MEXICO
Chinese retail project fined
Mexican authorities on Friday imposed a US$1.1 million fine against a controversial Chinese shopping center project for causing damage to the ecosystem near the Caribbean resort of Cancun. The agency issued a fine of US$208,000 and ordered the Chinese-funded project to pay almost US$900,000 to repair the damage.
IRELAND
Early repayments backed
Eurozone ministers on Friday backed a push by Ireland to repay part of its 85 billion euro (US$110 billion) bailout loans early, marking a turning point in the debt crisis aftermath. Early repayment requires approval of all bailout creditors including the IMF and the matter was to be put to the full 28 EU members meeting in Milan yesterday, who also have a say on the issue. The Irish government believes it could save up to 400 million euros a year through loan restructuring and will use the cash to help meet its EU deficit targets.
THEME PARKS
Disney adds ‘Frozen’ ride
Walt Disney Co is adding a new attraction based on the movie Frozen to its Epcot theme park in Orlando, Florida. The media company’s latest move to capitalize on the popularity of the blockbuster animated film. It will replace a boat ride called Maelstrom. Frozen is the highest-grossing animated movie of all time with global ticket sales of US$1.3 billion, according to Box Office Mojo.
BANKING
KB executive to be sued
A South Korean regulator plans to sue KB Financial Group Inc’s top executive after management lapses at the nation’s second-biggest banking group by market value. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) will sue key people related to alleged “illegal and unjust actions,” including KB Financial chairman Lim Young-rok, on Sept. 15, according to an e-mailed statement yesterday. The FSS and the Financial Services Commission (FSC) held an emergency joint meeting today on KB’s situation, according to the statement. The regulator’s decision comes a day after the FSC announced Lim will be suspended for three months for mishandling changes to a computer system at KB’s Kookmin Bank unit.
NEWSPAPERS
Digital First mulls sale
Digital First Media, the second-largest US newspaper group, on Friday said it was studying a sale of the company among “strategic alternatives” to cope with a shifting media landscape. Leading newspapers in the group include the San Jose Mercury News, Los Angeles Daily News and Denver Post. A statement said options being considered were the sale of the company as whole, or of “regional clusters” of newspapers.
haiti
US awards prison contract
A construction company based in Maryland has received a US government contract to build a prison in northern Haiti. DFS Construction LLC of Annapolis, Maryland, has been awarded the US$5.6 million contract by the State Department to build the prison in Fort Liberte. The State Department on Friday said that construction is expected to begin in October and finish around April 2016.
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