LABOR
Samsung rejects claims
A study commissioned by Samsung Electronics rejected assertions that employees might have been exposed to carcinogenic chemicals at its plants, as several cancer-stricken former employees of the world’s largest maker of memory chips seek compensation for their illnesses. Despite the findings, the South Korean firm said it would consider offering financial support for some of its former employees diagnosed with cancer, following allegations by civic groups and some former employees that its working environment caused leukemia. Samsung said 26 of its employees who worked at its chip plants had been diagnosed with leukemia or lymphoma, and 10 of them had died of cancer. Civic groups say there are many more workers who have fallen ill due to a hazardous working environment.
MINING
Rare earth quotas raised
China’s Ministry of Commerce said yesterday it was issuing a second batch of rare earth export quotas for this year, with the second batch totaling 15,738 tonnes. China produces 97 percent of the world’s supply of rare earths, a group of 17 minerals used in electronics and defense and renewable energy industries. The WTO ruled last week that China breached trade law by curbing exports of eight raw materials, a judgement Europe and the US said meant China should also be forced to increase exports of 17 rare earths.
ECONOMY
India inflation hits 9.44%
India’s annual inflation accelerated to 9.44 percent last month, official data showed yesterday, increasing pressure on the central bank to hike interest rates further. The rise in the benchmark wholesale price index — the government’s most-watched cost-of-living barometer — was up from May’s 9.06 percent, the ministry reported. The Reserve Bank of India has increased key rates 10 times since March last year and it is expected to raise them again at its next monetary policy meeting later this month despite signs the economy is losing steam.
NEW ZEALAND
GDP grows despite quake
New Zealand’s economy grew a better-than-expected 0.8 percent in the March quarter, despite a deadly earthquake, data showed yesterday, sending the local dollar up to a record high against the greenback. Finance Minister Bill English said the fourth-quarter figures — double the forecast 0.4 percent — showed the resilience of the economy in the face of the February earthquake, which shattered Christchurch and left 181 people dead. The Statistics New Zealand data also revealed full year growth of 1.5 percent, also above expectations.
FAST FOOD
Yum up on overseas sales
Yum Brands Inc, owner of the Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC fast-food chains, said on Wednesday that strong sales overseas served up 10 percent growth in its second-quarter profit, even though its US business continued to struggle. Yum’s sales in China rose fast, and its profits there soared. But the company reported across-the-board declines in the US, including a 5 percent drop in revenue at Taco Bell restaurants open at least a year. Louisville-based Yum said it earned US$316 million, or US$0.65 per share, for the quarter that ended June 11, up from US$286 million, or US$0.59 per share, a year earlier. Its revenue rose 9 percent to US$2.8 billion.
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],”
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
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained