AIRLINES
Singapore slashing flights
Singapore Airlines Ltd is to temporarily cut flights across its global network in the three months to May, it said yesterday, as the COVID-19 outbreak hits demand for services to the city-state, as well as through the key transit hub. Key affected destinations include Frankfurt, Jakarta, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, Paris, Seoul, Sydney and Tokyo, the airline said. It declined to say what percentage of capacity it had cut, citing commercial sensitivity.
KYRGYSTAN
Chinese investor pulls out
A Chinese investor that planned to pour nearly US$300 million into a trade and logistics center yesterday said it quit the project on Monday over local protests. Men on horseback were among those rallying against the construction of the facility in a remote mountainous region in the latest show of anger over Beijing’s growing influence. “We are therefore forced to make a decision to close [the project],” said the company — registered as Kyrgyz-Chinese Free Economic Zone “At-Bashy.”
AUSTRALIA
Record low crop forecast
The nation’s hottest and driest year on record has slashed crop production, with summer output expected to fall to the lowest levels on record, according to official projections released yesterday. The Department of Agriculture said it expects production of crops such as sorghum, cotton and rice to fall 66 percent — the lowest levels since records began in 1980 to 1981. “It is the lowest summer crop production in this period by a large margin,” Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences senior economist Peter Collins said.
BANKING
Intesa makes bid for UBI
Intesa Sanpaolo SpA launched one of the biggest European banking deals since the financial crisis with an unsolicited 4.9 billion euros (US$5.3 billion) bid for smaller rival Unione di Banche Italiane SpA (UBI). Under the offer, UBI investors would receive 17 new shares of Intesa for every 10 UBI shares they hold. That valued UBI at about 4.25 euros a share, Intesa said. The all-share offer, announced late on Monday, was made without the knowledge of UBI Banca’s board, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Intesa said it expects to finalize the UBI purchase this year and sees the deal boosting its earnings per share by 6 percent from last year’s levels.
AUTOMAKERS
Europeans record sales drop
European firms started off the year with their first sales decline in five months after changes to emission rules and consumer incentives crimped demand for some models. Passenger-car registrations last month declined 7.4 percent to 1.1 million vehicles, according to a statement yesterday from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. Some sales that would otherwise have taken place last month were pulled into December last year, when volumes jumped 21 percent, as dealers rushed vehicles to buyers ahead of tax increases.
EXCHANGES
NASDAQ Dubai loses stock
NASDAQ Dubai is about to lose its most valuable stock after DP World Ltd announced plans to go private. The departure of the ports operator, which has a market capitalization of US$11 billion, would increase the gap in trading turnover between NASDAQ Dubai and the two larger United Arab Emirates exchanges.
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