SMARTPHONES
Hon Hai eyes Turkish deal
Telpa, the largest cellphone brand in Turkey, is planning to work with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) to roll out handsets and tablets in Turkey, Reuters reported. Telpa chief executive Sebahattin Yaman said in the report that while Hon Hai plans to invest in Turkey to produce handsets and tablets, the firm is also considering moving production of other gadgets to the nation. Hon Hai is in talks with the Turkish government to seek investment incentives for manufacturing in Turkey, Reuters reported. The report also said Turkey plans to cut electronics goods imports and come up with measures to boost production.
ECONOMY
Eurozone fails to accelerate
The eurozone economy is failing to pick up any real momentum despite the good news that Greece has finally emerged from its six-year recession. The 18-nation currency union posted a 0.2 percent increase in output in the third quarter compared with the prior three-month period. That is not enough to make a serious dent in near-record unemployment, while few economists think it is going to get much better any time soon and might require more help from the European Central Bank. The figure reported by the Eurostat statistics agency on Friday in London was stronger than the 0.1 percent recorded in the second quarter. It equals an annualized rate of about 0.8 percent, far short of the US’ estimated 3.5 percent.
CHINA
Auto sales rise more slowly
Auto sales in the world’s biggest car market grew 2.8 percent year-on-year last month to 1.99 million vehicles, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said in a statement in Shanghai on Friday. The figure marked a marginal improvement from September, when they reached 1.98 million units, a year-on-year increase of 2.5 percent, previous data showed, which marked the slowest growth for any month this year. In the first 10 months, sales of all vehicles — commercial and passenger — rose 6.6 percent year-on-year to 18.99 million, the association said.
ECONOMY
Belgium outlook takes hit
Fitch ratings agency on Friday revised its outlook on Belgium from stable to negative, criticizing the nation’s efforts to tackle public debt. The revision means the agency could, in the medium term, lower Belgium’s “AA” credit rating, the third-highest level. Fitch also said that Belgium’s GDP outlook “has worsened.” “The agency projects growth of 0.9 percent in 2015 [from 1.6 percent previously] and 1.1 percent in 2016. Fiscal consolidation and a weaker outlook in the eurozone are likely to weigh on GDP growth next year,” it said.
AIRLINES
UAE-Alitalia deal approved
The European Commission on Friday approved a deal that would see United Arab Emirates’ flag carrier Etihad Airways take a 49 percent stake in Alitalia, rescuing the struggling Italian flag carrier. Brussels gave the merger the go-ahead under the condition that the airlines opened up the Rome-Belgrade route to competitors. After months of negotiations, Etihad and Alitalia signed a deal on Aug. 8 for Etihad to become a shareholder in Italy debt-laden airline, in a move that would widen Etihad’s reach into the European market.
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