LABOR
Vietnam probes riot
Vietnamese police yesterday said they had launched an investigation into a riot at a multibillion dollars Samsung factory that left 13 people injured, four critically. Violence broke out between security guards and construction workers early on Thursday in Thai Nguyen Province where the South Korean firm is building a US$3.2 billion high-tech complex. According to reports in state-run media, the violence was sparked when a worker, who had arrived late, was beaten by guards when he tried to enter the site. Hundreds of other workers then hurled bricks and rocks at the guards before setting fire to containers being used as offices and dozens of motorbikes.
INFLATION
Inflation rose in November
Annual inflation in advanced countries picked up to 1.5 percent in November last year from 1.3 percent the previous month, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said on Thursday. The increase was mainly due to an increase in energy prices, but still left consumer price inflation below last year’s peak of 2 percent recorded in July in the organization’s members. Annual inflation jumped to 1.5 percent in Japan in November from 1.1 percent in October, its highest rate since October 2008. In the eurozone, annual inflation rose to 0.8 percent in November from 0.7 percent in October, while in the US inflation climbed to 1.2 percent from 1 percent. Britain’s inflation dipped to 2.1 percent from 2.2 percent.
TELECOMS
Orange buys gaming shares
French telecom operator Orange announced that it had bought a share in Japanese mobile gaming company G-cluster Global as it confirms its push into providing content across several platforms. G-cluster is a leading developer of mobile and cloud gaming technology and already provides the gaming software for Orange’s about 3 million TV clients in France. The technology developed by G-cluster allows users to play console-like games across a number of platforms. The investment by Orange is part of a G-cluster capital-raising round and will help it expand into international markets.
BANKING
IMF wary of EU banks
IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said on Thursday that question marks remain over the health of Europe’s banks and that coming stress tests are a chance to build confidence in them. In an article published online by Project Syndicate, Lagarde said Europe is “at a key juncture,” showing signs of recovery, but stuck with “uneven and unbalanced” growth. “While many countries are doing well, demand in general remains weak, and unemployment in the periphery remains obstinately high, particularly for young people,” she said. “One area of uncertainty for Europe is the health of its banks.”
WATCHMAKERS
Swatch predicts good year
Swatch Group AG yesterday forecast a positive year after last year’s revenue rose 8.3 percent. The biggest Swiss watchmaker said it “expects good results for 2013 at operating profit and net income level... Based on the strong start by all brands in the first few days of January, dynamic growth is expected for the entire year 2014.” Gross revenue advanced to 8.82 billion Swiss francs (US$9.7 billion) last year, it said. That compares with the SF8.86 billion median of 12 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Exchange-rate swings cut more than SF100 million from second-half sales, Swatch said.
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],”
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
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