, will also be without Mohamed Muntari for the 25th Arabian Gulf Cup after the striker injured his knee in training.The Qatar Football Association yesterday named the final 23-man squad for the tournament, which will kick off on Friday in Basra, Iraq. The team, which underwent a 10-day training camp at the Aspire Academy, will leave for Iraq today. The three-time champions open their campaign against Kuwait on Saturday. They will also meet defending champions Bahrain on January 10 and the UAE on January 13 in other Group matches. Hosts Iraq, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Oman are in Group A.Muntari’s absence is a massive blow for Qatar, who are going to the tournament with many newcomers after the debacle at the World Cup, where they lost their all three group matches. Those who have been rested include captain Hassan al-Haydos, Akram Afif, Almoez Ali, Abdulaziz Hatem, Karim Boudiaf, Abdelkarim Hassan, Boualam Khoukhi, Bassam al-Rawi, Saad al-Sheeb and Pedro Miguel.Qatar will be coached by Portuguese Bruno Pinheiro, who replaced Spaniard Felix Sanchez. Meanwhile, the organising committee of the tournament had earlier announced complete readiness to host the event which will take place at Basra International and Al Mina stadiums.Qatar SquadMeshaal Barsham, Mahmoud Abu Nada, Shehab El Laithi, Hashim Ali, Yousuf Abdurisag, Mohamed Waad, Moustafa Tarek, Tarek Salman, Diab Haroun, Emad Mohamed, Ismaeel Mohamed, Ali Asad, Salem al-Hajri, Amro Siraj, Homam al-Amin, Tamim Mansour, Naif al-Hadhrami, Assim Madibo, Jassim Jaber, Hazem Ahmed, Khaled Muneer, Ahmed Fadel, Ahmed Alaaeldin

Protesters in Bolivia’s farming region of Santa Cruz are blocking highways out of the province, threatening to snarl the domestic transport of grains and food, as anger simmers following the arrest of local governor Luis Camacho.The region, a stronghold of the conservative opposition to socialist President Luis Arce, is in its sixth day of protests that have seen thousands of people take to the streets and nights of clashes with weaponised fireworks and cars burned.Last Tuesday hundreds of women marched to the city police headquarters in support of Camacho, demanding his release.On the nearby streets were burnt-out vehicles, smouldering fires and blockades from the overnight clashes.The protests, sparked by the December 28 arrest of Camacho over an alleged coup in 2019, are deepening divides between lowland Santa Cruz and the highland, more indigenous political capital La Paz, which have long butted heads over politics and state funds.Camacho was seized by special police forces, taken out of the province by helicopter and is now in a maximum security jail in the highland city El Alto.He denies all charges that relate to the divisive removal of former socialist leader Evo Morales in 2019.Santa Cruz leaders pledge to fight until Camacho is released, picketing government buildings and stopping transport of grains.There are also calls for a federal system giving the city more autonomy and state funds.“We have a mandate from our assembly that nothing leaves Santa Cruz and that is what we are going to do,” said Romulo Calvo, head of the powerful Pro Santa Cruz civic group.Marcelo Cruz, president of the International Heavy Transport Association of Santa Cruz, said that routes are being blocked so no trucks could leave the province.“No grain, animal or supply from the factories should leave Santa Cruz for the rest of the country. The blocking points are being reinforced,” he said.Morales and allies – including current president Arce – say that his ouster was a coup and have prosecuted opposition figures they blame for it.Jeanine Anez, who became interim president after his removal, was jailed for 10 years in 2022.Human rights groups say the government is using a weak justice system to go after its opponents.“We are no longer a state of law, we are an outlaw state,” said Erwin Bazan, from the right-wing Creemos party, saying the charges against Camacho were politically motivated.Others blame Camacho for tensions in 2019 which saw dozens killed in protests, including supporters of Morales.“Let him go to jail for 30 years. We want justice,” said Maria Laura, a supporter of the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) party.Morales remains the party’s leader though has at times clashed with new president Arce.Paul Coca, a lawyer and analyst in La Paz, said the internal divisions in the ruling party were partly behind the arrest, with Arce trying to neutralise criticism from Morales.“(Arce) had to confront his party leader or directly go against Luis Fernando Camacho. And he obviously chose to go all out against Camacho,” he said.The blockade could dent food supply to other parts of the country as well as exports and growth as Bolivia grapples with a large fiscal deficit and low reserves.“Santa Cruz is the economic stronghold of Bolivia,” said Gary Rodríguez, general manager of the Bolivian Institute of Foreign Trade (IBCE).The region is the main producer of soy, sugar cane, wheat, rice, corn, and livestock.“All this great private productive effort is now in danger,” he added.

The Taliban administration will encourage self-sufficiency and wants international trade and investment, the acting commerce minister said, as Afghanistan faces isolation and suspension of some humanitarian operations over restrictions on women.“We will start a national self-sufficiency programme, we will encourage all government administrations to use domestic products, we will also try to encourage people through mosques to support our domestic products,” Haji Nooruddin Azizi told Reuters. “We will support any item which can help us for self-sufficiency.”Another part of their strategy was to boost trade and foreign investment, he said.“Those who were importing items to Afghanistan from abroad, they are asking us to provide opportunities for investing in Afghanistan and they want to invest here instead of importing from abroad,” he said.He said that countries including Iran, Russia and China were interested in trade and investment.He said some of the projects under discussion were Chinese industrial parks and thermal power plants, with involvement from Russia and Iran.Already facing a lack of formal recognition and sanctions hampering the country’s banking sector, investors are faced with growing security concerns after attacks on foreign targets in Kabul, claimed by the Islamic State (IS).An attack on a hotel catering to Chinese businessmen this month, which badly hurt several foreigners, could prompt some to re-think investing, a leading member of the Chinese business community has said.Azizi said that authorities were working to ensure security.“We do our best for our businessmen to not come to harm. The attack hasn’t had any bad impact, (but) if it happened constantly, yes it might have bad impact,” he said, referring to the investment environment.Azizi laid out a plan to develop industry by creating economic zones on land previously used for US military bases.He said his ministry is presenting the plan to the administration’s cabinet and economic commission.Azizi added that foreign investors were showing interest in Afghanistan’s mining sector, which has been valued at more than $1tn.He said that an iron mine in western Herat and a lead mine in central Ghor province had seen 40 companies take part in an auction and that the results would be announced soon.He said that a major contract signed with Russia in September for the supply of gas, oil and wheat would see the delivery of the items to Afghanistan in coming days.The Taliban-led administration is facing increased isolation over policies in recent days restricting women from access to public life, including attending university.An order barring female non-governmental organisation (NGO) workers has thrown the humanitarian sector, which is providing urgent aid to millions of people, into disarray, with some organisations suspending operations in the middle of the harsh winter.Azizi did not comment on the new restrictions but said his ministry had allocated five acres of land for a permanent exhibition centre and hub for women-led businesses.“We always support women investors,” he said.

Dressed in a green shirt with yellow and white polka dots, a blue pacifier in his mouth, two-year-old Thaakir Buzic yesterday led a colourful musical band through the streets of Cape Town, in South Africa — from the safety of his grandfather’s arms.About 20,000 performers divided into dozens of troupes marched in the city centre while playing music and dancing for the annual Cape Town Minstrel carnival.Returning after a two-year Covid-induced break, the celebration, also known as “Tweede Nuwe Jaar” (“Second New Year”), is a family affair for Buzic’s relatives. The boy is the youngest of 13 family members — led by his 68-year-old great great aunt — to take part in the parade as dancers for the 1,000-strong Playaz Inc troupe.“We are very, very excited! Today, everything is fine,” said Buzic’s grandfather, Ridewaan Daniels, 47.A tambourin in hand, Buzic bounced from one leg to the other as brass players rehearsed outdoors at a school in Mitchells Plain, near Cape Town, on New Year’s Eve.“It’s in the troupes that my parents met. I was born into it, the same goes with my kids and my grand-kids,” said his grandmother, Sadia Daniels, 40, who has not missed a parade since she was born. “Only the lockdown could keep us away from it...this year we’re back on track.”Tens of thousands of people flocked to see the march yesterday.Minstrels stuck out their tongues and wiggled their hips under the blazing sun to the sound of trumpets and whistles.“We’ve been camping on this spot since December 28,” said Ruzia Fry, 39, as she sat under one of four marquees set up on the side of a road to accommodate her about 50 family members.“It’s a tradition for us to come here every year.” The festivity has its roots in colonial times, when slaves — some of whom were forcibly brought to Africa’s southern tip from Southeast Asia — were allowed to relax on the day after New Year’s Day.They used the time off to dress up, dance and sing. It’s now seen as a celebration of the Cape’s diverse culture and marks the start of a weeks-long competition where minstrels battle it out for the title of best troupe.In impoverished, crime-ridden communities with high unemployment rates, joining a band offers some a way out.“The biggest thing for us is to keep the youngsters occupied.It takes them away from all the ills from our neighbourhoods,” said Raeed Gallant, 35, co-director of Playaz Inc Siraaj Allen, 30, said music kept him from taking a more dangerous path, when as a teenager he started hanging around with “the wrong guys”.“I chose music. And that saved me from being a bad person,” he said.Now a professional musician, he coaches the Playaz Inc band’s 150 trombone, sousaphone, trumpet and saxophone players.“Music taught me discipline and now I give it over to the younger guys, to make sure they don’t go the same path that I almost went.” With 27 troupes confirmed, organisers said the parade would be back with a bang after the two-year hiatus.

Israeli forces killed two Palestinian fighters during clashes near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin yesterday that were set off when the army came to demolish the homes of two slain gunmen, Palestinian sources said.The fatalities in Kafr-Dan village were the first for Palestinians since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu retook office last week at the head of a hard-right coalition.The Israeli army confirmed carrying out the raid to raze the homes of two Palestinians who killed one of its commanders in the West Bank last year before they were shot dead.Troops shot at Palestinians in Kafr-Dan who attacked them with gunfire, rocks and firebombs, the army said in a statement.There were no Israeli casualties in the incident.Hamas, the group that runs the Gaza Strip, and a rival organisation in the West Bank each claimed one of the two dead Palestinians as a member.In a statement, Hamas, which rejects coexistence with Israel, vowed to “pursue resistance and confront the terrorism and fascism of the new Occupation government”. In Kafr-Dan, Hani Abed, the father of one of the gunmen killed in the Sept 14 clash, described the Israeli demolitions as “collective punishment”.“This will not break our determination,” he told Reuters as he stood by the rubble of his house.Last year saw the worst levels of violence in the West Bank in more than a decade, much of it concentrated around Nablus and the nearby city of Jenin, with at least 150 Palestinians and more than 20 Israelis killed.In Ramallah, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamed Shtayyeh, held Israel responsible for any escalation that could result from “acts of killings and daily incursions”.

European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said additional measures are needed to curb rising expectations of future prices and return inflation to the 2% goal. “Our monthly surveys of firms and households are showing a significant increase in long-term inflation expectations,” Nagel said in an interview with the Zeitschrift für das gesamte Kreditwesen published on the Bundesbank website yesterday. “I firmly believe that we need to take further monetary policy action to halt and reverse this trend.”The ECB raised interest rates by 250 basis-points last year and officials have said more hikes are to come. President Christine Lagarde said last week that allowing inflation to become entrenched “would be even worse.” Nagel echoed that sentiment, saying it would be wrong to act too hesitantly now out of fear that higher borrowing costs could hurt economic growth. “Then we would be forced to tighten policy all the more sharply further down the line, thus placing even more of a strain on the economy,” Nagel said. Nagel also said: “I am optimistic that Germany will be able to avoid a severe economic slump and we will get off lightly with a mild downturn. And I am confident that we will be able to tame the high rate of inflation over the medium term”.“There is a distinct risk of stronger second-round effects because the higher wage deals that are being reached could prolong the prevailing period of high inflation rates”.Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank AG confirmed it faces a higher capital requirement as its main regulator pushes lenders to dial back the risks they face in the lucrative business of leveraged finance.The German lender must hold common equity Tier 1 capital equivalent to 10.55% of its risk-weighted assets this year, up from 10.43% at the end of September, it said in a statement on Friday after market close. The firm already exceeds the requirement by a wide margin, with a ratio of 13.33% at the end of the third quarter.“The increase is driven by the ECB’s newly introduced separate assessment of risks stemming from leveraged finance activities,” Deutsche Bank said.Bloomberg reported in November that the German bank and BNP Paribas SA were among lenders facing rising capital charges related to leveraged loans. The ECB has said some lenders aren’t properly grasping the risks they face in that business, which involves financing highly-indebted companies, such as those acquired by private equity firms. Deutsche Bank chief executive officer Christian Sewing has pushed back, saying his firm doesn’t need warnings from its regulator to contain the risk it faces in leveraged loans.

China’s manufacturing, services and property sectors all weakened sharply in the fourth quarter due to Covid disruptions, resulting in a potential contraction in the economy in the final months of the year, a private survey shows.Indexes measuring profits, sales and employment at manufacturing and services companies slumped in the last three months of 2022 from the previous quarter and a year ago, China Beige Book International said yesterday. The results are based on a survey of 4,354 businesses conducted last quarter.Metrics for the property sector, including transactions and prices, plunged close to all-time lows, CBBI said.The figures imply that China’s gross domestic product likely contracted in the fourth quarter from a year ago in real terms and grew only 2% for the whole year of 2022, CBBI, a provider of independent economic data, said in its report.Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predict growth slowed to 2.9% in the fourth quarter and reached 3% for 2022.“With the ongoing Covid tidal wave, investment sliding to a 10-quarter low, and new orders continuing to get battered, a meaningful first-quarter recovery is increasingly unrealistic,” said Derek Scissors, chief economist at CBBI.China’s abrupt lifting of Covid restrictions in early December has fuelled a surge in infections across the country, adding more uncertainty to the economy’s outlook.The faster-than-expected reopening means first-quarter economic activity will also likely be disrupted, although some economists see an increasing possibility of a faster recovery once infection waves peak.High frequency indicators last week suggested early signs of a rebound in activity in cities like Beijing, where infections likely already peaked.The CBBI survey showed businesses remaining in distress in the fourth quarter. Companies obtained 46% of their loans from non-bank lenders in the final three months of 2022, up from 33% in the third quarter.The rise in so-called shadow banking suggests firms are struggling to qualify for bank credit lines, with the cost of borrowing climbing to the highest in more than a decade, according to the CBBI report.

The drop for home prices in Sweden continued unabated in the last month of the year, suggesting that 2023 could offer little relief for an already troubled housing market.Prices across the country are now down almost 17% since a peak in the spring, according to state-owned mortgage lender SBAB.The worst slump for the market since the 1990s is nearing territory where the 20% forecasts by most economists — including the central bank — are starting to look too conservative.The Nordic country is far from alone in suffering from falling property values. After booming during the pandemic, central bank interest-rate hikes have triggered a real-estate downturn in a number of nations globally, including in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In the region, home prices are also falling in Denmark, Norway and Finland, albeit at a much slower pace.The new data sum up a bad year for Swedish home owners and real-estate firms, who are having to adjust to seeing the value of their properties fall in the wake of the surging cost of living and borrowing, and a gloomy economic outlook.Swedes are particularly sensitive to interest-rate changes, as roughly 64% of people in the nation of 10mn own their homes, yet most don’t have long-term fixed-rate mortgages. The fast pass-through of four sudden Riksbank rate hikes has exacerbated the market’s woes, with the central bank bringing its key rate to 2.5% in November from zero in April. It’s expected to raise the rate again next month.Home prices fell 2% in December from the previous month, adjusted for seasonal variations, SBAB said yesterday.That follows a 2.2% decline in November and 2.3% in October, according to an indicator based on transaction data from SBAB’s real-estate listing site Booli.SBAB has also reported longer listing times on its site as the market has cooled.Prices for detached houses are now down 19% from the peak in the spring of 2022, while apartment prices have fallen 14%, SBAB said. The larger drop for house prices than apartments is in part explained by high electricity prices, which make it more costly to heat single-family homes.Still, banks in Sweden are relatively well shielded from the worst distress in the housing market, as lending is based on a borrowers’ capacity to pay off their loans and settling debt on a mortgage is rare. The real risk to lenders is commercial real estate, as commercial property lending accounts for between 16% and 36% of major banks’ loan stocks.Should unemployment increase significantly “in the wake of the approaching recession,” it could lead to a “very difficult” situation for the housing market if combined with rising mortgage rates, chief economist Robert Boije said in the statement. That could then also hit the production of new homes, he said.There are already signs of the construction industry grinding to a halt, hampered by rising costs and supply-chain hiccups, and a recession forecast for this year portends lower demand.On Monday, one of the largest landlords said it had no construction starts on new rental apartments in the fourth quarter. Wallenstam AB is waiting for the situation around delivery issues and material prices to clear, chief financial officer Susann Linde said.“We need to keep an eye on production costs and the supply chain,” she said by phone. “We will gradually increase production when we have secured that.”

Kim Jong-un has called for an “exponential” increase in North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, including mass producing tactical nuclear weapons and developing new missiles for nuclear counterstrikes, state media said yesterday.In a report at the end of a key party meeting in Pyongyang, Kim said the country must “overwhelmingly beef up the military muscle” in 2023 in response to what it called US and South Korean hostility, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.Claiming that Washington and Seoul were set on “isolating and stifling” the North, Kim said his country would focus on the “mass-producing of tactical nuclear weapons” and develop “another ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) system whose main mission is quick nuclear counterstrike”. Such goals form the “main orientation” of the 2023 nuclear and defence strategy, the report said.Military tensions on the Korean peninsula rose sharply in 2022 as the North conducted sanctions-busting weapons tests nearly every month, including firing its most advanced ICBM ever.It capped the record-breaking year of launches by firing three short range ballistic missiles early Saturday, and conducting another rare late-night launch at 2:50am (1750 GMT Saturday) yesterday, Seoul’s military said.The official KCNA reported yesterday that the launches had been “a test-fire of the super-large multiple rocket launchers”. In a separate KCNA report, Kim said the weapons put South Korea “as a whole within the range of strike and (were) capable of carrying (a) tactical nuclear warhead”. North Korea was emphasising “the possibility of actual action”, said Yang Moo-jin, professor at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies.“North Korea is signalling a tactical shift of indirectly pressuring the United States by pressuring South Korea and escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula starting this year.”Seoul’s defence ministry called North Korea’s latest threats “provocative rhetoric that seriously damages the peace and stability on the Korean peninsula” and urged Pyongyang to immediately give up its nuclear programmes.“We sternly warn that if North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, the Kim Jong Un regime will face an end,” the ministry added in a statement.The launches come just days after Seoul scrambled fighter jets as five North Korean drones made an incursion into the South’s airspace last Monday.Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University, said that the North’s latest statement indicated “they are preparing for the possibility of actual war beyond the collapse of inter-Korean relations”. He warned that if the United States and South Korea responded, as was likely, by further ramping up military drills, tensions between the two Koreas would reach “an unprecedented level” in 2023.“It would indeed be a reasonable prediction that the Korean peninsula could become a second Ukraine if the situation is mismanaged,” he added.In 2022, Kim said he wanted his country to have the world’s most powerful nuclear force and declared the North an “irreversible” nuclear state. North Korea has talked about mass producing nuclear weapons before, said Go Myong-hyun, researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.“The intention is that if North Korea mass produces nuclear weapons, even without aggressive provocations, the United States will have no choice but to someday recognise North Korea as a nuclear state,” he said.The reports come at the end of a major party meeting in Pyongyang at which Kim and other senior officials outlined 2023 goals in key areas including diplomacy, security and the economy.In past years, Kim had delivered a speech on January 1, but he recently dropped the tradition in favour of making announcements at the year-end plenary meeting.North Korea also plans to launch its first military satellite “at the earliest date possible”, KCNA said — a goal South Korea is also chasing, having successfully tested a solid-fuel space launch vehicle on Friday.“North Korea ended the year with a bang but its recent missile launches were not technically impressive,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.But the “provocations, including drone incursions, appear excessive for deterrence and may be intended to scare South Korea into taking a softer policy”.With Kim disavowing diplomacy and threatening to mass produce nuclear weapons, it is likely South Korea will double down on boosting its own defence capacities and readiness, he said.North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attends an event during the New Year celebrations at People’s Palace of Culture in Pyongyang, in this photo released yesterday by Korean Central News Agency.

Tens of thousands of travellers were stranded at Philippine airports yesterday after a power outage knocked out communication and radar equipment at the country’s busiest hub in Manila, forcing hundreds of flights to be cancelled, delayed or diverted.Aviation authorities detected a “technical issue” yesterday morning involving the air traffic management centre at Manila’s domestic and international airport.More than 360 flights in and out of Manila were cancelled, diverted or delayed, affecting around 56,000 passengers.The outage hit as many people began returning to the capital for work and school after the Christmas and New Year break.There were chaotic scenes at check-in counters across the country as thousands of people tried to re-book tickets or find when their flights might take off.Others who had boarded their aircraft before the glitch was announced waited for hours and were then disembarked.Airport officials did not initially specify the cause of the problem. But transportation department secretary Jaime Bautista said the air traffic management centre, which controls inbound and outbound flights, “went down” due to a power outage that resulted in the loss of communication, radio, radar and Internet. “The secondary problem was the power surge due to the power outage which affected the equipment,” he said.Airport authorities said the air traffic management system was partially restored by 4:00pm (0800 GMT) and flights were beginning to take off and land in Manila.“The flight delays and diversions are only precautionary measures to ensure the safety of passengers, crew, and aircraft,” the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said.Stranded travellers were outraged and annoyed by the malfunction and lack of information given by airport staff.A woman who was supposed to fly to Singapore said she spent several hours sitting in a plane on the tarmac.She and her fellow passengers were eventually taken off the plane and offered hotel rooms.“We were told it was a complete failure of radio comms at air traffic control,” she said.Tycoon Manny Pangilinan tweeted that he had been flying from Tokyo to Manila when the plane was diverted to Haneda due to “radar and navigation facilities” going down.“6 hours of useless flying but inconvenience to travellers and losses to tourism and business are horrendous. Only in the PH. Sigh,” Pangilinan wrote.Manila passenger Daryll Delgado said she had managed to rebook her flight for a later date after a “frustrating” experience. An AFP reporter in the southern city of Davao said travellers were advised not to go to the airport but many only found out their flights had been cancelled after they arrived to check in.

China Evergrande Group delayed releasing a much-anticipated restructuring plan again, missing a self-imposed deadline and disappointing creditors seeking to salvage investments.The world’s most indebted developer has yet to announce its offshore debt-restructuring plans, falling short on its promise to do so by the end of 2022. Evergrande didn’t immediately respond to a request seeking comment during non-business hours.With about 1.97tn yuan ($286bn) of liabilities, the company is facing a winding-up lawsuit in Hong Kong, while sitting at the heart of a property crisis that’s triggered a flurry of defaults and caused home construction halts across the country.Evergrande’s fate has broader implications for China’s $58tn financial system, and could send ripples across banks, trusts and millions of home owners. It would likely be among the country’s biggest-ever restructuring efforts. The sheer size has left investors worried that any collapse may spark financial contagion and curb growth in the world’s second-largest economy, which depends on the housing market for about a quarter of gross domestic product.The company previously failed to come up with a “preliminary restructuring plan” it promised by the end of July. It met with an ad-hoc group of its dollar bondholders in early December to formally discuss a proposal, Bloomberg reported earlier.It expected to receive support from offshore creditors by the end of February or early March, the developer’s legal representative said during a winding-up hearing in late November. Evergrande was urged by the judge of winding-up case to present “something more concrete” during the next hearing on March 20.China’s home sales continued to slump in December, underscoring the challenge to reverse the property downturn amid Covid outbreaks.The 100 biggest real estate developers saw new home sales drop 30.8% from a year earlier to 677.5bn yuan ($98.2bn) in December, according to preliminary data from China Real Estate Information Corp. That compared with a 25.5% decline in November.The declines came a month after policy makers unveiled a sweeping plan to rescue the sector, focusing mainly on the supply side by easing financing to developers. Those efforts however have been offset by surging Covid infections.“As the peak of the Covid outbreak hasn’t passed, the economic recovery remains very weak and homebuyers’ income outlook hasn’t recovered,” Chen Wenjing, associate research director at China Index Holdings, said on Thursday. “We expect home sales to recover in the second quarter at the earliest.”China’s vice premier has hinted at providing further policy support, describing the sector as a “pillar” of the economy in a rare instance.China abruptly ended its Covid Zero policy about a month ago. Nearly 37mn people may have been infected on a single day in December, making the country’s outbreak by far the world’s largest, Bloomberg reported, citing estimates from the government’s top health authority.

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde indicated borrowing costs will increase again, saying this is required to temper soaring consumer-price growth.“At the moment, ECB policy rates must be higher to curb inflation and bring it down to our target of 2%,” Lagarde told Croatian newspaper Jutarnji list. “That process is essential because it would be even worse if we allowed inflation to become entrenched in the economy.”The ECB raised interest rates by 250 basis-points this year and policymakers including Lagarde have said more hikes are to come, with markets and economists expecting half-point steps at the next two meetings. While such rate aggression comes just as an economic downturn takes hold in the region, the ECB president highlighted that the “recession we feared is likely to be short-lived and shallow,” citing her institution’s most recent forecasts.She also highlighted the ECB’s ever-watchful eye on inflation.“We must not allow inflationary expectations to become de-anchored or wages to have an inflationary effect,” Lagarde said. “We know wages are increasing, probably at a faster pace than expected, but we must be wary that they do not start fuelling inflation.” Meanwhile European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said the currency union’s newest member proves that the euro has lasting appeal.“Croatia worked hard to become the 20th member of the euro area, and it succeeded,” Lagarde said in a statement yesterday. “It shows the euro is an attractive currency, which brings stability to its members.”The Adriatic country of 3.9mn, scarred by war a generation ago, just completed its transformation and became the latest country to join the world’s biggest currency zone. It also means the ECB Governing Council increases to 26 policymakers, with Croatian National Bank Governor Boris Vujcic joining the ranks of rate setters. Croatia became the first European Union member to join both the Schengen area and the eurozone on the same day. “Being able to cross internal borders without controls is one important achievement, being able to pay cross-borders using the same EU currency is another,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said yesterday in a news conference at a Croatian border crossing.Two other euro hopefuls aren’t so fortunate. Romania’s bid for membership has been hampered by internal squabbling, evidenced by the highest turnover of governments in the EU. Bulgaria, the bloc’s poorest country, wants to join in 2024, but wary European officials aren’t convinced that its economy and scandal-plagued banking system are ready for currency prime time. Ultimately adopting the euro is actually a condition of signing up to the EU, though the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Sweden don’t seem interested. Denmark, which clinched an opt-out on acceding before the dawn of the currency, isn’t budging either.“Only six EU member states are not members of the club,” excluding Denmark, Lagarde said separately in an interview with Croatian newspaper Jutarnji list published on Saturday. “If they need more time, that is fine. When they meet the criteria and wish to join, we will be happy to increase the number of euro-area countries.”

The London Metal Exchange entered 2023 with the smallest available warehouse stockpiles in at least 25 years, setting the stage for future squeezes and spikes if demand turns out stronger than expected.Available inventories of the six main metals traded on the LME plunged by two-thirds in 2022, with aluminium’s 72% decline accounting for the bulk of the drop, while zinc shrank by 90%. Collectively, inventories not already marked for withdrawal hit the lowest level in data going back to 1997 on Thursday, and finished the year only fractionally higher.While most of the world’s metal never sees the inside of an LME warehouse, exchange inventory levels are important because every short seller who holds a contract to expiry must deliver physical metal registered in an LME warehouse. The LME has introduced new rules to allow deferral to prevent future squeezes, but the exemptions come with costly fees.The tight stockpiles also reflect a tension that has gripped metals markets for much of this year, between constrained supplies on the one hand, and worries about weakening demand due to recessionary threats in the world’s key economies on the other.For traders on the LME, the dwindling inventories represent another in a litany of headaches following one of the most dramatic years in the exchange’s 145-year history. The LME is facing regulatory probes and lawsuits over its actions during a runaway short squeeze in the nickel market in March that pushed several LME dealers to the brink of default, and is due to soon publish the results of an independent review into the crisis.Heading into 2023, a key debate across metals markets is whether a worldwide downturn in industrial activity and rebounding supply will help to replenish the industry’s threadbare reserves, while China’s recent reopening from Covid lockdowns adds further uncertainty. The debate over the outlook for metals supply and demand is particularly contentious in copper, where some analysts are predicting ongoing deficits while others see the market swinging into a rare and historic period of oversupply.That’s feeding into a sharp divergence over the outlook for prices, with analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc predicting copper will hit a record high of $11,000 a ton within 12 months, while BNP Paribas says prices will drop to $6,465 a ton by the middle of next year as the market swings into a huge surplus. Copper prices fell 0.5% to settle at $8,372 on the LME on Friday, capping the year 2022 with a 14% loss, the worst since 2018.As the year draws to a close, only nickel is trading in positive territory. The market remains hamstrung by low liquidity since the crisis, with regular sharp swings. The impact of the historic nickel squeeze has cooled trading activity in other metals, as well, as investors grow concerned about a similar squeeze elsewhere. As the LME wades through the fallout of this year’s nickel crisis, its American rival is gaining ground. Chicago-based CME Group Inc has successful copper and precious-metals contracts but has never managed to challenge the LME’s dominance in other industrial metals. This year, it’s recorded strong growth in its aluminium contracts: Aggregate open interest in CME’s Comex aluminium futures contract is up more than 400% since the start of 2022. Aluminium and zinc on the LME both have their worst year since 2018, with prices down 15% and 16%, respectively. Tin is the worst performer — prices plunged by more than a third and registered the biggest annual decline since at least 1990.

China’s factory activity shrank at the sharpest pace since the pandemic first emerged nearly three years ago, after Beijing’s abrupt reversal of counter-epidemic measures this month set off a wave of Covid infections across the country.The official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 47.0 in December from 48.0 in November, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said yesterday.Economists in a Reuters poll had expected the PMI to come in at 48.0.The 50-point mark separates contraction from growth on a monthly basis.The drop was the biggest since the early days of the pandemic in February 2020.The data offered the first official snapshot of the manufacturing sector after China removed the world’s strictest Covid restrictions in early December.Cumulative infections likely reached 18.6mn in December, UK-based health data firm Airfinity estimated.Analysts said surging infections could cause temporary labour shortages and increased supply chain disruptions.Reuters reported on Wednesday that Tesla planned to run a reduced production schedule at its Shanghai plant in January, extending the reduced output it began this month into next year.Weakening external demand on the back of growing global recession fears amid rising interest rates, inflation and the war in Ukraine may further slow China’s exports, hurting its massive manufacturing sector and hampering an economic recovery.“Most factories I know are way below where they could be this time of year for orders next year. A lot of factories I’ve talked to are at 50%, some are below 20%,” said Cameron Johnson, a partner at Tidalwave Solutions, a supply chain consulting firm. “So even though China is opening up, manufacturing is still going to slow down because the rest of the world’s economy is slowing down.Factories will have workers, but they will have no orders.”NBS said 56.3% of surveyed manufacturers reported that they were greatly affected by the epidemic in December, up 15.5 percentage points from the previous month, although most also said they expected the situation would gradually improve.Chinese President Xi Jinping, in his New Year’s Eve speech on state television, said China’s 2022 economic output was expected to exceed 120tn yuan ($17.4tn). In 2021, inflation-adjusted gross domestic product reached 114.92tn yuan, up 8.4% from 2020.GDP expanded 3% in the first nine months of 2022, versus China’s official full-year goal of around 5.5%. The World Bank expects 2022 growth of 2.7%. China’s banking and insurance regulator pledged this week to step up financial support to small and private businesses in the catering and tourism sectors that were hit hard by the Covid-19 epidemic, stressing a consumption recovery will be a priority. The non-manufacturing PMI, which looks at services sector activity, fell to 41.6 from 46.7 in November, the NBS data showed, also marking the lowest reading since February 2020.The official composite PMI, which combines manufacturing and services, declined to 42.6 from 47.1.“The weeks before Chinese New Year are going to remain challenging for the service sector as people won’t want to go out and spend more than necessary for fear of catching an infection,” said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics.“But the outlook should brighten around the time that people return from the Chinese New Year holiday — infections will have dropped back and a large share of people will have recently had Covid and feel they have a degree of immunity.”

Riyadh: Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo has joined Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr on a 2-1/2 year deal, a month after the 37-year-old forward became a free agent when his contract with Premier League club Manchester United was terminated.Here is what you need to know about the club.WHAT IS AL NASSR’S HISTORY?• Formed in 1955, Al Nassr is based in the Saudi capital of Riyadh and the club plays in the country’s top division — the Saudi Professional League (SPL), which has 18 teams.• It finished third last season, six points behind champions Al Hilal.• Al Nassr are the second-most successful team in the league with nine titles. Their last win was in the 2018-19 season. Only Al Hilal, also based in Riyadh, have won more titles (18).• They have also won the country’s knockout cup, the King’s Cup, six times, most recently in 1990.• The league’s all-time top scorer Majed Abdullah played for Al Nassr. The former Saudi striker scored 189 goals and averaged nearly a goal a game.• Al Nassr’s home ground is Mrsool Park, which has a capacity of 25,000.• Al Nassr’s best performance in Asia’s premier club competition, the AFC Champions League, came in 1995 when they finished runners-up.• Saudi teams have won the AFC Champions League six times, with Al Hilal claiming a record four titles while Al Ittihad won the continental competition twice.WHO IS AL NASSR’S COACH AND WHO IS IN THEIR SQUAD?• Al Nassr are coached by Rudi Garcia, who previously managed Lille, AS Roma, Olympique Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais. The Frenchman has been in charge since June.• SPL clubs can register eight foreign players but only seven can be named in a matchday squad.• Other notable foreign players in the squad include Cameroon’s World Cup hero Vincent Aboubakar — who changed the game against Serbia and scored the winner to stun Brazil in their last group game in Qatar.• Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina, who previously played for Arsenal and Napoli, as well as former Brazil international and midfielder Luiz Gustavo are also in the squad.HOW ARE AL NASSR DOING IN THE CURRENT SEASON?• Al Nassr are second in the league this season after 10 rounds, two points behind leaders Al Shabab.• They must win the league this season to qualify for the 2023-24 AFC Champions League.WHAT CAN RONALDO BRING TO AL NASSR?• Ronaldo has scored over 700 goals in club football and over 100 in international football to sit top of the all-time scoring charts with 819 strikes.• Despite Manchester United’s struggles last season, an ageing Ronaldo showed he still had some gas left in the tank when he finished top scorer with 24 goals, including 18 in the Premier League.• But he struggled this season at United, scoring only three times in all competitions before his exit.• In Qatar, he became the first player to score in five World Cups but he soon lost his place in the starting lineup after Portugal reached the knockout stages.• Scoring goals has not been a problem for Al Nassr this season, however, with the team netting a joint league-high 24 goals after 10 games — the same as leaders Al Shabab.

Arsenal head into 2023 with a formidable seven-point lead at the top of the Premier League after a 4-2 win at Brighton, while Manchester City’s title defence suffered a major setback as Everton snatched a 1-1 draw against the champions yesterday.Mikel Arteta’s side powered to a fifth successive league victory thanks to goals from Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Martinelli on New Year’s Eve at the Amex Stadium. The Gunners stormed into the lead after just two minutes when Martinelli’s deflected effort reached England forward Saka, who took a deft touch before slotting past Brighton keeper Robert Sanchez.Arsenal were in complete control and Danish midfielder Odegaard netted with a thumping 39th minute strike after a corner was cleared to the edge of the Brighton area. Nketiah scored Arsenal’s third in the 47th minute, poking home after Sanchez failed to hold Martinelli’s effort.Kaoru Mitoma’s 65th minute strike for Brighton would have shaken Arsenal’s nerves in the past, but the current crop are made of sterner stuff.Six minutes later Martinelli bagged the fourth from Odegaard’s sublime long pass, a strike that rendered irrelevant Evan Ferguson’s first league goal for Brighton in the 77th minute.Arsenal’s ninth win in their last 10 league matches was even sweeter coming just hours after second placed City stumbled at the Etihad Stadium.Pep Guardiola’s side blew the lead given to them by Erling Haaland as Demarai Gray scored an eye-catching equaliser for struggling Everton. City have failed to win two of their last three league games and head into 2023 in danger of surrendering the title they have won four times in the last five seasons.Haaland put City ahead in the 24th minute with his 27th goal in 20 competitive appearances since his close-season move from Borussia Dortmund.Riyad Mahrez provided the assist with a dazzling run and pin-point pass to the Norway striker, who slotted past Jordan Pickford in ruthless fashion.But Everton equalised against the run of play in the 64th minute as Gray robbed City midfielder Rodri and curled a blistering strike into the top corner, in the process buying under-fire boss Frank Lampard some much-needed breathing space.Guardiola stayed positive, saying: “Dropping points at home is always tough. But we played really good in the last three games and it makes me feel optimistic.”Marcus Rashford responded to his benching for missing a team meeting after over-sleeping with the late strike that clinched Manchester United’s 1-0 win at Wolves. United manager Erik ten Hag dropped Marcus Rashford because of an “internal disciplinary” issue that broke “our rules”.The 25-year-old’s exile only lasted until half-time when he was sent on by Ten Hag in a move that proved the catalyst for fourth placed United to seal their fifth successive win in all competitions.Rashford looked determined to prove Ten Hag wrong as he rampaged through the Wolves defence to score his 11th goal in all competitions this season and his third in three appearances since the World Cup.“We draw a line under it and move on. I was a little bit late for a meeting. I overslept but it can happen,” Rashford said.“Obviously it’s team rules. I made a mistake. I’m obviously disappointed not to play but I understand the decision and I’m happy we managed to win anyway.”Ten Hag added: “It’s good after the decision. I think it happens often. Coming in he was bright, lively, he scored a goal and that is the right reaction.“Of course (that is the end of the matter). Everyone has to match the rules. This is the right answer.”Third placed Newcastle’s six-match winning run came to a halt in a 0-0 draw against Leeds at St James’ Park. Joao Palhinha’s last-gasp goal sealed Fulham’s 2-1 win against Southampton, who sit bottom of the table after a fifth successive defeat.Crystal Palace eased to a 2-0 win at Bournemouth as Patrick Vieira’s side ended their three-match goal drought thanks to Jordan Ayew and Eberechi Eze.