DEBT
Argentina ordered to pay
A US judge pressed on Monday for Argentina to make an interest payment due on Dec. 9, his latest bid to require Buenos Aires to comply with his ruling on its bond default. US District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Thomas Griesa, whose earlier ruling blocking the nation from making a debt payment forced it into default in July, said legal rescheduling would give Argentina a chance to pay Citibank funds that have been frozen. Griesa has ruled that Argentina cannot make a US$539 million interest payment to holders of its restructured bonds on June 30, unless it first pays off a group of “holdouts” who refused to take part in its 2005 and 2010 debt restructurings. He has frozen the funds at the Bank of New York.
AUTOMAKERS
GM ordered switches early
General Motors Corp ordered new ignition switches months before it began recalling cars with the defective parts linked to at least 32 deaths. The largest US automaker placed an “urgent” order for half a million new ignition switches on Dec. 18 last year to replace defective switches, a day after a meeting of senior executives, the Wall Street Journal said on Sunday, citing e-mails between GM and its supplier, Delphi Automotive. That was almost two months before GM alerted US federal safety regulators about the problem. GM only began its recall of about 2.6 million cars in February.
FAST FOOD
Hello Kitty whistle recalled
McDonald’s Corp is recalling a Hello Kitty-themed whistle given to children in Happy Meals, citing a choking threat. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Monday that two children have reportedly coughed out pieces of the whistle that they had sucked into their mouths, including one child who received medical attention. The safety agency said that parts of the 7.62cm “Hello Kitty Birthday Lollipop” whistle can detach and be inhaled, posing a risk to small children. McDonald’s said about 2.5 million whistles were manufactured and that it has recovered about 1.6 million.
REAL ESTATE
Safra Group buys ‘Gherkin’
London’s landmark “Gherkin” office tower has been sold to investment company Safra Group, controlled by Brazilian-Lebanese billionaire Joseph Safra. The office tower was placed into receivership by its creditors, accountancy firm and joint receivers Deloitte Co in April. Germany’s IVG Immobilien, which co-owned the 41-story tower at 30 St Mary Axe with Evans Randall Ltd, filed for insolvency last year after years of cost overruns and mounting debt. An icon of London’s skyline with its distinctive curved glass shape — which gave it its Gherkin nickname — the skyscraper was built by reinsurer Swiss Re in 2004 and sold to IVG and Evans Randall in 2007 for £600 million (US$950 million). The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
ECONOMY
Japan maintains surplus
Japan posted a current account surplus for the third consecutive month in September as a weaker yen helped boost repatriated returns on foreign investment, Japanese data showed yesterday. The nation logged a surplus of ¥963 billion (US$8.4 billion) in the current account, up 61.9 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance of Japan said. It was much bigger than a market median forecast of ¥532 billion.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI