■FOOD
Kellogg fears contamination
Kellogg Co is recalling 16 products containing peanut butter, citing possible salmonella contamination. David Mackay, president and CEO of Kellogg, announced the voluntary recall in a statement late on Friday. He says the company apologizes for the unfortunate situation but says it is needed as part of its commitment to keep consumers safe. The recall includes Austin and Keebler branded Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers, as well as snack-size packs of Famous Amos Peanut Butter Cookies and Keebler Soft Batch Homestyle Peanut Butter Cookies.
■SINGAPORE
GDP forecast lowered
Recession-hit Singapore will further scale down its economic forecast for this year because the global situation has worsened, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said in remarks published yesterday. This means that the GDP forecast would likely be worse than the government’s projection for a contraction of up to 2 percent made just two weeks ago. Lee said in remarks published in the Straits Times the move to revise the forecast for the second time in a month was prompted by unexpected developments such as the sharper-than-expected 21 percent fall in key exports for last month.
■ECONOMY
Circuit City calls it quits
Bankrupt Circuit City Stores Inc, unable to work out a sale of the company, said on Friday it would go out of business — closing its 567 US stores and cutting 30,000 jobs. “This is the only possible path for our company,” Circuit City acting chief executive James Marcum said in a statement. “We are extremely disappointed by this outcome.” The company had been seeking a buyer or a deal to refinance its debt, but the hobbled credit market and consumer worries proved insurmountable. Two buyers — Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego, who controls a chain of electronics stores in Latin America, and the Golden Gate Capital private equity firm — had been looking to buy the company in a shrunken form. But the company couldn’t secure the necessary financing or support from vendors.
■BANKING
Small banks shut down
US regulators on Friday shut down two small banks, National Bank of Commerce in Illinois and Bank of Clark County in Washington State. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp was appointed receiver of the banks. They were the first two federally insured banks to fail and be shuttered by regulators this year amid the pressures of tumbling home prices, rising mortgage foreclosures and tighter credit. National Bank of Commerce, in Berkeley, Illinois, had US$430.9 million in assets and US$402.1 million in deposits as of Jan. 7. Bank of Clark County, in Vancouver, Washington, had US$446.5 million in assets and US$366.5 million in deposits as of Tuesday.
■ECONOMY
IMF approves loan to Serbia
The IMF’s executive board on Friday approved a US$530 million loan for Serbia to help it cope with the global financial crisis, it said in a statement. The board “approved a 15-month ... stand-by arrangement [about US$530.3 million] to support the authorities’ program aimed at maintaining macroeconomic and financial stability,” the IMF said. The approval makes US$353.3 million “immediately available. However, the Serbian authorities intend to treat the arrangement as precautionary, and not to draw on fund resources unless the need arises,” it said.
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
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