■TOURISM
Ministry to push local shops
The Ministry of Economic Affairs will push to expand the distribution network for products specific to localities in the latter half of the year, a ministry official said yesterday. Michelle Lin (林美雪), deputy director general of the ministry’s Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, said that by adopting the local marketing concept of “One Town One Product” from Japan, the association started from 1989 to help stimulate distinctive local industry by integrating local resources and specialties. However, the display and distribution network for these types of products is still limited to places such as the Taiwan High Speed Rail’s Chiayi Station, Nantou’s scenic Sun Moon Lake resort and the Dream Mall in Kaohsiung. Lin said that 70 percent of the products are agricultural or area specialities, with the local governments deciding on the display and distribution network.
■FINANCE
China to allow managed float
Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) said the country would gradually adopt a floating exchange rate system, but it must be controllable and initiated by China itself. Hu’s comments to a summit of China, India, Brazil and Russia were made on Thursday, but posted on Friday on the Web site of China’s Foreign Ministry. The comments are in line with what Chinese officials have been saying on the country’s currency in response to pressure from the US and other countries that want the yuan to be allowed to rise in value.
■PHARMACEUTICALS
Companies misled patients
GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Novartis AG and Astellas Pharma Inc used misleading promotions for cancer, pain and bladder drugs, US regulators said in letters released on Friday. A medical journal advertisement by Glaxo “omits important information” about the safety and effectiveness of cancer drug Arzerra, the Food and Drug Administration said in a letter to the British drugmaker. In a separate letter, the administration said a promotional Web page had overstated the effectiveness of Glaxo’s and Astellas Pharma’s overactive-bladder drug Vesicare.
■CONGLOMERATE
GE earnings fall 32 percent
General Electric Co (GE) said on Friday that its first-quarter earnings fell 32 percent, but the industrial and financial bellwether said it saw signs of improvement in its own results and the broader economy. The results from GE, one of the world’s largest companies that operates in most major segments of the economy, signals that some sectors may be in recovery from the deep recession. GE said there were positive indications in commercial aviation, freight rail and advertising. The company earned US$1.87 billion, or US$0.17 per share, after deducting preferred dividends in the January-March period, down from US$2.75 billion, or US$0.26 per share, a year ago — a 32 percent drop. Revenue fell 5 percent to US$36.6 billion from US$38.4 billion a year ago.
■BANKING
Bank of America in black
Bank of America returned to profit in the first quarter of this year, the firm said on Friday, reporting better than expected profit of US$3.2 billion. After a boardroom shake-up and losses of more than US$2 billion last year, the largest US bank returned to the black, providing a glimmer of hope that its crisis-inflicted wounds could be on the mend.
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
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
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
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