■CHINA
China leads exporters
China is now the world’s leading exporter ahead of Germany, trade figures released yesterday by the German national statistics office showed. In the 11 months from January to November, Chinese exports reached a total value of US$1.07 trillion, while German exports amounted to 734.6 billion euros, or US$1.05 trillion, the data showed. In November, the German trade surplus nonetheless climbed to 17.2 billion euros, according to seasonally corrected figures from the Destatis service, from 13.6 billion euros in October.
■BELGIUM
InBev bosses held hostage
Workers at an Anheuser-Busch InBev brewery in eastern Belgium took their bosses hostage on Thursday after the world’s biggest brewer announced a tenth of the company’s 3,000 employees in Belgium will be laid off, local media reported. “We are demanding that the [company’s] senior managers come here and call off the layoffs,” Marc Devenne, a union representative was quoted as saying by the Belga news agency.
■MEXICO
Starbucks ‘violates’ IPR
Starbucks Corp’s Mexico unit says it is willing to pay for permission to sell coffee mugs featuring pre-Hispanic images, after the Mexican government notified it about potential violations of intellectual property rights (IPR). Starbucks said on Thursday it regrets any misunderstanding, and “we are willing to pay the appropriate amount for the use of these images.” Mexico’s government archeological agency says the images of the Aztec calendar stone and the Pyramid of the Moon from the pre-Aztec ruins of Teotihuacan are the intellectual property of the nation. The agency will decide how much Starbucks should pay.
■AVIATION
Boeing orders fall
Boeing Co said its customers ordered just 142 commercial airplanes last year as the recession forced airlines to shrink. The net total reported on Thursday was Boeing’s lowest since at least 2003 and just one-tenth of the 1,413 orders in 2007. Meanwhile, Boeing delivered 481 commercial planes last year, up 28 percent after a massive strike in 2008 slowed production. Boeing had predicted 480 to 485 deliveries for the year. Competitor Airbus will report last year’s orders and deliveries on Tuesday.
■ELECTRONICS
Yahoo eyes TV jump
Yahoo announced partnerships with television and other device manufacturers on Thursday as the Internet company joins others seeking to jump from the computer to the TV screen. “Consumers are in love with their televisions, watching more TV and demanding Internet connectivity to further enhance their viewing experience,” said Arlo Rose, senior director of Yahoo Connected TV. Yahoo said the online programs known as “widgets” for the increasing number of Web-capable televisions would be embedded in more models and include video on demand, social networks, games and online shopping.
■UNITED STATES
Bankruptcies spiked last year
The number of US corporate bankruptcies spiked to 207 last year, the third-largest total on record, led by the massive General Motors filing, a research firm said on Thursday. BankruptcyData.com said the number of publicly traded companies filing for bankruptcy protection last year jumped significantly from 138 a year earlier. It was the third-largest total on record.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
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