SOUTH KOREA
Consumer prices on target
Consumer prices edged down last month from November, staying well below the central bank’s target band, government data showed yesterday. The national consumer price index rose 1.1 percent on-year last month, down from a revised 1.2 percent in November, Statistics Korea said. Consumer prices for the whole of last year rose 1.3 percent, far lower than the Bank of Korea’s targeted inflation band of 2.5 to 3.5 percent for this year. The bank has held its key policy rate at 2.5 percent since May.
VENEZUELA
Inflation rate tops region
Inflation soared to 56.2 percent last year, but slowed in the last two months of the year after the government forced stores to cut prices, officials said on Monday. The national consumer price index decelerated from 5.1 percent in October to 4.8 percent in November and 2.2 percent last month, the central bank said in a report that was 20 days late. President Nicolas Maduro said the figures led to annual inflation of 56.2 percent — the highest in Latin America — which he blamed on a “parasitic capitalist economy.” The previous annual inflation estimate was 54.3 percent.
UNITED KINGDOM
Parliament probes outages
Members of the British parliament are set to summon the chiefs of the UK’s energy network companies over the slow pace of restoring power services after a Christmas storm, the Daily Telegraph reported, quoting the chairman of the parliament’s Energy and Climate Change Committee. Floods caused by strong storm winds on Christmas Eve had knocked out power services in many parts of Britain, with many customers remaining without electricity for almost five days. The chief executive of UK Power Networks — one of Britain’s biggest electricity distributors — said that its response had been too slow and said it would pay almost triple compensation to households left without power over Christmas.
UNITED STATES
Authors appeal Google ruling
The Authors Guild is appealing a US judge’s decision in a long-running case that cleared legal obstacles for Google Inc’s massive book-scanning project, court documents showed on Monday. The group filed a notice of appeal in the case following a Nov. 14 ruling by US Federal Judge Denny Chin. Arguments are to be filed at a later date with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. The guild vowed to appeal the case after Chin ruled that Google’s project is “fair use” under copyright law because it provides vital educational and other public benefits. The case, which dates back to 2005, centers on a Google program started in 2004 to create an electronic database of books that could be searchable by keywords.
LOGISTICS
FedEx racketeering: NY City
Federal Express Corp was accused by New York City authorities of taking part in a racketeering conspiracy by shipping tonnes of untaxed cigarettes from a Long Island Indian reservation to city residents’ homes. The city, in a complaint filed on Monday in federal court in Manhattan, alleged that FedEx transported about 19.5 tonnes of untaxed cigarettes from the Shinnecock Smoke Shop in Southampton, New York, to local consumers from December 2005 to January 2012. The bulk of the shipments followed a February 2006 agreement with New York’s attorney general to stop the deliveries, the city claimed. The city is seeking triple damages of US$2.5 million.
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
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