AVIATION
FAA clears Boeing 787s
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday issued formal approval of Boeing’s 787 battery fix that will clear the way for the troubled aircraft to fly again after a three-month grounding. The move was quickly followed by regulators in Japan, who said they would also allow the resumption of flights by the grounded aircraft following the FAA order, which they said could come into effect as early as last night.
TELECOMS
Samsung limits Iran service
Iranian users of Samsung mobile applications said on Thursday the company had notified them that they would no longer have access to the company’s online store as of May 22. The move is seen as part of international sanctions on the country over its disputed nuclear program. The West has imposed banking and insurance sanctions on Iran since it suspects Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
FOOD
Noodle sales top 100bn
Global sales of instant noodles have topped 100 billion units annually, an industry group said yesterday — more than one monthly serving of the portable meal for every person on the planet. Of the 101.4 billion units sold last year, China, including Hong Kong, accounted for 44 billion, followed by Indonesia with 14.1 billion, Japan (5.4 billion) and Vietnam (5.1 billion), the World Instant Noodles Association said.
TELECOMS
Alcatel-Lucent posts loss
Struggling French telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent yesterday reported a wider-than-expected loss for the first quarter as sales nearly stalled and restructuring costs continued to mount. The Paris-based company said it lost 353 million euros (US$461.72 million) in the January-March period, compared with a gain of 259 million euros a year earlier. Sales were nearly flat at 3.23 billion euros. The company is in the midst of a 1.25 billion euros restructuring program launched last summer to cut 5,000 jobs from the then total of 76,000.
AUTOMAKERS
Honda annual profit up 74%
Japanese automaker Honda yesterday said its net profit for the year to March soared 73.6 percent to ¥367.15 billion (US$3.7 billion) on revenue of ¥9.87 trillion, up from ¥7.95 trillion a year earlier, thanks to robust overseas sales, a weaker yen and cost cutting. Japan’s third-biggest automaker also reported an operating profit of ¥544.8 billion, up 135.5 percent from the previous year.
INSURANCE
Munich Re profit on track
Munich Re, the world’s biggest reinsurer, yesterday said it was standing by its full-year targets for the current year after getting off to a “good start” in the first quarter. CEO Nikolaus von Bomhard said in a statement the company was aiming for a consolidated result of close to 3 billion euros. Profits for the period from January to March “should be close to 1 billion euros,” he said.
INTERNET
Amazon beats expectations
Amazon.com posted earnings that beat Wall Street expectations on Thursday even though profit fell as the online retail colossus invested in shipping centers and digital entertainment content. Amazon reported a profit of US$82 million on net sales that rose 22 percent to US$16.07 billion in the first three months of this year. The Seattle-based firm made a profit of US$130 million in the same quarter last year.
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