TECHNOLOGY
Apple fixing security flaw
Apple Inc on Friday said it was working to patch a vulnerability that hackers could use to break into the company’s popular iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch gadgets. Engineers at the California firm are fixing a weakness pointed out by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). “We are aware of this reported issue and developing a fix that will be available in an upcoming software update,” Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said. BSI warned this week of a flaw that would let hackers infiltrate Apple mobile devices by duping users into opening PDF document files booby-trapped with malicious computer code.
INTERNET
LinkedIn gets more friends
LinkedIn leapfrogged Myspace last month to become the second-largest social network in the US in terms of traffic behind Facebook, tracking firm comScore reported on Friday. LinkedIn had 33.9 million unique US visitors last month compared with 33.5 million for Myspace, which was sold last week by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Twitter was next with 30.6 million unique US visitors last month, comScore said. Facebook was the runaway leader with 160.9 million unique US visitors during the month, according to comScore. Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg announced this week that the site now has 750 million users worldwide.
BANKING
Moody’s lowers VTB rating
Moody’s ratings agency downgraded Russia’s second-biggest bank, VTB, on Friday following its controversial acquisition of a debt-ridden rival and subsequent need to raise fresh cash. The downgrade came after VTB took over the Bank of Moscow — the country’s fifth-largest bank but one that holds US$9 billion in bad debt — a move Moody’s said exposed the state-run lender to new dangers. Moody’s said it was cutting VTB’s rating’s outlook to “Negative” from “Stable” in a move that foreshadows a possible downgrade. It also dropped the Bank of Moscow’s financial strength rating to “E+” from “D-.” A downgrade typically makes it more expensive for a company to raise fresh funds and is particularly painful for VTB because it is in the process of raising funds for an additional share acquisition in the Bank of Moscow. Moody’s analyst Eugene Tarzimanov said the ratings change “reflects a higher risk that [VTB’s] ... capitalization could weaken as a result of the planned consolidation of Bank of Moscow.”
BANKING
Bank staff continue strike
Standard Chartered PLC’s South Korean unit may temporarily shutter some branches as a strike by employees heads into a third week, the worst labor dispute involving foreign banks in South Korea in more than five years. Standard Chartered First Bank Korea Ltd will halt operations at 43 of its 392 branches from tomorrow unless an agreement with the labor union is reached, Joo Hee-sun, a spokeswoman for the Seoul-based unit, said by telephone yesterday. The strike began on June 27. The strike comes as London-based Standard Chartered, which entered South Korea in 2005, struggles to attract borrowers in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. South Korea accounted for about 11 percent of Standard Chartered’s US$16 billion in revenue last year, according to Bloomberg data. About half the employees at the South Korean unit will protest a plan that would determine compensation based on individual performance, union spokesman Bae Kwang-jin said on June 27
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last