Panama Ports says it will discuss ports sale with Panama government
An aerial view shows containers at the Balboa Port, operated by Panama Ports Company, at the Panama Canal, in Panama City, Panama, February 1, 2025. REUTERS/Enea Lebrun/File Photo
BEIJING - Panama Ports Company (PPC) said on Friday that it will communicate with the Panama government at an appropriate time in the sale process of two key ports that it operates near the Panama Canal.
"We affirm that we believe engagement with the Government of Panama is vital to discuss the way forward for PPC," it said in a statement.
Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison holds a 90% stake in PPC, which had a 25-year concession to operate the Balboa and Cristobal ports at both ends of the canal, renewed in 2021.
PPC's statement comes after Panama's Comptroller General's office this week filed two suits with the nation's Supreme Court aiming to nullify the contract on the basis that the renewal did not follow required legal steps. REUTERS
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AsiaOne
22 minutes ago
- AsiaOne
Musk vs. Modi: Inside the battle over India's internet censorship, World News
BENGALURU/NEW DELHI — In January, an old post on Elon Musk's social media platform, X, became a concern for police in the Indian city of Satara. Written in 2023, the short message from an account with a few hundred followers described a senior ruling-party politician as "useless". "This post and content are likely to create serious communal tension," inspector Jitendra Shahane wrote in a content-removal notice marked "CONFIDENTIAL" and addressed to X. The post, which remains online, is among hundreds cited by X in a lawsuit it filed in March against India's government, challenging a sweeping crackdown on social media content by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration. Since 2023, India has ramped up efforts to police the internet by allowing many more officials to file takedown orders and to submit them directly to tech firms through a government website launched in October. X argues India's actions are illegal and unconstitutional, and that they trample free speech by empowering scores of government agencies and thousands of police to suppress legitimate criticism of public officials. India contends in court documents that its approach tackles a proliferation of unlawful content and ensures accountability online. It says many tech companies, including Meta and Alphabet's Google, support its actions. Both companies declined to comment for this story. Musk, who calls himself a free-speech absolutist, has clashed with authorities in the United States, Brazil, Australia and elsewhere over compliance and takedown demands. But as regulators globally weigh free-speech protections against concerns about harmful content, Musk's case against Modi's government in the Karnataka High Court targets the entire basis for tightened internet censorship in India, one of X's biggest user bases. Musk said in 2023 that the South Asian nation had "more promise than any large country in the world" and that Modi had pushed him to invest there. This account of the behind-the-scenes battle between the world's richest person and authorities in the world's most populous country is based on a Reuters review of 2,500 pages of non-public legal filings and interviews with seven police officers involved in content-removal requests. It reveals the workings of a takedown system shrouded in secrecy, some Indian officials' ire over "illegal" material on X, and the broad spectrum of content that police and other agencies have sought to censor. While the takedown orders include many that sought to counter misinformation, they also encompass directives by Modi's administration to remove news about a deadly stampede, and demands from state police to scrub cartoons that depicted the prime minister in an unfavourable light or mocked local politicians, the filings show. X didn't respond to Reuters questions about the case, while India's IT ministry declined to comment because the matter was before the court. Modi's office and his home ministry didn't respond to questions. There have been no immediate signs of souring personal relations between Musk and Modi, who have enjoyed a warm public rapport. But the showdown comes as the South African-born entrepreneur, whose business empire includes EV maker Tesla and satellite internet provider Starlink, gears up to expand both ventures in India. Even supporters of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have faced scrutiny of their online musings from police officials newly empowered by the IT ministry to target social media activity. Koustav Bagchi, a lawyer and BJP member, posted an image on X in March that depicted a rival, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, in an astronaut suit. State police issued a takedown notice, citing "risks to public safety and national security". Bagchi told Reuters the post, which is still online, was "light-hearted" and that he wasn't aware of the takedown order. The chief minister's office and state police didn't respond to Reuters queries. Of the earlier 2023 post, Shahane, the Satara police officer, told Reuters he couldn't recall the takedown order, but said police sometimes proactively ask platforms to block offencive viral content. 'Censorship portal' For years, only India's IT and Information & Broadcasting ministries could order content removal, and only for threats to sovereignty, defence, security, foreign relations, public order, or incitement. Some 99 officials across India could recommend takedowns, but the ministries had the final say. While that mechanism remains in place, Modi's IT ministry in 2023 empowered all federal and state agencies and police to issue takedown notices for "any information which is prohibited under any law". They could do so under existing legal provisions, the ministry said in a directive, citing the need for "effective" content removal. Companies that fail to comply can lose immunity for user content, making them liable for the same penalties a user might face — which could vary greatly depending on the specific material posted. Modi's government went a step further in October 2024. It launched a website called Sahyog — Hindi for collaboration — to "facilitate" the issuance of takedown notices, and asked Indian officials and social media firms to get on board, memos contained in court papers show. X didn't join Sahyog, which it has called a "censorship portal", and sued the government earlier this year, challenging the legal basis for both the new website and the IT ministry's 2023 directive. In a June 24 filing, X said some of the blocking orders issued by officials "target content involving satire or criticism of the ruling government, and show a pattern of abuse of authority to suppress free speech." Some free-speech advocates have criticised the government's stricter takedown regime, saying it is designed to stifle dissent. "Can a claim that some content is unlawful be termed as indeed unlawful merely because the government claims so?" said Subramaniam Vincent, director of journalism and media ethics at Santa Clara University's Markkula Centre for Applied Ethics. "The executive branch cannot be both the arbiter of legality of media content, and the issuer of takedown notices." Red dinosaur Court filings reviewed by Reuters show federal and state agencies ordered X to remove around 1,400 posts or accounts between March 2024 and June 2025. [[nid:720755]] More than 70 per cent of these removal notices were issued by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre, which developed the Sahyog website. The agency is within the home ministry, which is headed by Modi aide Amit Shah, a powerful figure in the ruling BJP. To counter X in court, India's government filed a 92-page report drafted by the cybercrime unit to show X is "hosting illegal content". The unit analysed nearly 300 posts it deemed unlawful, including misinformation, hoaxes, and child sexual-abuse material. X serves as a vehicle for "spreading hate and division" that threatens social harmony, while "fake news" on the platform has sparked unspecified law-and-order issues, the agency said in the report. The government's response to X's lawsuit highlighted examples of misinformation. In January, the cybercrime unit asked X to remove three posts containing what officials said were fabricated images that portrayed Shah's son, International Cricket Council chairman Jay Shah, "in a derogatory manner" alongside a bikini-clad woman. The posts "dishonour prominent office bearers and VIPs", the notices said. Two of those posts remain online. Jay Shah didn't respond to Reuters queries. Other directives went beyond targeting fake news. X told the court India's railways ministry has been issuing orders to censor press reports about matters of public interest. These included February directives seeking the removal of posts by some media outlets, including two by Adani Group's NDTV, that contained news coverage of stampede at New Delhi's biggest railway station that left 18 dead. The NDTV posts are still online. NDTV didn't respond to Reuters queries and the railways ministry declined to comment. In April, police in Chennai asked X to remove many "deeply offencive" and "provocative" posts, including a now-inaccessible cartoon featuring a red dinosaur labelled "inflation", which portrayed Modi and the chief minister of Tamil Nadu state as struggling to control prices. The same month, police demanded the removal of another cartoon that mocked the state government's lack of preparedness for floods by showing a boat with holes. X told the judge the cartoon was posted in November, and it could not "incite political tensions" several months later, as the Chennai police asserted. The post remains online. The state government didn't respond to a request for comment. When Reuters visited the Chennai cybercrime police station that issued these directives, Deputy Commissioner B. Geetha criticised X for seldom acting on takedown requests. X does not "fully grasp the cultural sensitivities", she said. "What may be acceptable in some countries can be considered taboo in India." [[nid:720886]]
Business Times
22 minutes ago
- Business Times
Air India taps Singapore Airlines to bolster fleet upkeep after crash: sources
[NEW DELHI] Air India plans to lean on shareholder Singapore Airlines (SIA) to move some aircraft maintenance services in-house instead of outsourcing them to a state-owned company, according to people familiar with the matter. The Indian airline is preparing to take on pre-flight and daily aircraft inspections, minor repair work and other troubleshooting activities from state-owned AI Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL), said the people, who were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly. The phased move away from AIESL follows a deadly crash in June – the cause of which remains unknown, a sectorwide safety audit and a temporary safety-related pause in service. Air India was in the midst of a transformation under its new owners – the Tata Group bought the unprofitable former state-run carrier in 2022 – when flight AI 171 crashed in the western city of Ahmedabad, killing all but one of the 242 people on board. Gaining control of maintenance services was a part of Air India's restructuring plan even before the plane crash, but it had been put off in favour of getting more aircraft flying regularly and improving the experience on-board, the people said. Concerns had been raised internally in the past as well about the service provided by AIESL – formerly a subsidiary when the carrier was state-owned – citing problems such as clogged toilets on flights, they said. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up 'Fleet expansion' The Indian carrier 'continues to work closely with AIESL. However, with our fleet expansion – 570 aircraft including a significant number of widebody jets- India's current MRO infrastructure is not equipped to support this scale,' an Air India spokesperson said in an email. MRO refers to Maintenance Repair and Overhaul services. 'To meet the demands of our future operations and ensure world-class reliability and safety, we must invest in building robust MRO capabilities and capacity within the country,' the spokesperson added. SIA, which owns 25.1 per cent share of Air India, will help in the transition of those maintenance tasks to the airline's staff, the people said. 'As a significant minority shareholder in Air India, Singapore Airlines has been working closely' to support Air India's transformation plan, a SIA spokesperson said in an email. 'This includes providing our expertise and support to Air India, where necessary.' Air India's relationship with SIA in terms of assistance with aircraft maintenance comes full circle as it had been the one helping the Singapore-based airline during the 1970s. Recent issues with Air India have also impacted SIA's earnings, contributing to a 59 per cent drop in profit for the quarter ended Jun 30. The Air India plane crash also brought sharp scrutiny in the sector on issues like the maintenance of aircraft. Audit findings A recent audit report by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation showed Air India Group had the most issues among Indian carriers, according to an annual safety audit that began much before the crash. A total of 93 findings were reported for Air India as part of regular surveillance under a safety oversight program, India's aviation regulator said Jul 30. That far exceeded the 23 findings for rivals IndiGo and 14 for SpiceJet. Air India has a fleet of 191 aircraft while its low-cost subsidiary – Air India Express – operates 115 planes, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24. The carriers fly a mix of Airbus and Boeing aircraft. BLOOMBERG
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Leaders of South Korea, Vietnam to meet next week amid trade woes, sources say
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung delivers a speech during a press conference to mark his first 30 days in office at Yeongbingwan of Blue House on July 3, 2025 in Seoul, South Korea. Kim Min-Hee/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo HANOI - New South Korean President Lee Jae-myung will host Vietnam's top leader To Lam on a visit next week, two people familiar with the plan said, as they aim to boost cooperation on technology at a time of global trade tension that could affect their ties. Korean companies have historically been the biggest investors in the Southeast Asian nation, pouring in $92 billion, by the end of last year, Vietnam government data shows, mainly in factories. Lam is expected to arrive on Sunday for the four-day event, the first state visit since Lee took office in June, said the sources who sought anonymity, as the visit has not yet been announced. Global trade uncertainty will figure in the talks in Seoul next week, said one of the sources. They come after the Trump administration approved new tariffs last week on goods from dozens of countries, including South Korea and Vietnam. The South Korean presidential office declined to comment. Vietnam's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Vietnam, which raised taxes on multinationals last year, drawing criticism from large foreign investors, now faces duties of 20% on its exports to the United States, while duties on South Korean products are set at 15%. Korean investment in Vietnam has led to the setting-up of some research centres and the transfer of valuable technology to its companies. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Asia Asean's quiet diplomacy helped avert escalation in Cambodia-Thailand border conflict: Sec-Gen Kao Singapore Hidden vapes and where to find them: Inside ICA's clampdown at land checkpoints Singapore East-West Line MRT service resumes after delays lasting around 5 hours; track point fault fixed World Meta cracks down on WhatsApp scammers; bans millions of accounts linked to scam centres in S-E Asia Singapore 3 men arrested over alleged offences involving drugs worth over $150,000 Singapore Jail for 2 friends who swopped seats in car to try and evade justice after drinking alcohol Singapore Sorting recyclables by material could boost low domestic recycling rate: Observers Singapore SM Lee receives Australia's highest civilian honour for advancing bilateral ties Many Korean multinationals have used Vietnam as an export hub, benefiting for years from lower labour costs, generous tax incentives and Hanoi's numerous free trade pacts with dozens of countries. Top investor Samsung Electronics has its largest overseas industrial operations in Vietnam, from where it exports more than half the telephones it sells each year, with a large number destined for the United Sates. Korean companies appear to have slowed investments this year, however, as Vietnam's latest government data does not list them among the top seven investors over the first seven months. But companies with operations in Vietnam remain largely optimistic, ruling out immediate relocation on the grounds that it remains more attractive than rivals, the tariff impact was still unclear and the size of existing investments discouraged sudden moves, said two people with direct knowledge. It is not clear whether Vietnam may negotiate different rates for specific sectors, with possibly lower duties on electronics exports, which are the most relevant to Korean firms. In April, the Trump administration exempted from new global tariffs several electronics items, such as laptops and smartphones, but left the duration and scope unclear. Duties on semiconductors are expected to be unveiled later. REUTERS
