Crystal Palace's appeal to compete in Europa League to be heard by CAS next month
Crystal Palace were demoted to the third-tier Conference League by Uefa's Club Financial Control Body in a multi-club ownership case.
– A closed-door hearing in the case of Crystal Palace v Uefa, Nottingham Forest and Olympique Lyonnais will be held on Aug 8, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on July 30.
Palace were
demoted from the second-tier Europa League to the third-tier Conference League by Uefa earlier in July for breaching multi-club ownership rules, while French club Lyon were allowed to play in the Europa League.
Uefa rules say that no owner or co-owner can have a controlling interest in more than one club competing in the same European competition during the same season.
Palace were punished as American businessman John Textor owns a controlling stake in the club. He is also chairman of the Eagle Football Group, which is the majority owner of French club Lyon.
Textor later resigned from Lyon's board of directors with Michele Kang appointed chairwoman and president.
He also agreed in July to sell his Palace stake to Woody Johnson, owner of American football outfit New York Jets, but the move came too late to satisfy Uefa.
While Palace's position was that Textor did not have 'decisive influence' over the club, the deadline for shareholders to divest their interest in a club, or in some other way to alter their ownership structure, in order to comply with the regulations was March 1.
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The London club appealed the decision, with a decision anticipated on Aug 11, three days after the CAS hearing.
Forest, who finished seventh in the Premier League, will replace Palace in the Europa League if their appeal fails.
'We are still fighting,' Palace chairman Steve Parish told The Rest is Football podcast. 'There's an appeal process, so we go to CAS which is the court for arbitration and, you know, we're very hopeful. We think we've got great legal arguments.
'We don't think this is the right decision by any means. We know unequivocally that John didn't have decisive influence over the club.
'We know we proved that beyond all reasonable doubt because it's a fact.'
Palace, who finished 12th in last season's EPL, had qualified for the Europa League by winning the FA Cup, while Lyon reached the competition by finishing sixth in Ligue 1. However, the French club were allowed to keep their place as they finished higher in their respective league.
In other news, newly-promoted Premier League team Burnley are offering their fans a virtual reality (VR) viewing experience, meaning they can enjoy being at the club's Turf Moor stadium from their room.
Fans who acquire special headsets will be able to take a virtual seat inside the stadium for their friendly on Aug 9 against Italian club Lazio, complete with match day commentary and in-stadium audio. REUTERS
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Asia News Network
5 hours ago
- Asia News Network
China's autonomous driving tech forges inroads into global markets
August 5, 2025 BEIJING – Commercial application of China's cutting-edge autonomous driving technology is spreading globally as Chinese enterprises speed up efforts to expand their presence in overseas markets and deploy robotaxi fleets. Residents in some Middle East cities, for example, will be able to hail robotaxis developed by Chinese companies via ride-hailing apps on their mobile phones before year's end. Utilizing the technology will help build safer, more efficient and convenient intelligent transport systems, industry experts said. China is at the forefront of autonomous driving development, and Chinese companies have vast experience in a wide variety of road tests and operational scenarios — ranging from densely populated urban centers to suburban areas — which has laid the foundation for their overseas expansion, they said. Traffic conditions and urban environments vary in different countries, and governments around the world are working to build road infrastructure and establish legislative and regulatory frameworks to enable the safe and stable operations of robotaxis. 'Chinese self-driving enterprises are adopting different strategies based on the different regional conditions of overseas destinations,' said Duan Yuwan, deputy director of the School of International Trade and Economics at the Central University of Finance and Economics. 'Southeast Asia and the Middle East have become the frontiers for Chinese firms' overseas expansion due to their open policies and clear application scenarios, while European countries pay more attention to the deployment and implementation of the Level 4, or highly autonomous driving technologies,' she said. Apollo Go takes off Tech heavyweight Baidu Inc has stepped up the pace of its global expansion. The company recently signed a multi-year strategic partnership with United States-based ride-hailing service Uber Technologies to deploy thousands of its Apollo Go autonomous vehicles on Uber's platform. The agreement covers multiple markets outside the US and the Chinese mainland. The collaboration focus is on increasing the supply of affordable and reliable ride-sharing options by bringing Baidu's autonomous vehicles to Uber's extensive network. The first deployments are expected in Asia and the Middle East later this year. Robin Li, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Baidu, said 2025 will be a pivotal year for the growth of its autonomous ride-hailing platform Apollo Go, with plans to expand fleet size and ride volume faster than ever. 'Looking ahead, we will deepen our presence in existing markets while strategically entering new ones, capturing broader growth opportunities worldwide,' Li said. He sees a clear path to profitability for robotaxis as hardware costs continue to come down, and the growth in operational scale results in greater efficiency. Currently, Apollo Go deploys a fleet of more than 1,000 fully driverless vehicles globally. Its global footprint spans 15 cities, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The company has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority to launch autonomous driving tests and services in the city. Apollo Go will deploy 100 fully autonomous vehicles in Dubai by the end of 2025, with plans to expand the fleet to no fewer than 1,000 by 2028, as the city aims to make 25 percent of all transportation trips autonomous by 2030. It has also teamed up with Auto-Go, a UAE-based autonomous mobility solutions company, with the goal of deploying the largest fully driverless fleet in Abu Dhabi. Initial trials of dozens of autonomous vehicles will be conducted in select areas of the city, with phased expansion ahead of full commercial operations by 2026. 'China is taking the lead in the R&D and application of self-driving technology, and the accelerated expansion of Chinese self-driving companies abroad will propel the commercialization of the state-of-the-art technology on a global scale,' said Zhang Xiang, a visiting professor at the engineering department at Huanghe Science and Technology University. Zhang said authorities in the Middle East and some European countries have a relatively open attitude toward autonomous driving and are promoting the testing and use of robotaxis thanks to technological advancements and cost reductions. 'Chinese self-driving enterprises have strong technical prowess and have accumulated extensive testing and operational experience in the domestic market, so they are eager to play a bigger role in the international autonomous driving sector by leveraging their technological advantages,' he said, adding there is an increasing demand for self-driving vehicles in overseas markets. Emphasizing that ensuring the safety and stability of self-driving vehicles remains a top priority, Zhang called for efforts to improve testing and application scenarios overseas, continuously optimize algorithms, strengthen road infrastructure construction, and reduce the manufacturing costs of driverless vehicle components. New frontiers Chinese self-driving company is poised to increase its global robotaxi fleet to thousands of vehicles over the next two years, with 2025 earmarked as the first year of large-scale commercial deployment. The company recently started road testing its robotaxis in Luxembourg in cooperation with Emile Weber, the country's leading mobility solutions provider, to deploy electric autonomous vehicles in Luxembourg, and accelerate robotaxi application in Europe. James Peng, co-founder and CEO of said the testing marks the beginning of collaboration, innovation, and the advancement of autonomous mobility in both Luxembourg and the continent. announced in April that it had obtained a testing permit for Level 4 autonomous driving from Luxembourg authorities. The authorization expands its global testing footprint, building on existing permits in China, the United States, and South Korea. The company earlier chose Luxembourg as its European hub for research, development, and the deployment of autonomous driving technology. Autonomous driving is categorized from Level 0 to Level 5. The higher the level, the more intelligent the technology and the less the involvement of humans. Level 4 vehicles can intervene if there is a system failure and do not require human assistance in most circumstances. However, a manual override option is still available. Earlier last month, inked a strategic partnership with the Roads and Transport Authority of Dubai, to integrate self-driving technology into Dubai's multi-modal transportation network. Autonomous driving technology will be introduced in a multi-phase rollout, with supervised robotaxi trials set to launch this year, followed by fully driverless operations in 2026. Founded in 2016, has amassed over 45 million kilometers in global autonomous testing, and offers fully driverless ride-hailing services in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong province's Guangzhou and Shenzhen. In South Korea, the company has set up a joint venture with a local tech company and started road testing in Seoul. It is also looking to introduce robotaxis in Singapore by starting trials with a local transport operator. The company established a strategic partnership with Uber in May. The first service is expected to be launched in a key Middle East market before deployment in other international markets. Chinese self-driving startup WeRide is another company accelerating its global expansion, with the Middle East seen as a strategic priority for autonomous driving growth and innovation. It is cooperating with Dubai authorities and Uber under an agreement, pilot operations of autonomous vehicles will commence later this year via the Uber app in Dubai. In the initial phase, the vehicles will operate with a safety driver on board, paving the way for the full-scale commercial rollout of driverless services in 2026. In May, the company and Uber further expanded their partnership to roll out robotaxis in 15 additional major global cities over the next five years, including some in Europe. It has launched fully driverless robotaxi testing in Abu Dhabi, and other cities in the Middle East are being explored for testing. The company is expanding into Saudi Arabia and has rolled out testing or deployment of its robotaxis in cities including Riyadh, setting the stage for commercial rollout and wider operations across the Middle East's largest economy. WeRide's robotaxis support Saudi Arabia's push to develop a smart, sustainable transportation infrastructure for both residents and the rising influx of visitors. Open to innovation The scale of the global robotaxi market is expected to reach $45.7 billion by 2030, rapidly expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 91.8 percent from 2023 to 2030, data from research company MarketsandMarkets shows. The growth of the robotaxi market is influenced by rising demand for ride-hailing services, high R&D investment and government focus on reducing emissions, infrastructure development, and growth of electric vehicles, according to the consultancy. The need for robotaxis is also being fueled by the growing emphasis on sustainability, requirements for effective urban transit, and increased safety as a result of the abolition of human mistakes, it added. At present, governments around the world are continuously introducing favorable policies to support the development of autonomous driving technology — including test permits and infrastructure construction — which is conducive to accelerating the application and popularization of the technology, according to WeRide. Zhu Keli, founding director of the China Institute of New Economy, said the open, innovative environment and supportive policy measures for autonomous driving technology in some countries, especially the UAE and Luxembourg, provide Chinese self-driving companies with ideal testing sites and a broad development space. 'Their accelerated global expansion will bolster the maturity of autonomous driving technology, propel the deeper integration of global industrial chains, optimize resource allocation and inject fresh impetus into the development of the self-driving sector worldwide,' Zhu said. The accelerated international push of Chinese self-driving companies is inevitable in the face of increasingly fierce competition, said Duan from the School of International Trade and Economics at the Central University of Finance and Economics. By cooperating with leading overseas companies, they can receive funding and policy support abroad and enhance their competitiveness in the global intelligent automotive sector. This will in turn drive the development of domestic companies involved in the autonomous driving industrial chain, she added. 'Self-driving technology is expected to become an important field for China to share its development dividends with the world,' Duan said. Market consulting firm McKinsey& Company has forecast that China will become the world's largest market for self-driving vehicles, with revenue from such vehicles and mobility services exceeding $500 billion by 2030. China has caught up with the US in developing autonomous driving, said Lyu Jinghong, an intelligent mobility analyst at research company BloombergNEF. Lyu said ongoing testing on public roads, regulatory backing and cost reductions in autonomous vehicle manufacturing, will help accelerate the deployment and commercialization of self-driving cars. However, Chinese self-driving companies' greater presence abroad may encounter some challenges, such as differences in culture, laws and regulations, she said. Lyu called for greater efforts to conduct testing based on different road conditions abroad, and improving knowledge about the usage habits of local consumers, as well as strengthening compliance and personal privacy protection. Li Xinbo, an automotive industry analyst at China Auto Information Technology (Tianjin) Co, said as the operating costs and compliance risks in overseas markets are relatively high, Chinese enterprises need to carefully assess and formulate strategic plans, speed up localization efforts and launch services that cater to local requirements, when carrying forward their globalization push.
Business Times
6 hours ago
- Business Times
Trump to hike India tariffs within 24 hours, eyes pharma and chip duties next
[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump said he would raise tariffs on Indian goods 'over the next 24 hours' in response to New Delhi's continued purchases of Russian oil. Trump announced a 25 per cent duty on India's exports to the US and has threatened repeatedly to increase that rate to punish the country for buying Russian energy, an effort to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. 'We settled on 25 per cent but I think I'm going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they're buying Russian oil,' Trump said on Tuesday (Aug 5) in a CNBC interview. 'They're fuelling the war machine. And if they're going to do that, then I'm not going to be happy.' Trump has escalated his fight with India over trade, unilaterally imposing a tariff rate after months of negotiations failed to secure a deal. He accused New Delhi of refusing to ease access for American goods and criticising its membership in the Brics group of developing economies. The US president has also set an Aug 8 deadline for Russia to reach a truce with Ukraine, with the administration threatening so-called secondary sanctions on countries that purchase energy from Moscow. Ukraine's allies say those purchases prop up Putin's war effort. Trump in the interview said that if energy prices went down it would undercut Putin's ability to continue his invasion of Ukraine – now in its fourth year. 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 'If energy goes down low enough, Putin's going to stop killing people,' Trump said. 'If you get energy down another US$10 a barrel, he's going to have no choice, because his economy stinks.' The Indian government has indicated it intends to continue talks with the US in hopes of securing lower tariffs. It has also called Trump's threat over energy purchases unjustified. India is considering ramping up natural gas purchases from the US and increasing imports of communication equipment and gold. In the same interview, Trump also said US tariffs on semiconductor and pharmaceutical imports would be announced 'within the next week or so,' as the administration prepares to target key economic sectors in its effort to remake global trade. 'We'll be putting an initially small tariff on pharmaceuticals, but in one year – one and a half years, maximum – it's going to go to 150 per cent and then it's going to go to 250 per cent because we want pharmaceuticals made in our country,' Trump said. 'We're going to be announcing on semiconductors and chips, which is a separate category,' he added. The Commerce Department has been investigating the semiconductor market since April to set the stage for possible tariffs on an industry that's expected to generate nearly US$700 billion in global sales. Under Trump, the US has already imposed levies on imports of cars and auto parts as well as steel and aluminium. Levies on imported chips threaten to sharply increase costs for large data centre operators including Microsoft, OpenAI, Meta Platforms and that plan to spend billions of US dollars on purchases of advanced semiconductors needed to propel their artificial intelligence businesses. The president has also threatened debilitating tariffs on the drug industry in an effort to force manufacturing back to the US. Trump recently demanded major suppliers of medicines drastically cut costs or face additional, unspecified penalties. The world's largest drugmakers, including Merck and Eli Lilly, operate scores of manufacturing sites across the globe. Nearly 90 per cent of US biotech companies rely on imported components for at least half of their approved products, according to the Biotechnology Innovation Organisation. The sectoral tariffs on pharmaceuticals, metals and other industries stem from trade investigations that can last about nine months and are imposed on national security grounds under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. It's seen as stronger legal footing than the emergency powers Trump used for his country-specific levies, which face court challenges. Those so-called reciprocal tariffs are slated to go into effect on Thursday. BLOOMBERG
Straits Times
8 hours ago
- Straits Times
Trump's transactional foreign policy fuels ‘US scepticism' in Taiwan
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox There are concerns that Taiwan is being used as a bargaining chip in US trade talks with China, which claims the island as its territory. – Pressure is mounting for Taipei to finalise a trade agreement with Washington and lower tariff rates as soon as possible – and it is not just for economic reasons. The fact that Taiwan has yet to secure a favourable US tariff rate for its exports – despite being one of the first and most eager territories to start talks – has raised questions about President Lai Ching-te's relationship with not only one of the island's largest trading partners, but also its most important security backer. Mr Lai wrote on Facebook on Aug 1 that Taiwan is still working on an agreement with the United States, saying that 'the final tariff rate has not yet been determined', and that the 20 per cent rate announced by US President Donald Trump on July 31 is only temporary. 'The government will strive for more favourable and reasonable tax rates for Taiwan in subsequent negotiations,' he said. Since Mr Trump unveiled his ' L iberation D ay' tariffs on April 2 , when he threatened to slap Taiwan with a punishing 32 per cent tariff rate, Taipei officials have scrambled to appease him and reach a compromise on trade. For one thing , Taipei has pledged to significantly increase purchases of American goods, such as natural gas. On July 31, hours before Mr Trump's self-imposed midnight deadline , he imposed a 20 per cent tariff rate on Taiwan – higher than those directed at Taiwan's key export competitors in the region. Both Japan and South Korea managed to secure tariff rates of 15 per cent after finalising trade agreements with the US days before the Aug 1 deadline. 'Taiwan's lack of a trade deal ahead of Trump's Aug 1 deadline reflected poorly on the Lai administration,' said Professor Julien Chaisse, an international trade and legal expert at the City University of Hong Kong. 'It handed an easy talking point to his critics, who already argue that his administration is too reliant on Washington,' he told The Straits Times. Taipei sees Washington as its biggest security partner against Beijing, which claims the island as its territory and has in recent years ratcheted up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on it. The US is obligated under the Taiwan Relations Act, passed by the US Congress in 1979, to provide the island with the arms it needs to defend itself. Under the leadership of Mr Lai's Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan has sought to foster warmer ties with Washington amid heightened cross- s trait tensions. 'The public will think: Why, even after four rounds of trade negotiations (between Taipei and Washington), that such a poor outcome was reached for Taiwan,' said Professor Wang Hung-jen from Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University. 'Doubts will arise about the Lai administration's ability to handle Taiwan-US relations in future,' added Prof Wang, who researches international relations. Other recent events have also deepened fears that US-Taiwan relations are straining – more worryingly, at the expense of Taiwan's future as Mr Trump seeks a trade deal with Beijing and a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In other words, there are concerns that Taiwan is being used as a bargaining chip in US trade talks with China. In July, the Financial Times reported that Trump officials had blocked Mr Lai's request to transit through New York during a planned overseas trip to Taipei's Latin American allies, after China raised objections with Washington. The US also reportedly cancelled a meeting in June with Taiwanese Defence Minister Wellington Koo at the last minute, after Mr Xi urged Mr Trump to limit US-Taiwan engagement on a phone call earlier that month. 'These developments could fuel yi mei lun in Taiwan,' said Prof Wang, referring to the 'America scepticism' narrative that questions the reliability of the US as a trusty security partner for Taiwan. While the narrative is mostly spread by pro-Beijing players in Taiwan and disinformation campaigns, Mr Trump's transactional foreign policy has added to a sense of unease that the US may ultimately leave the island hanging in the balance in the event of a Chinese invasion. Such doubts have grown in Taiwan since Mr Trump took office in January. According to an April survey published by US-based research organisation Brookings Institution, Taiwanese believe that the US is less trustworthy now than a year ago, when Mr Joe Biden was president. Some 15.9 per cent of Taiwanese said that the US was 'very untrustworthy', close to double the 8.2 per cent recorded nine months prior. Respondents from the same survey also said they felt less confident that Washington would support them in the event of a military conflict with China, with only 37.5 per cent of Taiwanese saying that it was 'likely' or 'very likely' that the US would step in, down from 44.5 per cent. But as observers have often noted, the only thing predictable about Mr Trump is that he is unpredictable. Mr Ryan Hass, director of the John L. Thornton China Centre at Brookings Institution, described Mr Trump's approach to Taiwan as 'more fluid than constant'. The US leader has similarly 'done a version of this zigzag' in his approach to Ukraine in recent months, Mr Hass wrote in an August commentary co-authored with Dr Richard Bush, a non-resident senior fellow at the same think-tank. When Mr Trump decided that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was a hurdle to a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire, he lashed out at Mr Zelensky in the Oval Office , during a televised meeting of his visit in February . But Mr Trump has since returned to supporting the Ukrainian leader, now that the US President has determined that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is impeding progress. 'Trump's shifting stance on Ukraine suggests a real possibility that he could pursue a similarly adaptive approach to managing cross- s trait relations,' the authors wrote in their commentary . 'Trump views his unpredictability as a strategic asset.'
