TIRES
China opposes US probe
China’s Ministry of Commerce expressed strong opposition yesterday to an anti-dumping investigation started by the US into imports of Chinese tires, the latest trade row between the world’s two largest economies. The ministry said in a statement that the the probe had serious flaws. The US adopted such measures in 2009, causing serious harm to trade ties the ministry added.
COURIERS
US indicts FedEx over drugs
The US Justice Department announced on Thursday that package-delivery giant FedEx had been indicted for allegedly facilitating the distribution of controlled substances and prescription drugs sold by illegal online pharmacies. A federal grand jury in San Francisco indicted the company for having “knowingly and intentionally conspired to distribute” the substances from unauthorized pharmacies, the US Justice Department said. The indictment resulted from a nine-year investigation by US authorities. In a similar case, Google agreed to pay US$500 million to settle charges that it sold advertisements to Canada-based online pharmacies that marketed drugs to US citizens in violation of US law.
INTERNET
Facebook adds ‘buy’ feature
Facebook said on Thursday it was testing a feature that lets users of the social network make purchases by simply pressing an on-screen “buy” button. The test was limited to a few small or medium-sized businesses in the US and credit or debit-card information is to be safeguarded by the company, Facebook said. The intent was to gauge the potential to drive retail sales through the Facebook news feed or on pages at the online social network, according to the company.
TECHNOLOGY
HP appoints chairwoman
Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) said on Thursday that chief executive Meg Whitman would chair the US tech giant, after the resignation of non-executive chairman Ralph Whitworth. Whitman, who previously was chief executive at eBay, has been president and chief executive officer of HP since September 2011. The news came just two days after Whitworth said he was stepping down for health reasons.
COMMUNICATIONS
Ericsson profit rises 76%
Wireless equipment maker Ericsson says second-quarter profit rose 76 percent to 2.7 billion kronor (US$394 million) mainly due to higher margins on its premium products, lower restructuring charges and improved overall efficiency. Net sales in the April to June period fell slightly to 54.8. billion kronor from 55.3 billion kronor in the same period last year. Net profit was 1.5 billion kronor a year earlier. The world’s largest supplier of mobile phone infrastructure said yesterday that political unrest prevailing in parts of the Middle East and Africa continued to have a negative impact on revenue in those regions..
FINANCE
Morgan Stanley profit surges
Morgan Stanley said on Thursday that its quarterly profit had more than doubled, thanks to strong performances from its investment banking and money-management units. Second-quarter net income jumped to US$1.88 billion from US$900 million a year earlier, after excluding an accounting gain. Adjusted for that gain and a big tax benefit, Morgan Stanley’s quarterly earnings worked out to US$0.60 per share, beating the average prediction of US$0.55, according to analysts polled by financial data provider FactSet.
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