ECONOMY
French confidence falls
French business confidence fell for a fifth month this month as Europe’s debt crisis and a slowing world economy damped the outlook for executives. Sentiment among factory managers fell to 95 from 97 in October, national statistics office Insee said in Paris yesterday. Concern that European governments are unable to contain the region’s sovereign-debt crisis has mounted in recent weeks as the spread between French and German 10-year government bond yields reached the highest in two decades. The prospect of more sovereign debt woes and slower growth is discouraging hiring and curbing investment.
MEDIA
Singapore Press sues Yahoo
Singapore Press Holdings Ltd (SPH), which dominates the city-state’s print media, has sued Yahoo Inc for copyright infringement for allegedly reproducing content from its newspapers without authorization. SPH alleges that from November last year to Oct. 20, Yahoo posted articles, including those about politics and crime, that were first published in the print editions of the Straits Times, New Paper and My Paper. The publisher’s legal case cites 23 examples of such unauthorized reproduction, SPH spokeswoman Chin Soo Fang said. Media content in Singapore is closely monitored by the government and the country’s leaders have sued several international news outlets for defamation. The Straits Times reported yesterday that this is the first time SPH has sued a Web site for copyright infringement.
ECONOMY
EU woes spread: survey
A closely watched survey shows that the 17-country eurozone is contracting and that the deteriorating economic picture is not just confined to debt-stressed countries such as Greece. The monthly purchasing managers index — a broad gauge of business activity — from financial information company Markit confirms market expectations that the eurozone shrank for a third month running in November. Though its main composite index, which combines its manufacturing and services surveys, rose to 47.2 this month from 46.5, it remains below the 50 mark, the threshold between expansion and contraction. Markit said yesterday’s survey suggests the eurozone is contracting at a quarterly rate of 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter and that the malaise has spread to Germany and France.
COMMUNICATIONS
China has most smartphones
China passed the US to become the world’s largest smartphone market by volume in the third quarter as the devices became cheaper and more widely available, research firm Strategy Analytics said. Shipments in China reached a record 23.9 million units, up 58 percent from the second quarter, the Boston-based research firm said in a statement. That compares with a 7 percent drop to 23.3 million units in the US. The Chinese market is growing as wireless carriers offer more smartphones, including cheaper devices running Google Inc’s Android software and subsidized versions of Apple Inc’s iPhone, the research firm said. Nokia Oyj, which is trying to regain market share in the US, leads in China with 28 percent of smartphone shipments last quarter. Samsung Electronics Co, which makes Android phones, was second with 18 percent. In the US, sales slowed as people waited for an update of the iPhone, Linda Sui, an analyst at Strategy Analytics, said in an interview. The country still leads in smartphone revenue, Sui said.
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
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
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