Parties backing Greece’s coalition government were to hold a second day of emergency talks yesterday on an austerity deal with rescue creditors, after an intense weekend of negotiations failed to produce a breakthrough needed to avert bankruptcy next month.
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos was to meet leaders of the three parties backing his coalition — which all publicly oppose steep cuts in private sector pay demanded by negotiators representing Greece’s creditors from the eurozone and the IMF.
Before the afternoon meeting, party leaders pledged to give their initial response to the demanded cutbacks and Papademos will hold new talks with EU-IMF debt inspectors.
NEEDED FUNDS
The new 130 billion euro (US$171 billion) bailout deal is vital for Greece to avoid bankruptcy next month, as it cannot cover a 14.5 billion euro bond repayment due on March 20 without the rescue funds.
The debt-crippled country has been kept solvent since May 2010 by payments from a 110 billion euro international rescue loan package. When it became clear the money would not be enough, a second bailout was decided in October last year.
DEBT FORGIVENESS
Its implementation depends on Greece’s progress in separate talks with banks and other private bondholders to forgive 100 billion euros in Greek debt, in exchange for a cash payment and new bonds with more lenient repayment terms.
Over the weekend, Greek officials held a conference call with eurozone finance ministers, as well as exhaustive rounds of talks in Athens with EU-IMF debt inspectors, senior bank negotiators and Greek political party leaders, to try and hammer out a deal on the new cutbacks.
Greeks have already been subjected to two years of harsh austerity, suffering significant cuts in pensions and salaries, coupled with repeated tax hikes and an increase in retirement ages.
An announcement from Papademos’ office late on Sunday said an agreement had been reached to cut spending this year by 1.5 percent of GDP — about 3.3 billion euros — improve competitiveness by slashing wages and non-wage costs and recapitalize banks without nationalizing them.
However, the three coalition backers — former Greek prime minister George Papandreou of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, conservative Antonis Samaras of New Democracy and George Karatzaferis of the right-wing populist Popular Orthodox Rally — differed as to what this would mean in detailed proposals.
“We are in the middle of a major struggle. Right now, the developments are satisfactory,” Karatzaferis said, adding that EU-IMF negotiators had backed away from a demand to axe annual salary installments given to Greek workers as holiday bonuses.
UNEMPLOYMENT SOUGHT
Rescue lenders are also seeking firings in Greece’s large public sector, a drop in the 750 euro gross minimum monthly wage and cuts in lump-sum retirement payouts, as part of a long list of cost-cutting demands.
Unions and employers’ associations oppose the wage cuts, arguing it would worsen a recession in its fourth year and increase unemployment, already at about 19 percent.
Also yesterday, left-wing opposition parties were planning two separate protest rallies in central Athens, against the proposed cuts.
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
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six