JAPAN
Trade deficit narrows
The nation’s trade deficit narrowed last month as imports turned down for the first time in a year and a half, data showed yesterday. Imports were down 3.6 percent to ¥6.5 trillion (US$66.9 billion), the first on-year drop in 19 months as crude oil shipments fell by nearly 20 percent in volume terms, while exports fell 2.7 percent to ¥5.6 trillion last month, the first downturn in over a year as demand for refined fuel and vehicles fell overseas. The trade deficit narrowed 8.3 percent last month from a year ago to ¥909 billion, marking the 23rd consecutive monthly shortfall, the Ministry of Finance said.
MYANMAR
IMF warns over reforms
The IMF said the nation’s economy is expected to build on already rapid growth, but that momentum was at risk unless broad reforms are undertaken. The fund predicted the economy was poised for even slightly stronger growth of 8.5 percent in the current fiscal year ending March next year than in the prior year, and inflation was likely to remain contained, around an annual rate of 6.5 percent this year. However, it said that large capital inflows will strain the country’s “still-infant” macroeconomic management tools. The regulatory system and supervision need improvement, the it said.
MEDIA
Digital settlement reached
Apple and several major publishers have reached a settlement on the damages owed in a case that concluded the companies illegally conspired to drive up the prices of digital books. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed in a document filed on late on Monday. Those details will emerge in a filing due by July 16. Lawyers representing consumers across the US had been seeking up to US$40 million in damages.
COMMUNICATIONS
Facebook releases new app
Facebook on Tuesday released a new instant messaging app that enables users to send photographs or video to selected friends who can only see them if they send an image back. Slingshot, available for Apple Inc and Android devices, is the second product to come out of the Web site’s Creative Labs ideas laboratory.
TRANSPORTATION
UPS eyeing box size costs
United Parcel Service Co (UPS) on Tuesday said it will consider box size when setting prices for ground shipment of parcels within the US and Canada, as the company believes the change will push clients to put lightweight items in smaller boxes. The change takes effect on Dec. 29. UPS already factors box size in rates for air shipments.
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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