AUTOMAKERS
Ford-union accord backed
Canadian auto workers have overwhelmingly approved a new contract with Ford, sealing a tentative deal that averted what would have been a massive strike, a union said on Sunday. The Canadian Auto Workers reached the agreement with Ford on Monday last week, and a similar one days later with General Motors. Talks with Chrysler continue, the union said in a statement. A total of 82 percent of Ford’s 4,500 employees in Canada said yes to the new labor contract, which provides for no wage increases, but workers will get a cost of living increase of about C$2,000 (US$2,050) each year starting in the second year of the contract.
ENERGY
Kyocera providing panels
Kyocera Corp is to provide solar panels with a capacity of 30 megawatts to Eurus Energy Holdings Corp for a site in northern Japan, Kyocera said in a statement yesterday. Construction of the plant in Shiranuka, Hokkaido, is to start next month and operations are to begin in March 2014, according to the statement. Eurus Energy is a renewable-energy venture between Toyota Tsusho Corp and Tokyo Electric Power Co.
VIETNAM
Inflation rate increases
Inflation accelerated for the first time in 12 months this month, up 6.48 percent on a year earlier, amid fears of a return to rocketing prices as the country grapples with multiple economic woes. The consumer prices index (CPI) hit a three-year low of 5.04 percent last month, according to the General Statistics Office figures, after an all-out drive by the country to bring last year’s double-digit inflation under control. The government is targeting single-digit inflation and a 6 percent to 6.5 percent growth in economic output for this year. The overall inflation rate for the first nine months stood at 9.96 percent year-on-year.
NETHERLANDS
GDP rises 0.2 percent
GDP rose 0.2 percent in the second quarter from the previous three months, national statistics agency CBS said, confirming preliminary figures. The economy shrank 0.4 percent from a year earlier, compared with an Aug. 14 estimate of a 0.5 percent decline, CBS in The Hague said on its Web site yesterday.
AUTOMAKERS
Volvo president out sick
The president and CEO of Volvo Car Corp has suspended his duties within the company for the next month due to a stroke, the company said on Sunday. Chief financial officer Jan Gurander is to serve as acting CEO during the absence. Volvo said CEO Stefan Jacoby suffered a mild stroke last week and is starting the recovery process.
MINING
Petra sees production leap
South Africa-focused Petra Diamonds Ltd said it expected production in the year ending June next year to grow by about 30 percent, helped by contribution from its Finsch and Williamson mines and higher output at its Kimberley Underground mines. The diamond miner said profit from mining activity rose 35 percent to US$103.3 million in the year ended June 30. Production nearly doubled, mainly due to the contribution from Finsch — South Africa’s second-biggest diamond operation. Petra, which has interests in seven operating mines in South Africa and one in Tanzania, expects to produce 2.85 million carats in fiscal 2013.
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