JAPAN
DPJ urges Amari for clarity
The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) plans to urge embattled Minister of State for Economy and Fiscal Policy Akira Amari to clarify graft allegations made against him in a tabloid magazine. A key architect of the government’s “Abenomics” policies, Amari and his secretary have been accused by the weekly Shukan Bunshun magazine of taking money from an unidentified construction company in an alleged violation of a political funding law. “I want him to show good faith and clear up the graft allegations,” party vice secretary-general Tetsuro Fukuyama said on an NHK TV program yesterday. The party wants to hear from Amari today before the start of the House of Representatives’ plenary session, which is scheduled to start tomorrow, Fukuyama said. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has indicated he wants Amari to continue fulfilling his duties, NHK reported on its Web site.
SINGAPORE
Central bank backs Lagarde
The Monetary Authority of Singapore yesterday said it supported the nomination of IMF managing director Christine Lagarde for a second term. Lagarde launched her campaign for her second term on Friday last week with ringing endorsements from a host of major economies that looked past a court case against her in her native France. Her first term ends on July 4 and the IMF has said it wants to wrap up the selection process by March 3. “Singapore supports Ms Lagarde serving a second term, and I am confident she will continue to lead the IMF with conviction and in an inclusive way,” Monetary Authority of Singapore Chairman Tharman Shanmugaratnam said in a statement.
MINING
Four miners killed in fire
Four miners have died in an underground fire in a platinum mine near Johannesburg, the Impala group said in a statement. The fire broke out on Friday last week at a mine near Rustenburg, about 120km from Johannesburg, the owners said in a statement. The National Union of Mineworkers, the main union body representing the sector, yesterday said it was “deeply concerned about these fatalities happening at Impala Platinum.” South Africa possesses rich mineral reserves and has several gold, platinum, diamond and coal pits, but has been dogged by several mining accidents in the recent past.
ITALY
Talks with EU progressing
Minister of Economy and Finances Pier Carlo Padoan on Saturday said that the government is conducting a “very good conversation” with the European Commission on a plan to help banks offload bad debt, as additional national measures to ease the sale of non-performing loans are to be introduced this week. Talks with the commission “will not be stalled, and in any case we already have in place measures that will help,” Padoan said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Padoan later told a news conference he would be meeting with EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager tomorrow. The government and the commission are discussing a plan to allow buyers of banks’ bad loans to purchase a state guarantee on them to reduce the price gap, a person with knowledge of the talks said. Under the terms being reviewed, the loans would not be bundled into a common pool backed by the state, the person said.
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