GERMANY
Forecast raise rumored
The government has raised its forecast for economic growth for this year to 1.9 percent, from an earlier forecast of 1.5 percent, and could yet lift it to 2 percent, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Friday, citing unnamed government sources. The newspaper said a decision on whether to adopt the 2 percent forecast would be made tomorrow at a meeting led by the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Handelsblatt said the government had raised its forecast for next year’s growth to 2 percent from an earlier forecast of 1.6 percent.
BREXIT
May to reassure businesses
Prime Minister Theresa May is to meet business chiefs tomorrow to reassure them that the Brexit process is on track, following a bruising week for her leadership. The business meeting at May’s 10 Downing Street, London, office will come as British and EU negotiators resume talks in Brussels in the hope of a breakthrough in the negotiations. May is to be joined by Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond and Secretary of State for Exiting the EU David Davis for the council meeting.
AVIATION
French strikes hit flights
The French civil aviation authority has recommended that airlines reduce their flights by 30 percent on Tuesday due to a strike call by civil service unions, the French Ministry of Transport said on Friday. The airports affected are likely to include Paris’ two main airports, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Paris Orly Airport, as well as Paris Beauvais Airport and the airports of Lyon, Nice, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes. Unions have urged some 5.4 million public service workers to stay off the job on Tuesday in protest over measures announced by the government.
THAILAND
King sells US$500m in shares
The financial arm of Thailand’s ultra-rich monarchy has transferred bank shares worth more than US$500 million on behalf of Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn, the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission said. The filing said the Crown Property Bureau, which manages the multibillion-dollar assets of the royal family, had on Oct. 2 reduced its shares in Siam Commercial Bank by 3.33 percent. That stake is worth 16.9 billion baht (US$506 million) based on Friday’s closing share price of 151 baht. The beneficiary of the shares was not specified.
AUTOMAKERS
Denso to expand in US
Auto supply giant Denso Corp on Friday announced plans to invest US$1 billion to expand its US operations to focus on technology for automotive safety and electric vehicles. The investment is expected to create 1,000 new jobs at Denso’s facility in Tennessee, the company said. Denso last month announced a partnership with fellow Japanese group Mazda Motor Corp to develop electric vehicles.
TECHNOLOGY
AOL to take AIM offline
AOL Inc’s Instant Messenger (AIM) will be shut down Dec. 15, the company said on Friday. The shutdown comes 20 years after the launch of AIM, which became a wildly popular feature of AOL. Verizon Communications Inc acquired AOL in 2015 and merged it into a unit called Oath this year.
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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