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BANGKOK – Investment applications in Thailand dropped by 42 percent in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period last year, official data showed on Wednesday, led by a sharp fall in foreign projects as the global economy slowed. Foreign investments, which made up 60 percent of the overall 220 billion baht ($6.22 billion) of applications in January-June, more than halved year-on-year, data from the Board of Investment (BOI) showed. But a surge in electric vehicle (EV) and digital investments bucked the trend, and the BOI said on Wednesday it had approved several new major investment pledges. “We will continue to monitor the situation and adjust our policies and incentives to ensure Thailand remains the resilient destination of choice for global investors in fast growing sectors such as electric vehicles,” BOI said in a statement. The Southeast Asian country has promoted high-tech sectors and supported EVs to maintain its status as a regional auto production base. In … [Read more...] about Thailand’s investment pledges slumped in H1 as foreign projects wane

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) started its science mission just a few weeks ago, surpassing all expectations while astonishing scientists and the public alike. Its infrared instruments and a light-collecting area 6.25 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope are delivering sharper photos that go further into the Universe’s past than ever before. advertisement advertisement And yet, it will soon feel like a toy camera. The Webb is just the beginning of a new golden age of astronomy that is bringing us devices that will capture images that we can’t even imagine right now—the aggregate of which will change our perception of existence itself. Two of these future machines are very different from the JWST, each representing two completely different design philosophies. One is the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), a titanic device equipped with seven 27.5-foot mirrors that will be housed inside a 12-story building on top of Las Campanas Observatory … [Read more...] about These next-gen telescopes will make the James Webb look like a toy

Paul Moller stands in the back corner of a large garage in Davis, California, clean-shaven and wearing a large pair of golden aviator glasses. The 52-year-old engineer is a professor down the road at the University of California, Davis, but he’s not the type to sit back with a book and highlighter. In his white polo shirt and glossy brown bomber jacket, he looks ready to tinker with the shiny invention behind him at knee-level at a moment’s notice. advertisement advertisement The dark blue saucer behind Moller features eight propellers encircling a small, one-person cockpit. Behold Moller’s new M200X—a vehicle reminiscent of the Jetson family’s green flying car that Moller says is almost ready for manned test flights. Cut to: Moller stands outside with the M200X in an open grassy field. The vehicle, tethered to a rope, powers up, whirring loudly. The saucer lifts slowly into the air, rocking back and forth unsteadily, before Moller and his team signal … [Read more...] about Paul Moller’s 50-year dream to build a flying car won’t die

- A + A HONG KONG (Aug 17): China's Tencent Holdings suffered its first ever quarterly sales fall on Wednesday (Aug 17), hurt by a government clampdown on game approvals and playing time as well as Covid-19 lockdowns and a weakening economy that squeezed ad sales. The contraction marks a nadir for the gaming giant and owner of the WeChat messaging platform which has reported double-digit growth almost every quarter since it went public in 2004, as Beijing's crackdown on big tech companies that began in late 2020 puts the brakes on its expansion. Tencent plans to sell all or a bulk of its US$24 billion stake in food delivery firm Meituan to placate domestic regulators, Reuters reported on Tuesday. The company said on Wednesday revenue declined 3% to 134 billion yuan (US$19.78 billion) for the three months ended June 30 from 138.3 billion yuan a year earlier. It has fallen for two straight quarters and analysts were anticipating the decline. "During the second … [Read more...] about China’s Tencent reports first revenue drop as gaming regulations and Covid-19 bite

- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 17): Homegrown digital solutions and application development specialist Agmo Holdings Bhd (Agmo) has plans to expand in Singapore, targetting to set-up teams within 18 months of its listing on Bursa Malaysia’s ACE Market on Thursday (Aug 18). Agmo aims to raise RM22.10 million from its initial public offering (IPO). Its chief executive officer Tan Aik Keong said with a dedicated team in the city state, Agmo will be able to focus on growing the business and enhancing its customer relationships there. “We will expand our regional footprint by venturing into Singapore, where the mobile and web application development and digital solutions industries are expected to continue on a strong growth trajectory. “The establishment of our business presence there is expected to increase the group’s profile in the region,” he told Bernama . He said Singapore is a key global financial centre and also a regional base for many technology-related … [Read more...] about Agmo to set up Singapore teams within 18 months of listing

Chamath Palihapitiya - A + A NEW YORK (Aug 17): The news came with little fanfare. It was late on a sleepy summer afternoon last week, and few on Wall Street even seemed to notice the pair of filings when they hit the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) website. In terse, boilerplate language, the documents stated that two special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) launched by Chamath Palihapitiya needed to push back the deadlines they had set to make acquisitions. Palihapitiya was in no mood to trumpet the news. There were no tweets, no interviews, none of the braggadocio that came with so many of his big SPAC deals, back when the market was the hot new thing in finance, a sure-fire, money-minting machine, and Palihapitiya was its undisputed king. But if those euphoric moments two years ago represented the peak of SPAC frenzy — a phenomenon created out of the same ingredients (unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimulus) that gave us meme stocks and … [Read more...] about US SPAC king goes silent with his empire shrivelling

Norges Bank Investment Management chief executive officer Nicolai Tangen - A + A OSLO/NEW YORK (Aug 17): Norway's US$1.3 trillion (RM5.81 trillion) wealth fund is still positive about the US technology giants, even after the sector led the investor to a record loss. "The US tech companies would typically be amongst our top 10 holdings and we continue to think they're well positioned," Norges Bank Investment Management chief executive officer Nicolai Tangen said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. The size of the holdings reflects their size in the benchmark for the fund, which is limited in how far it can stray from that index of global stocks, he said. The fund lost US$174 billion in the first half of the year, with Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc, and Microsoft Corp the biggest single contributers to the decline, it said. These four are also the biggest single equity holdings of the fund. Technology companies as a whole lost 27.6%, as demand for … [Read more...] about World’s biggest sovereign wealth fund still upbeat about big tech

- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 17): Malaysia Pacific Corp Bhd (MPCorp) — whose shares will be suspended from trading effective from Friday (Aug 19) — has bagged two subcontracts worth RM44.91 million from Windsor Aims Machinery Sdn Bhd. In a separate filing with Bursa Malaysia, MPCorp said it has inked a memorandum of understanding with Windsor Aims to negotiate for a joint collaboration agreement (JCA) or any other agreements for the implementation of its proposed regularisation plan. The Practice Note 17 (PN17) company told Bursa Malaysia that its wholly owned subsidiary Euronium Construction Sdn Bhd (ECSB) has received two letters of award (LOAs) to undertake the subcontract works. Windsor Aims is principally engaged in trading and renting of machinery and carrying the business of construction contractor and builder for construction and maintenance works. MPCorp said the LOAs of Johor projects represent its effort to revitalise its construction activities and … [Read more...] about MPCorp bags subcontract works two days before share suspension

Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd [BNS] has spent RM3.5 billion to acquire equipment that are needed to be installed in the six littoral combat ships. Some of the equipment are sitting in the warehouse, in obsolescence currently. (The Edge filepix by Zahid Izzani) - A + A PUTRAJAYA (Aug 17): The Cabinet on Wednesday (Aug 17) agreed in principle that the littoral combat ship (LCS) project's forensic audit report be made public, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar. However, he said it would be made after discussions with Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein and other stakeholders on the mechanism of disclosure, as there are sensitive issues which can not be made public. In a media conference after the Merdeka Month Celebration of the Legal Affairs Division here on Wednesday, Wan Junaidi said he is of the view that sensitive matters involving security should not be … [Read more...] about Cabinet agrees in principle to disclose LCS audit report

(CNN) Proving "Moon Knight" wasn't a fluke as Marvel-sized disappointments go, "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" is big, bright, colorful, and also too goofy for its own good. Trying to bend the mold is fine in theory, but the mix of sitcom-style tropes and gamma-irradiated powers yields a series that's too weak to smash much of anything. Ironically, the most buzzed-about element in advance of the premiere -- how the computer-generated title character looks -- is the least of the show's worries. For the most part those scenes are just fine, if perhaps a little reminiscent of "Avatar" in the way the Hulks tower over ordinary folk. Instead, the show bogs down in the it's-not-easy-being-green comedy and emphasis on quirkiness, feeling episodic in the extreme, after the obligatory origin story is out of the way. While there's nothing wrong with screwball office comedy, based on the four episodes previewed, that genre hardly plays to Marvel's strengths. For those … [Read more...] about ‘She-Hulk’ is big and colorful, but the Marvel comedy is too weak to be a smash