COVID-19 Sends Sydney Airport Into the Red

‘Worst Fears’: Arrest of Hong Kong Media Mogul Jimmy Lai Draws International Condemnation

Hong Kong police’s arrest of media tycoon Jimmy Lai under the city’s new national security law has drawn condemnation from officials and activists around the world, who say the move was an attack on press freedom and snuffed out the territory’s dwindling autonomy. Lai, a strident critic of the Chinese communist regime, was arrested on Aug. 10, along with his two sons, on allegations of collusion with foreign forces. Later that day, more than 200 police officers raided the newsroom of Lai’s newspaper Apple Daily, the largest pro-democracy outlet in the city. Several other media and pro-democracy figures were also arrested Monday, including prominent activist Agnes Chow. Police later said 10 people—nine men and one woman—were arrested, without naming them. Lai’s arrest “bears out the worst fears that Hong Kong’s…

Sydney Airport will cut costs and debt and warned jobs could be lost after the COVID-19 pandemic hit its bottom line, forcing it into the red.

Australia’s most active airport on Aug. 11 reported a net loss of $53.6 million for the first half of this calendar year—a dramatic turnaround from a profit of $17.3 million for the same time last year.

First-half revenue was $511 million, down 35.9 percent as cash flow from aeronautical fees, retail and parking fees declined.

While the year started well, passenger volumes slumped by 56.6 percent to 9.4 million people as COVID-19-related restrictions on travel began to be implemented from February.

International passenger numbers are down 57.3 percent and domestic traffic down 56.1 percent.

“Six months into the pandemic, there remains uncertainty as to how long it will take for aviation markets to return to pre-COVID-19 levels,” chief executive Geoff Culbert said in a statement.

Sydney Airport said its operations would continue to be affected while domestic and international travel restrictions remained in place.

It’s still aiming for a 35 percent reduction in operating costs by April next year and again warned of potential job losses.

“The staff job guarantee will regretfully not be extended beyond 30 September 2020 and a review is currently underway to restructure the organisation,” it said.

Under the guarantee, Sydney Airport earlier this year promised to retain the jobs of its 500 employees for six months.

Sydney Airport on Tuesday also announced a $2 billion equity raising and will use the proceeds to cut its debt bill to $7 billion.

“At this time, no distribution is expected to be declared for 2020,” it said.

Sydney

Focus News: COVID-19 Sends Sydney Airport Into the Red

ByteDance Takes Step Toward Entering Online Stock Brokering in Hong Kong

BEIJING/SHANGHAI—Beijing-based ByteDance, the owner of popular short video app TikTok, is taking steps to move into the online stock brokerage and wealth management business in Hong Kong, trademark registration documents show. ByteDance applied last December to register a trademark called Songshu Zhengquan, which translates to Squirrel Securities, in Hong Kong, the city’s online intellectual property database shows. The trademark application is being “examined,” according to the database, and areas of business it applied for include “computerized financial information services, stock trading, brokerage services, and stock exchange quotations.” The business is still in its infancy, and ByteDance currently has just one full-time employee assigned to it, according to a person familiar with the situation. The company has obtained a license, but any official launch of the online stockbroker business is not…