TECHNOLOGY
Microsoft ties up stores deal
Microsoft on Thursday announced that it is expanding its real-world retail push with mini-shops inside 600 US and Canadian stores operated by consumer electronics chain Best Buy. Each “store-within-a-store” will feature devices powered by Microsoft’s Windows operating systems as well as the US technology titan’s Xbox videogame consoles and packaged software offerings. Windows stores will be staked out in 500 Best Buy shops in the US and in 100 of the retail chain’s Future Shop locations in Canada, the companies said in a press release.
JAPAN
Cabinet approves reforms
The Cabinet yesterday rubber-stamped a package of government reforms aimed at rebooting the economy, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe readied to explain the measures to fellow G8 leaders. In a video message posted on his official Web site, the premier repeated pledges that he would make a tangible difference to the economy after years of disappointing growth and debilitating deflation. Abe heads to Poland today for a meeting with central European counterparts, before the G8 summit in Northern Ireland from Monday.
SPAIN
Agency warns on debt
Standard & Poor’s held the nation’s sovereign debt rating at just above junk bond status yesterday, forecasting a weak economic recovery next year but sounding the alarm on high foreign debt levels. The rating agency confirmed the nation’s long-term debt at “BBB-,” a single notch above junk bond status. The rating was given a negative outlook, meaning it could be lowered to junk bond status in the next 12 to 18 months if economic reforms falter, eurozone support fails to satisfy investors or government debt runs out of control. The economy is set to shrink by 1.5 percent this year before enjoying 0.6 percent growth next year, S&P said in a statement.
INDIA
Inflation hits 43-month low
Inflation slowed to a 43-month low last month, a moderation that may fail to spur another interest-rate cut by the central bank as a plunge in the rupee threatens to fan price pressures. The wholesale price index rose 4.7 percent from a year earlier, after climbing 4.89 percent in April, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement yesterday. The rupee’s drop to a record low this week may stoke import costs in a nation that buys about 80 percent of its crude oil from overseas. The minister of finance said on Thursday that steps are being taken to steady the currency, whose decline has led forecasters to forecast the central bank will refrain from a fourth straight rate cut at a review on Monday.
THAILAND
Sugar exports set to rise
As the world’s second-largest sugar exporter, the nation is targeting an output increase of as much as 30 percent to an all-time high in response to rising domestic and Asian demand, the Office of the Cane and Sugar Board said. The country may try to achieve the goal in the season starting from November, secretary-general Somsak Suwattiga said on Thursday. The board is aiming at output of 13 million tonnes from 130 million tonnes of cane, he said. “No matter how much we produce, we can sell it all” as demand in Thailand and the rest of Asia increases, Somsak 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
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