Ronaldo Vs Messi: The Numbers Compared (Image: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Al Jazeera looks back on the careers of two of the most recognizable footballers of their generation.
Ronaldo Vs Messi: The Numbers Compared (Image: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will play their fifth, and probably last, World Cup in Qatar.
Argentine and Paris Saint-Germain player Messi, 35, announced in October that the 2022 World Cup will be his last, while Portugal and Manchester United’s Ronaldo, 37, has yet to comment on his international future.
For more than a decade, the world of football has debated who is better. The discussion is likely to continue long after they hang up their boots.
As the two giants of the game reach the twilight of their careers, we take a look at their performances over 17 years of playing football at the highest level.
International
Ronaldo has played 191 international matches compared with Messi’s 164, prior to Argentina’s World Cup opener against Saudi Arabia.
The former Real Madrid star’s international career began in 2003, while Messi, who left Barcelona last year for Paris, played his first international match two years later against Hungary.
When it comes to his scoring record, Ronaldo is far ahead of his Argentine rival.
The Manchester United star has scored 117 times, a record. Messi has 90 goals to his name.
Both players have significant regional competition at the international level, with Ronaldo winning the European Championship in 2016 and Messi securing the Copa America in 2021.
Ronaldo Vs Messi in International Matches (Image: Al Jazeera)
History of the World Cup
In football’s most prestigious event, Messi has played 19 matches, two more than his Portuguese competitor.
Ronaldo returns to lead in the scoring department with seven goals, one more than Messi.
However, between the two, only Messi reached a World Cup final, at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The giants of South American football lost to Germany in extra time 1-0.
There was some consolation for Messi when he took home the Ballon d’Or for the best performance at the World Cup in Brazil. In contrast, Ronaldo reached the semi-final stage once, in 2006.
Ronaldo Vs Messi at the World Cup (Image: Al Jazeera)
Club Competition
Ronaldo has scored 701 goals in all club competitions, while Messi has 695, making them the top scorers at the club level in football history.
But the Portuguese has played 100 more games than Messi, giving Messi a better average of play per goal.
However, when it comes to assists, the 35-year-old Argentine far surpasses Ronaldo, with almost 50 percent more than the Manchester United player.
Ronaldo Vs Messi at Club Level (Image: Al Jazeera)
Korea's Media Shares Rise as China Resumes Online Streaming (Image: Bloomberg)
Korea’s Media Shares Rise as China Resumes Online Streaming (Image: Bloomberg)
Shares of South Korean companies that produce or distribute dramas and movies rose as China resumed streaming Korean films after a six-year ban, spurring hopes that more content will be allowed.
Film distributor and producer Showbox Corp. soared as much as 26% on Wednesday, prompting a brief interruption of trading due to large stock price fluctuations at the market open. KidariStudio Inc., a producer of online comics and other content increased by the 30% daily limit. Other media stocks such as Studio Dragon Co., CJ ENM Co., Astory Co., and ContentreeJoongAng Corp. also rose.
The resumption, if expanded, would allow Korean cultural content producers to tap into the region’s largest consumer market, potentially increasing profits and further increasing the appeal of Korea’s entertainment stocks. The country’s content producers and distributors have been highly sought after for a string of blockbusters and the growing appeal of its pop culture.
Korean Media Stocks Surge as China Seen to Resume Streaming K-Movie (Image: Bloomberg)
China’s regulators review content before it is allowed on online streaming platforms and it may take some time before recent series are distributed on these sites.
However, “works that are already produced may not take long and that’s why we see shares of Studio Dragon and ContentreeJoongAng trading higher,” as the two firms have many old dramas and movie titles, said Kim Hoi Jae, an analyst at Daishin Securities Co.
Tencent’s online streaming platform began distributing “Hotel By the River” in November, local media outlets including Korea Economic Daily reported earlier this month. The film, produced by independent director Hong Sang Soo in 2018, is the first Korean film to be broadcast online in China after a six-year hiatus following the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in South Korea that created a diplomatic row between the two Asian countries.
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office confirmed on Tuesday that China has made the concession for the online streaming service in the context of the G20 summit in Indonesia last week.
Yoon and President Xi Jinping agreed to strengthen cultural exchanges between the two countries during the summit, where Xi acknowledged that “such a disruption in exchanges benefits no one and we look forward to working toward a full recovery,” Yoon’s office said.
“Although it is a small beginning, we would like to believe that it will become a future with great importance,” Kim Eun-hye, Yoon’s press secretary, said at a briefing on Tuesday.
UK Faces Cash Shortage as G4S Cash Delivery Staff Vote to Strike (Image: Darren Staples/Reuters)
G4S workers, who hand out cash and coins to banks, vote to strike for 48 hours in a wage dispute.
UK Faces Cash Shortage as G4S Cash Delivery Staff Vote to Strike (Image: Darren Staples/Reuters)
Hundreds of workers at British security company G4S voted to strike for 48 hours in early December in a wage dispute, according to the GMB union, warning that the strike could cause cash shortages over the Christmas period.
G4S workers hand over cash and coins to banks, including Barclays, HSBC, and Santander, as well as supermarkets Tesco, Asda, and Aldi, the union said in a statement on Tuesday.
A spokesman for G4S, which was bought by U.S. group Allied Universal last year, said the company continued to engage with its employees and the union.
“We hope to reach an amicable settlement without the need for industrial action,” the spokesman said.
The union said 97 percent of its G4S members who took part in a vote had backed the industrial action, which will start at 03:00 GMT on Dec. 4 and last 48 hours initially.
World Cup 2022: England Vs Iran Match Preview (Image: Paul ELLIS / AFP)
World Cup 2022: England Vs Iran Match Preview (Image: Paul ELLIS / AFP)
Who: England vs Iran, Group B
Where: Khalifa International Stadium
When: Monday, November 21 (4pm local time, 13:00 GMT)
Rankings: England (5), Iran (20)
Head to head: First match
Last five matches: England LDDLL, Iran LWLWD
The first match of perhaps the most politically charged group pits England against Iran at the 40,000-seat Khalifa International Stadium on Monday.
Given the historically strained relations between the two countries, the only chance for the football teams to face each other would have come in a global tournament and they managed to avoid each other until now.
In addition to the political tension between Iran and its three Western group members, all four teams are in the top 20 of the standings, giving them the dreaded nickname “Group of Death.”
England is the favorite to advance from the group based on their rankings, previous results, and tournament history. However, Gareth Southgate’s side has lost three and drawn three games in their UEFA Nations League matches this summer that led to their relegation.
Southgate has named a strong 26-man squad for the World Cup and hopes its best players from last year’s European Championship will return to their best form. Captain Harry Kane will lead the attack with players such as Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling, and Bukayo Saka. Jordan Henderson, Jude Bellingham, and Mason Mount also make up for a strong midfield. England’s problems, however, have been in defense, where Southgate has been unable to prevent them from losing goals.
Harry Kane won the Golden Boot at the 2018 World Cup in Russia (Image: Paul ELLIS / AFP)
Iran will look to exploit this weakness with star striker Mehdi Taremi leading the attack, supported by Sardar Azmoun and Alireza Jahanbakhsh.
Iran’s Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz will look to employ his heavy defensive tactics to contain England’s attacking talent. Iran has had a good run of results in recent friendlies with victories over Uruguay and Lebanon.
During the second leg of their World Cup campaign, Iran won eight of their 10 matches and topped their group ahead of South Korea. While the qualification campaign was led by Croatian coach Dragan Skocic, Team Melli supporters hope Queiroz’s return before a world tournament will work in his favor.
Taremi has 13 goals in competitions for Porto this season (Image: Miguel Riopa/ AFP)
Iran hopes to emerge from its initial encounter with at least one point. And with the United States out of shape and Wales, who are in the first place, being the other two teams in the group, Queiroz’s team will have a chance to pull off a surprise and qualify for the knockout round at the World Cup for the first time.
FIFA Earns a Record Revenue of $7.5 Billion for Qatar World Cup (Image: Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera)
Profits from this World Cup cycle are $1 billion more than those generated by the 2018 tournament in Russia.
FIFA Earns a Record Revenue of $7.5 Billion for Qatar World Cup (Image: Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera)
FIFA has earned record revenue of $7.5 billion through four years of trade deals tied to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, soccer’s governing body says.
The profits, which FIFA disclosed Sunday to officials from more than 200 of its member nations, are $1 billion more than the organization made from the previous World Cup cycle ahead of the 2018 event in Russia.
The additional revenue was driven by commercial agreements with this year’s hosts. Qatar Energy joined as a top-tier sponsor, and new third-tier sponsors include Qatari bank QNB and telecommunications firm Ooredoo. FIFA also added second-tier sponsorship deals this year from financial platform crypto.com and blockchain provider Algorand, its first new U.S. sponsor in more than a decade.
Key broadcast deals for this year’s World Cup were signed during Sepp Blatter’s presidency in two-tournament deals for the Russia and Qatar events. They included deals with Fox in the United States and Qatari broadcaster BeIN Sports since 2011.
FIFA pays for host countries’ organizing committees, prize money, travel, and accommodation for teams and support staff. It also pays a legacy fund to help develop the sport in the host country after the World Cup circus has left the city.
Qatar World Cup winners will receive $44 million out of a total prize pool of $440 million.
FIFA organizes its accounts in four-year cycles around each World Cup. For the 2015-18 cycle leading up to the World Cup in Russia, the governing body raised $6.4 billion. It has used that money to help member bodies overcome uncertainty in 2020 when qualifying matches for the national soccer team and World Cup were almost completely closed.
The organization’s revenue is likely to approach $10 billion over the next four years, thanks to a new financial strategy for women’s soccer and the expanded 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, which will see 48 teams compete for the first time, up from 32 currently.
FIFA has a near-blank slate for the 2026 edition with top-tier sponsors Coca-Cola, Adidas, and Wanda the only deals currently extended. Separate sponsorship deals are being signed for women’s football for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
North Korea Warns of 'Total' Nuclear Response to US 'Aggression' (Image: KCNA via Reuters)
North Korea has vowed to “react resolutely” to the U.S. threat to use nuclear weapons with its nuclear capabilities.
North Korea Warns of ‘Total’ Nuclear Response to US ‘Aggression’ (Image: KCNA via Reuters)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to use nuclear weapons to counter U.S. threats hours after testing the launch of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICMB), the latest escalation as the U.N. Security Council prepares to convene an emergency session on Pyongyang’s actions.
The United Nations Security Council, at the behest of Japan, South Korea, and the United States, will meet on Monday to discuss North Korea’s latest missile launch.
North Korea tested what it said was an Hwasong-17 ICBM, which can travel up to 15,000 km (9,320 miles), on Friday shortly after warning of “fiercer military responses” to Washington.
“Kim Jong Un solemnly stated that if enemies continue to pose threats… our party and government will resolutely react to nuclear weapons with nuclear weapons and total confrontation with all-out confrontation,” Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Saturday.
KCNA said the Hwasong-17 launched Friday aimed to achieve “the most powerful and absolute nuclear deterrent” and described the missile as “the strongest strategic weapon in the world.”
North Korea has long defended its ballistic missile launch as a legitimate defense against what it calls a decades-old threat from U.S. military forces and its allies in South Korea.
Kim was accompanied by his daughter, in his first public appearance, as he inspected a missile launch site on Friday. Followed by military officers and staff, Kim and her daughter walked hand in hand through the ICBM launch site where they stopped to observe military hardware and multiple ICBMs.
Commenting on Friday’s launch, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his country had “lodged a strong protest against North Korea, which has repeated its provocations with unprecedented frequency.”
“We have told (Pyongyang) that we cannot tolerate such actions,” Kishida said at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Thailand.
KCNA said the missile flew nearly 1,000 km (621 miles) for about 69 minutes, reaching a maximum altitude of 6,041 km (3,754 miles).
Kim hailed the test launch as a success, declaring it a confirmation of North Korea’s “maximum ability to contain any nuclear threat” and a warning to the administration of US President Joe Biden and his allies that any military provocation would trigger its “self-destruction,” KCNA reported.
Friday’s ICBM launch and saber-rattling statements come just days after Biden pressed Chinese President Xi Jinping in their first face-to-face meeting during the G20 talks in Bali to let Kim know Washington would not tolerate his “long-range nuclear tests.”
Biden promised a “defensive” response to “send a clear message to North Korea” if Xi could not control Pyongyang. Biden has yet to directly address North Korea’s ICBM test on Friday.
“We are aware of the DPRK’s ballistic missile launch and are consulting closely with the Republic of Korea and Japan, as well as other regional allies and partners,” the U.S. Defense Department said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera.
“The United States condemns these actions and calls on the DPRK to refrain from any further illegal and destabilizing acts. While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, territory, or our allies, we will continue to monitor the situation. U.S. commitments to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remain ironclad.”
North Korea’s official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
How Does FIFA Make Money From Football? (Image: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)
The winners of the Qatar World Cup will receive $44 million out of a total prize pool of $440 million, paid by FIFA.
How Does FIFA Make Money From Football? (Image: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)
Business is rarely that simple. If you make a product that everyone wants to buy, but costs you almost nothing, you’re going to accumulate a lot of money pretty quickly.
Simply put, this is how FIFA, world football’s governing body, makes money.
In 2018, when the World Cup was held in Russia, FIFA made more than $4.6 billion in revenue.
FIFA pays the organizing committees of the World Cup host countries, prize money, travel and accommodation for teams and support staff, plus a legacy fund to help develop the sport in the host country after the World Cup circus has left the city.
The winners of the Qatar World Cup will receive $44 million out of a total prize pool of $440 million, paid by FIFA.
FIFA organizes its accounts in four-year cycles around each World Cup. For the most recently published 2015-18 cycle, FIFA raised $6.4 billion. In 2021, a single year without a World Cup, FIFA raised $766 million.
FIFA’s headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, a country known for its financial discretion. (Image: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)
Television Rights
Most of FIFA’s revenue comes from the sale of television broadcasting rights for the World Cup and other international tournaments.
Of the $6.4 billion generated in the last cycle, $4.6 billion came from television rights.
Marketing Rights
Global brands pay FIFA for the right to advertise at FIFA events. The biggest brands partner with FIFA in its development and social responsibility plans, meaning they have a foot in the door with the not-for-profit side of FIFA, investing in the sport of football at international, national, and grassroots levels.
The next biggest brands can be announced at the World Cup, which is the most-watched televised event on the planet. About five billion people, more than half of Earth’s population, are expected to tune in to this year’s tournament. That’s a great audience to sell things to.
In the cycle leading up to the 2018 World Cup, marketing rights deals gave FIFA $1.66 billion. And even in 2021, revenue from the sale of marketing rights amounted to $131 million.
Ticketing and Hospitality
Another moneymaker for FIFA is entry revenue. All revenue from ticket sales rights goes to a subsidiary owned by FIFA. In the 2015-18 cycle, this generated $712 million.
In 2021, ticket sales for the Arab Cup, when some 600,000 people attended, generated an estimated $12 million. Around three million tickets have been sold for Qatar 2022. And with prices ranging from $100 to $1,100, it’s sure to be another excellent year.
Branding and Licensing
FIFA also obtains cash through the licensing of its brand. The most well-known of these is Electronic Arts’ FIFA football game series, which reportedly generated $20 billion in sales for EA during its 20-year partnership with FIFA.
It is understood that the game maker has paid FIFA in the region of $150 million annually for the right to use FIFA’s name.
In 2021, FIFA earned $180 million by licensing its brand for merchandise, retail, and games. The same year, FIFA received a $201 million award from the U.S. Department of Justice as compensation for losses due to corruption after dozens of top FIFA executives were indicted in 2015.
North Korea Fires Missiles, Warns US of 'Fiercer' Military Responses (Image: KCNA via Reuters)
The missile launch comes hours after North Korea warned it would respond to U.S. efforts to increase its security presence in the Asia-Pacific.
North Korea Fires Missiles, Warns US of ‘Fiercer’ Military Responses (Image: KCNA via Reuters)
North Korea fired a ballistic missile into its eastern waters, according to officials in Seoul, hours after threatening a “fiercer military response” to U.S. efforts to increase its security presence in the region.
The missile flew about 240 kilometers (149 miles) and reached an altitude of 47 kilometers (29 miles), the JCS said, adding that shortly before the launch, the South Korean and U.S. militaries had organized a “pre-planned” missile defense exercise.
The South Korean military will continue to maintain a firm posture of readiness, he said.
Pyongyang has tested a record number of missiles this year, including a possible failed intercontinental ballistic missile, while Washington and Seoul have expanded the range and scale of their joint military exercises.
Some of the drills have involved Japan.
Amid the tensions, the leaders of the United States, South Korea, and Japan held trilateral talks on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Cambodia last week and pledged to work together to “further strengthen deterrence.”
In a statement after the discussions, U.S. President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida “strongly condemned” North Korea’s “unprecedented number of ballistic missile launches” and pledged to “forge even closer trilateral ties, in the realm of security and beyond.”
They also warned Pyongyang against conducting a seventh nuclear test, with Biden reiterating that the U.S. commitment to defend Seoul and Tokyo was “backed by the full range of capabilities, including nuclear.”
North Korea condemned the trilateral summit on Thursday, with Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui saying the three countries’ “war drills for aggression” would not stop Pyongyang, but would bring a “more serious, realistic and inevitable threat” to themselves.
“The more enthusiastic the United States is in the ‘reinforced offer of extended deterrence to its allies and the more it intensifies provocative and blustering military activities… the fiercer the DPRK’s military counteraction,” Choe said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.
It refers to its country by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“The United States will be very aware that it is betting, so it will certainly regret it,” he said.
Choe added that the North’s military activities are “legitimate and just countermeasures” to the U.S.-led exercises.
Analysts said the signals coming from Pyongyang were significant given last week’s regional summit and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s participation after years of self-imposed pandemic isolation.
China is the main ally and trading partner of the isolated North.
“Beijing may not be more cooperative immediately in dealing with North Korea, even after the Kim regime conducts another nuclear test,” Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, told Al Jazeera by email.
“But at some point, Chinese interests will prefer to exert pressure on Pyongyang rather than confront the United States, South Korea, and Japan more strategically united.”
Donald Trump Launches 2024 Presidential Race (Image: Andrew Harnik/ AP)
The former president of the United States announces his campaign for the White House amid legal investigations and a disappointing result for Republicans in the midterm elections.
Donald Trump Launches 2024 Presidential Race (Image: Andrew Harnik/ AP)
Donald Trump has announced that he will run for president of the United States again in 2024 despite facing multiple criminal investigations and the poor performance of the candidates he endorsed in last week’s midterm elections.
Trump launched the bid, his third for president, Tuesday night at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, a week after elections in which Republicans failed to win as many congressional seats as they had hoped.
In a speech broadcast live on U.S. television, Trump spoke to hundreds of supporters in a ballroom decorated with several chandeliers and lined with dozens of American flags.
“To make America great again, tonight I am announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” the 76-year-old told the crowd of donors and longtime supporters.
“I’m running because I believe the world has not yet seen the true glory of what this nation can be,” he said.
“We will put America first again,” he added.
Earlier in the day, attendees filed documents with the U.S. Federal Election Commission establishing a committee called “Donald J Trump for President 2024.”
There is a long road ahead before the Republican presidential nominee is formally selected in the US summer of 2024, with the first statewide races more than a year away. Analysts believe Trump’s unusually early launch may well be aimed at fending off potential rivals for the party’s nomination in 2024, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, 44, and Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, 63.
“He’s getting ahead of other Republicans,” said Adolfo Franco, a GOP strategist. “Being Donald Trump, I would frame any other candidate who launched a presidential candidacy from now on as disloyal to him as being the former president and, in a sense, the incumbent head of the party.”
But Trump, who was impeached twice during his last term as president, enters the race at a time of political vulnerability.
He hoped to launch his campaign in the wake of resounding midterm Republican victories, boosted by the candidates he promoted during this year’s primaries. Instead, many of those candidates lost, allowing Democrats to hold the Senate and leaving Republicans with a path to only a simple majority in the House of Representatives.
The defeats have led some prominent Republicans to openly blame Trump for promoting weak candidates they say derailed the party’s hopes of taking control of Congress.
Still, Trump remains a “formidable force,” Franco told Al Jazeera.
“The Republican Party, frankly, is loyal to him. And I think losing that base would hurt us in 2024. In many ways, today is Donald Trump’s lowest point. It’s only from here for Donald Trump.”
Legal Problems
Trump’s attempt to seek his party’s nomination also comes amid a series of escalating criminal investigations, including several that could lead to indictments.
They include the investigation of dozens of classified trademark documents that were seized by the Mar-a-Lago FBI, and ongoing state and federal investigations into its efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
He also faces a congressional subpoena related to his role on January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
Trump, a real estate mogul, and former TV star have called the various investigations he faces politically motivated and denied wrongdoing.
The former president’s term in the White House, between 2017 and 2021, was one of the most tumultuous in modern American history. In addition to unprecedented political trials, he deployed harsh rhetoric that critics say often veered toward explicit intolerance and deeply polarized the country.
Despite his popularity among Republicans, 54 percent of voters in last week’s midterm elections viewed him very or somewhat unfavorably, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 94,000 voters nationwide.
Trump’s candidacy also raises profound questions about America’s democratic future. The final days of his presidency were consumed by a desperate effort to stay in power, undermining the centuries-old tradition of a peaceful transfer. And in the two years since he lost, Trump’s persistent and baseless lies about widespread voter fraud have eroded confidence in the nation’s political process.
In late January 2021, about two-thirds of Republicans said they did not believe Biden would be legitimately elected in 2020, according to an AP-NORC poll. VoteCast showed that about as many Republican voters in the midterm elections continued to hold that belief.
Federal and state election officials, along with Trump’s attorney general, have said there is no credible evidence that the 2020 election was tainted. The former president’s allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by numerous courts, including Trump-appointed judges.
Trump’s presidential bid paves the way for a possible rematch with Biden, who has said he intends to run for re-election despite concerns from some in his party about his age and low approval ratings.
The two men were already the oldest presidential candidates when they fought in the 2020 campaign. Trump, who is 76, would be 82 by the end of his second term in 2029. Biden, who is about to turn 80, would be 86.
Richard Goostein, a Democratic Party strategist, said Democrats were divided over a new offer from Trump.
“I think a lot of Democrats would pray for Donald Trump to be the Republican nominee because he lost by three million votes in 2016,” Goodstein said, referring to how Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 but won the Electoral College. “Trump lost by seven million in 2020, there’s no telling how many he would lose by 2024,” Goostein said. “But the fear is that, if he were elected, unchecked by the prospect of having to face voters again, his authoritarian nature would not be controlled and that’s a terrifying proposition.”
If he ultimately succeeds, Trump would be only the second U.S. president in history to serve two nonconsecutive terms, after Grover Cleveland’s victories in 1884 and 1892.
For his part, Biden, who was attending a G20 summit in Indonesia, responded to Trump’s announcement of another candidacy by tweeting that the Republican leader had “failed” his country while in office.
The tweet was accompanied by a compilation of videos that said Trump presided over “rigging the economy for the rich,” “attacking health care,” “coddling extremists,” “attacking women’s rights” and “inciting a violent mob” to try to reverse his 2020 election loss to Biden.
Later, while participating in a mangrove planting ceremony with other G20 leaders, reporters asked Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron if they had reactions to Trump’s announcement.
The two looked at each other briefly before Biden said “not really,” while Macron remained silent.
Credit Suisse Cuts Top Bank Charges in Asia as Review Begins. (Image: Bloomberg)
Credit Suisse Cuts Top Bank Charges in Asia as Review Begins. (Image: Bloomberg)
Credit Suisse Group AG has begun cutting senior banking jobs in Asia, including three managing directors of investment banking and financing, as the Swiss giant carries out its plan to reduce global headcount by 9,000, people familiar with the matter said.
Among the bankers fired were Johnson Chui, head of Asia-Pacific equity capital markets, Karen Yap of the financial group, and Ee-lin Tan, head of rating counseling, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
The departures also include Kuvesh Pather, the financial group’s head of operations in Australia, at least two Singapore-based bankers from the same group, and two heads of investment banking and capital markets, the people said.
A spokesman for Singapore-based Credit Suisse declined to comment. The three CEOs and Pather did not respond to messages seeking comment.
The Swiss lender is undergoing a broad overhaul, seeking to cut 2.5 billion francs ($2.5 billion) from its cost base. As part of the plan, the bank has said it began 2,700 job cuts in the fourth quarter and aims to cut about 9,000 jobs by 2025.
The cuts in Asia come after trading in China, one of its biggest growth markets collapsed and the bank posted market losses in its financial group for the region.
Meanwhile, Vik Bali, head of private banking operations for South Asia at Credit Suisse, also resigned, the people said. Bali did not respond to a request for comment.
Credit Suisse warned last month that it will likely post its fifth straight loss this quarter due to renovation-related costs. The firm has announced a series of changes, including the sale of its group of securitized products and a capital raise, as Chief Executive Ulrich Koerner seeks to end years of scandals and management errors.
