GREECE
Next set of loans unlocked
The government has carried out all the reforms in the first package of measures agreed with eurozone creditors, which paves the way for Athens to get the next tranche of loans, Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Saturday. The nation is getting very cheap loans form the eurozone bailout fund ESM under its third bailout agreement in exchange for putting its public finances in order and reforming the economy to make it more efficient and competitive, according to eurozone deputy finance ministers who reviewed on Saturday the progress made by Athens in the reforms. Dijsselbloem said that it would also allow the ESM to make case by case decisions to transfer money for the recapitalization of the banking sector.
JAPAN
Lodging ban might be axed
The government might remove a ban on commercial home-sharing as an influx of overseas tourists drives up demand, the Nikkei newspaper reported yesterday, without saying where it obtained the information. The health and land ministries are considering removing the prohibition as early as April, the Nikkei reported. At the same time, the government is looking at steps to regulate and set standards for homeowners who want to rent out space given an increase in offenses against existing rules, the newspaper said.
AUTOMAKERS
Hyundai recalls Sonatas
Hyundai Motor Co is recalling about 305,000 of its 2011-2012 Sonata models because the automatic transmission could possibly be moved out of park without pressing the brake pedal, allowing the car to roll or drive away, according to a report from the automaker posted on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Web site. The South Korean automaker attributed the problem to the stop lamp switch. It is the third time since 2009 that Hyundai has recalled vehicles for a malfunctioning brake switch. Hyundai said it was unaware of any accidents or injuries related to the problem.
UNITED STATES
‘Fed might hike rates’
If strong data on the US economy persists there might be a strong case for a Federal Reserve interest rate increase in December, San Francisco Fed President John Williams said on Saturday. The US central bank’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is to convene in Washington on Dec. 15-16 to discuss the possible policy move. Williams said that he sees signs of core inflation “having stabilized,” and that it might even be starting to firm up. He is an FOMC voting member this year.
AUTOMAKERS
VW denies sales fell
Volkswagen AG (VW) denied a report on Saturday that its sales have slumped since this month’s admission that it had understated the level of carbon dioxide emissions for some cars. German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung had reported earlier on Saturday that Volkswagen’s sales were declining significantly, citing an unnamed dealer as saying business was “dead as a doornail.” VW said on Nov. 3 it had understated the level of carbon dioxide emissions from about 800,000 cars sold mainly in Europe and consequently their fuel usage. Sales of Volkswagen-branded cars fell 5.3 percent last month, the first full month after the scandal erupted, a slightly steeper decline than September’s 4 percent drop.
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