EUROZONE
Spanish protest austerity
Thousands of people took part in a “march for dignity” in Madrid on Saturday to protest against austerity measures on the eve of a closely watched regional election in southern Spain. Yesterday’s vote in Andalusia, one of the poorest parts of the country, is seen as a test of the national mood ahead of Spain’s most unpredictable general elections in decades. The demonstrators were voicing their discontent with the painful austerity policies that have led the government to cut billions of euros from spending between 2012 and last year. Education, public health and social benefits have all been affected. Spain saw growth of 1.4 percent last year but after an economic crisis that lasted six years, the economy remains battered with an unemployment rate of 23.7 percent. Half of all young people between the ages of 16 and 25 are without jobs.
GEORGIA
Protests blame goverment
Tens of thousands of people marched on Saturday in one of the biggest anti-government rallies of recent years, blaming the authorities for an economic crisis and worsening crime. The former Soviet republic has been battered by a plunge in the Russian ruble and the conflict in Ukraine. Lower exports and remittances are also contributing to a rising current account deficit. A fall of nearly 30 percent in the lari over the past year has hurt many people, especially those with US dollar loans. Protesters, led by activists and leaders of the opposition United National Movement, marched down Tbilisi’s main avenue waving the national flag as well as the EU flag and holding posters saying “resign.”
FINANCE
Citigroup fires trader
Citigroup Inc fired a trader on Friday for allegedly mismarking an inflation-options book and dismissed his boss for lax oversight, according to a person familiar with the matter. Carl Bonde lost his job in New York after the bank determined he had inflated the value of his trading positions by less than US$30 million, the person said. Keith Price, head of US inflation trading, was dismissed for his failure to supervise Bonde, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing a personnel matter. Bonde, a director, and Price, a managing director, left the bank this week, Citigroup spokeswoman Danielle Romero-Apsilos said in a telephone interview. Price reported to Citigroup managing director Roland Wikstrom.
PHARMACEUTICALS
GSK in UK talks to sell drug
GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) said it wants to wrap up negotiations with the British Department of Health over the cost of its meningitis B vaccine so the medicine can be distributed in Britain.
The UK’s biggest drugmaker is engaged in “active discussions” with the government, GSK spokeswoman Catherine Hartley said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. British Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt told the BBC earlier that he had spoken with GSK chief executive officer Andrew Witty in the past week and hopes to strike a deal “soon.” GSK, based in Brentford, England, acquired the Bexsero vaccine from Swiss drug maker Novartis AG last year. It has been approved for use in the US and Europe, yet disagreement over the price per dose has prevented a widespread rollout in Britain. Bexsero’s list price is £75 (US$112) a dose, and Hunt told the BBC on Saturday “the right price is around £5 a dose.” About 1,700 people a year in the UK contract meningitis B, which kills one in 10 people affected.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the