■ Foodstuffs
Metal-laced bread recalled
Sara Lee Corp is recalling 27 brands of whole wheat bread products because they could contain small metal pieces, the company said on Friday. A recent routine inspection of a bakery in Meridian, Mississippi, uncovered problems with a flour-sifting screen, company spokesman Mark Goldman said. The machine was "not up to our specification and raised the possibility some metal could have dislodged," Goldman said. The problem was isolated to the Meridian bakery, which continued production using bagged flour that did not require the sifting system, Goldman said.
■ Publishing
Trustee opposes News bid
A key trustee of the Bancroft family, the controlling shareholders of Dow Jones & Co, is planning to vote against a deal to sell the company to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site on Friday. A trust based in Denver, which controls 9.1 percent of the company's voting stock, has decided to vote against the deal, the Journal said, citing a person familiar with the matter. Also opposed to the sale is a union representing Journal reporters and Jim Ottaway Jr, a former Dow Jones director whose family has 7 percent of Dow Jones' shareholder vote.
■ Economy
Thailand urges cooperation
Thailand, the epicenter of the 1997 economic crisis, yesterday called for global cooperation to cope with financial volatility following a regional stock sell-off sparked by Wall Street losses. Speaking a day after the Thai stock tumbled more than 2 percent, Thai Finance Minister Chalongphob Sussangkarn said the world should boost efforts in tackling volatilities in the stock and currency markets. Chalongphob said Thailand had capital inflows worth more than US$1 billion last month alone. "This inflow has really tested the ability of the authorities to manage the exchange rates," the former World Bank economist said at a central bank conference in Bangkok.
■ Automakers
Bernhard to chair Chrysler
Wolfgang Bernhard, a senior adviser to Cerberus Capital Management LP, will return to Chrysler to become chairman of the automaker's board of directors once its sale to the private equity firm is completed, a person familiar with the situation said on Friday. The likely date of the sale's closure is Aug. 3, said the person, who spoke on condition of not being identified by name. The person also said that current Chrysler CEO Tom LaSorda would remain in his current position and control day-to-day decisionmaking. The Bernhard appointment was also reported by German magazine Manager, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Detroit News.
■ Foreign Exchange
Yuan should rise: official
China needs to allow its currency to appreciate to prevent the economy from overheating, said Xia Bin (夏斌), director of the financial research department of the State Council, or Cabinet. "China should continue foreign-exchange reform whether or not there is pressure from the US," Xia said during the Tsinghua Grand Financial Classroom National Tour, a conference at the Tsinghua University in Beijing. "The yuan should appreciate to the proper level as soon as possible," he said. Xia didn't specify what the proper level is. China's central bank increased key interest rates by 27 basis points and the government cut the tax on interest income to 5 percent from 20 percent on July 20.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last