PATENTS
Facebook sues BlackBerry
Facebook Inc is suing BlackBerry Ltd for patent infringement, escalating the legal battle between the two companies over protected technology. In a 118-page complaint filed on Tuesday in San Francisco federal court, Facebook accused BlackBerry of stealing its voice messaging technology, among other patented processes. Facebook is seeking unspecified damages for infringement of six patents, including technology that improves how a mobile device delivers graphics, video and audio, and another that centralizes tracking and analysis of GPS data.
AGRICULTURE
Chinese invest in Russia
JBA Holdings Co Ltd (佳沃北大荒農業控股), a joint venture between Heilongjiang Agriculture Co (黑龍江北大荒農業), Joyvio Group (佳沃集團) and other companies, is to invest US$100 million over three years to build a soybean crusher and grain port in Russia amid a push by Chinese firms to diversify their sources of crop supplies. The venture is to lease 100,000 hectares of farmland in Russia to grow wheat, corn and soybeans, JBA chairman Ren Jianchao (任建超) said in an interview on Tuesday. JBA is also to build storage and a grain port in Zarubino, Russia, that could handle 3 million tonnes of grain a year, he said.
CHEMICALS
Bayer profits down 34.7%
German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer AG yesterday reported higher revenues, but lower profits, for the second quarter, in its first financial statement since its mammoth takeover of US-based Monsanto Co. Between April and June — including the weeks between finalizing the Monsanto purchase on June 7 and the end of that month — the group booked net profits of 799 million euros (US$926 million), down 34.7 percent from a year earlier. Revenue increased from 8.7 billion to 9.5 billion euros.
BUSINESS
Theranos to dissolve
The once high flying blood-testing start-up Theranos Inc, accused with cheating investors, will dissolve, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. It will seek to pay unsecured creditors its remaining cash in coming months, the Journal said, citing a shareholder e-mail. Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes settled a shareholder lawsuit in July that was designed to recover whatever can be salvaged from the firm, the paper said.
CHINA
Liquidity reduced by PBOC
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) last month drained funds from the short-term money market, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that complements efforts to support lending to the real economy. The bank removed 300 billion yuan (US$44 billion) of liquidity in the unannounced repurchase operation, the people said. It also added hundreds of billions of yuan via reverse repurchase agreements and increased the amount of money it lent in the medium-term market.
UNITED KINGDOM
Boom in new car sales
New car registrations last month jumped by an annual 23.1 percent as demand for electric and alternatively fueled vehicles soared by nearly 90 percent, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said yesterday. Overall new car sales reached 94,094 units last month with a record one in 12 buyers purchasing an electric model, it said. August is typically the second-weakest month for car sales in Britain, the SMMT 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