22/09/2025

BIZ & FINANCE MONDAY | SEPT 22, 2025

FOLLOW

ON YOUTUBE

18

Malaysian Paper

/theSunMedia /

Italy PM says Fitch upgrade validates fiscal austerity plan ROME: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday said the upgrade of Italy’s sovereign rating by Fitch was a “clear sign of confidence” and a validation of her right-wing government’s fiscal austerity plan. The agency raised the rating of Italy – the eurozone’s third-largest economy – to “BBB+” from “BBB” with a stable outlook. “The upgrade reflects increased confidence in Italy’s fiscal trajectory,” Fitch said. This is “underpinned by a growing record of fiscal prudence” and commitment to meeting targets under the new EU fiscal framework, it added. “Italy gets a promotion from Fitch: a confirmation that the path taken by our government is the right one,” Meloni said. Debt-laden Italy’s public deficit has been cut by more than half, falling to 3.4% of GDP last year from 7.2% in 2023. Fitch said the upgrade also took into account Italy’s stable political environment. “Political stability, credible economic policies, and support for those who create jobs and wealth are bearing fruit,” Meloni said, boasting of “healthy finances” and “responsible budget choices”. “These are not slogans, but concrete results,” she said, calling it a “clear sign of confidence from international markets”. – AFP Indian minister to visit US for trade talks NEW DELHI: India’s Trade Minister Piyush Goyal will visit Washington today to accelerate talks on a long-pending trade deal, following recent progress in negotiations resumed last week. “The delegation plans to take forward the discussions with a view to achieve early conclusion of a mutually beneficial trade agreement,” an official statement said on Saturday. On Sept 16, a US delegation led by Brendan Lynch, assistant US trade representative for South and Central Asia, met Indian trade officials headed by chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal in New Delhi. Trade discussions with US officials on Tuesday were “posi tive” and “forward-looking”, New Delhi said, after US President Donald Trump struck a more con ciliatory tone following punitive tariffs on India over its Russian oil purchases. But it was not immediately clear whether New Delhi would discuss the Trump administration’s H1B visa fee hike and the demand to cut Russian oil purchases, or open its agriculture and dairy sector for US companies, a major demand from Washington. India said the H1B visa fee hike would hit its huge IT services industry. – Reuters

Major European airports snarled by cyberattack

types, including shuttles and cars”. Pony.ai now operates commercial robotaxis in four of China’s largest cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Pony.ai, backed by Toyota Motor, has also been exploring deploying its driverless service in South Korea, Luxembourg, the Middle East and other countries after raising US$260 million from its Nasdaq listing in November. It plans to grow its robotaxi fleet to 1,000 by the end of this year. – Reuters “We’ve seen huge impact across retail and currently automotive in the UK this year,” he said. “The threat is significant and very real.” Several breach-tracking websites have previously said that Collins Aerospace was hit by ransom-seeking hackers in 2023. The company did not return a message seeking comment on those allegations or details about Saturday’s incident. Passengers with a flight scheduled for Saturday were advised by the affected airports to confirm their travel with airlines before heading to the airport. Berlin Airport said on its website there were longer waiting times at check-in and it was working on a quick solution. Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s largest, was not affected, a spokesperson said. “I arrived here at the airport station at about quarter past nine, and we haven’t been told anything except that there was a technical fault,” Kim Reisen told Reuters at Berlin Airport. “Of course, online you can read that it was probably a cyberattack, and now we’re waiting here to see what happens.” Another traveller, Siegfried Schwarz, said such an attack was “incomprehensible”. “I also find it inexplicable that, with today’s technology, there’s no way to defend yourself against something like that.” EasyJet, among Europe’s biggest airlines, said it was operating as normal and did not expect the issue to impact its flights for the rest of the day. Ryanair and British Airways owner IAG did not immediately respond to requests for comment. US carrier Delta Air Lines said it expected minimal impact, adding it had implemented a workaround to minimise disruption. United Airlines said the issue was “causing minor departure delays”, but it had not cancelled any flights. British Transport Minister Heidi Alexander said she was receiving regular updates on the situation. British and German cyber defence authorities said they were in touch with their respective airports over the matter. – Reuters

Officials in Brussels said there had been four flight diversions, as well as “delays on most of the departing flights”. Brussels Airport said it had asked airlines to cancel half of their scheduled departing flights on Sunday to avoid long queues and late cancellations, signalling that the disruption would continue through the weekend. A European Commission spokesman said there were currently no indications of a “widespread or severe attack” and that the origin of the incident was still under investigation. These kinds of sweeping outages are typically the result either of ransomware attacks, where online extortionists paralyse corporate networks in the hope of payment, or deliberate digital sabotage. Rafe Pilling, director of threat intelligence at cybersecurity company Sophos, said the impact of the incident highlighted “the fragile and interdependent nature of the digital ecosystem underpinning air travel”.

company, said it was aware of a “cyber-related disruption” to the software at selected airports, without naming them. Heathrow Airport said it was among those affected. Brussels Airport and Berlin Airport were also affected, they said separately. Hours later, Dublin Airport said it was also facing minor impact from the issue, along with Cork Airport, Ireland’s second biggest after Dublin. “The impact is limited to electronic customer check-in and baggage drop and can be mitigated with manual check-in operations,” RTX said in an emailed statement, adding that it was working to fix the issue as quickly as possible. It did not give any information on who might be behind the attack. At Heathrow, Berlin and Brussels, 29 flight departures and arrivals had been cancelled, aviation data provider Cirium said. In total, 651 departures were scheduled from Heathrow, 228 from Brussels and 226 from Berlin on Saturday.

LONDON: A cyberattack at a provider of check-in and boarding systems disrupted operations on Saturday at several major European airports including London’s Heathrow, the continent’s busiest, causing flight delays and cancellations. The disruption is the latest in a string of hacks targeting governments and companies across the world, hitting sectors from healthcare and defence to retail and autos. A recent breach at luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover brought its production to a halt. Saturday’s problems were centred on MUSE software made by Collins Aerospace, which provides systems for several airlines at airports globally, airports said. RTX, Collins Aerospace’s parent o Electronic check-in and baggage drop affected, RTX says

Travellers wait near a check-in area at Heathrow Airport Terminal 2, amid flight delays and cancellations, in Greater London. – REUTERSPIC

Robotaxi groups flag autonomous shuttle services for S’pore

SINGAPORE: Two Chinese robotaxi firms said on Saturday they will partner with Singapore companies to launch shuttle services in the city state as it expands into autonomous driving. Ride-hailing operator Grab said it would partner with China’s WeRide to begin services next year. Pony.ai and Singapore taxi and transport firm ComfortDelGro said they were teaming up for similar services. Grab said in a statement it has

autonomous vehicle services initially in Punggol before expanding to neighbouring communities, and that they will begin services“in the coming months” after obtaining regulatory approval. Singapore’s Land Transport Authority said in a separate statement that Pony.ai and ComfortDelGro will ply a 12km route in Punggol. The LTA said WeRide and Pony.ai have “a proven track record of deploying (automated vehicles) overseas across multiple vehicle

been selected by local authorities to operate two autonomous shuttle service routes in the Punggol area. It will begin taking passengers on five- and eight-seater vehicle models from WeRide from early 2026, after a test phase for the vehicles to study the routes in detail. In July, WeRide was granted a permit from the Shanghai municipal government to operate autonomous robotaxi ride-hailing services. Pony.ai said in a statement that it and ComfortDelGro plan to introduce