ENTERTAINMENT
Still no profits at HK Disney
Hong Kong’s Disneyland theme park failed to turn a profit again last year, but says its loss narrowed thanks to higher visitor numbers. The park reported yesterday that it lost HK$718 million (US$92.3 million) last year. It lost HK$1.315 billion in 2009. The number of visitors to the park rose 13 percent last year to 5.2 million and each guest spent an average 7 percent more than the year before. Managing Director Andrew Kam said three new attractions slated to open over the next three years would help the park turn a profit, but did not give a date for when he expected that to happen.
MINING
Rio Tinto mulls expansion
Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third-largest mining company, said fourth-quarter iron ore output rose to a record as prices gained for the steelmaking ingredient. Production increased to 50.1 million metric tonnes in the three months that ended Dec. 31, from 47.2 million tons a year earlier, London-based Rio said yesterday in a statement. Chief executive Tom Albanese is looking into the possibility of expanding iron ore operations by 50 percent by 2015 at a cost of about US$14.8 billion to meet rising demand from steel mills. “Running our operations at full capacity was a priority for Rio Tinto in 2010, in an environment of strong prices for most of our commodities,” Albanese said in the statement.
AVIATION
Dreamliner tests resume
Boeing on Monday resumed flight tests of its 787 Dreamliner in the hope of winning over US regulators after a string of technical mishaps and delays. “Boeing has resumed certification flight testing of the 787 Dreamliner today,” the company said in a statement. It said four airplanes were back to “flight status” and two others “are expected to be flying again within the next week or so.” Last month Boeing said it had installed updated power system software and conducted rigorous reviews to confirm flight readiness after it was forced to halt tests due to an electrical fire that forced an emergency landing.
BANKING
Parmalat payout sought
A Milan prosecutor has called for the confiscation of 120 million euros (US$160 million) from four international banks accused in the 2003 collapse of the Parmalat dairy empire. Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and Bank of America are accused of not taking measures that would have prevented crimes leading to Parmalat’s 14 billion euro failure. A verdict is expected next spring. Prosecutor Eugenio Fusco is seeking 70 million euros from Citigroup, 30 million euross from Bank of America, 5.9 million euros from Morgan Stanley and 14 million euros from Deutsche Banks. Fusco also asked the court on Monday to fine the banks 900,000 euros each. The trial has the potential to recoup millions in damages for defrauded investors.
ENTERTAINMENT
Comcast purchase imminent
US regulators were on the verge of approving cable giant Comcast’s purchase of entertainment titan NBC Universal and were due to announce the deal as early as yesterday, a US newspaper reported. The Wall Street Journal’s Web site, citing unnamed sources, said on Monday that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officials spent the weekend making last-minute revisions to an order clearing the deal.
It added that the US Justice Department is ready to approve the deal “with conditions” shortly after the FCC gives it the green light.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day