ENTERTAINMENT
DreamWorks, Netflix in talks
DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc is in talks to offer Netflix Inc exclusive streaming rights to its films after a pay-TV accord with HBO expires, a person with knowledge of the situation said. An agreement may be reached as soon as this week, said the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions are continuing. Both companies plan to report quarterly results this week and have scheduled conference calls with investors. An exclusive accord would underscore the growing importance of Internet streaming to studios, which have seen DVD sales tumble in the US.
JAPAN
Analogue TV turned off
Japan yesterday shifted to digital terrestrial broadcasting, switching off its analogue television network in all areas except those worst hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the government said. Broadcasters ended analogue transmission across most of the country at noon after 58 years. No major problems among viewers were immediately reported. As of the end of June, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry believed at least 290,000 households were still not ready to receive digital signals, Jiji Press said.
MINING
Chilean workers strike
Workers at the world’s biggest copper mine in northern Chile downed their tools for a second day on Saturday as part of an indefinite strike over unmet contract demands. About 2,300 workers of the Escondida mine, under majority control of British-Australian giant BHP Billiton, had launched a stoppage over unresolved disputes such as the failure to reach agreement over annual bonuses. Miners say their bonuses have dropped up to 70 percent, which the company blames on lower production and decreased metal concentration, or ore grade. The work stoppage means BHP Billiton stands to lose about US$30 million a day.
OIL
Petrobras unveils plan
State-owned Brazilian oil company Petrobras has unveiled a five-year investment plan of US$224.7 billion for this year through 2015, up slightly from the previous 2010 to 2014 proposal, the company said in a statement. The board of directors, presided over by Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega, approved the business plan on late Friday after reportedly rejecting two previous proposals, as it called on the company to rein in spending. It sets the goal for oil and gas production for this year at 2.1 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) and 434,000 barrels of gas, while estimating an increase in production in 2015 for up to 3.07 million bpd, and of 4.9 million bpd by 2020.
ISRAEL
Housing protests gain force
Thousands of people marched in downtown Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest rising housing prices, the first major demonstration in a movement calling attention to the soaring cost of living. Police estimated about 6,000 people took to the streets on Saturday in downtown Tel Aviv. Over the past two weeks, people also have set up tent camps in a handful of cities throughout the country. A standard, 100m2 apartment can easily top US$600,000 in big cites like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and US$200,000 to US$300,000 in second-tier areas. “We recognize the distress,” Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told Channel 10 on Saturday. “It is a fundamental
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