AVIATION
JAL notes possible glitch
Japan Airlines (JAL) yesterday said it has reported to Boeing Co a possible glitch in the battery system on the 787 Dreamliner, after pilots saw an indicator warning light en route from Finland. JAL said instruments warned pilots there was a problem with the battery connected to the plane’s auxiliary power unit on the flight from Helsinki to Tokyo on Friday last week. Engine monitoring systems showed the voltage and electrical current were within normal ranges and the plane arrived at Helsinki without delay, a JAL spokesman said.
HEALTHCARE
Grifols to buy Novartis unit
Novartis AG has agreed to sell a blood transfusion diagnostics unit to Spanish healthcare company Grifols SA for US$1.68 billion, the Swiss company’s biggest asset sale since 2008. Novartis expects to complete the sale to Europe’s largest maker of blood plasma products in the first half of next year, the Basel-based company said in a statement. The Swiss drugmaker acquired the blood unit when it bought Chiron in 2006.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Shire to acquire ViroPharma
British drugs group Shire PLC yesterday said it has agreed to buy US-based ViroPharma Inc, a rare disease biopharmaceutical firm, for US$4.2 billion. “Shire PLC and ViroPharma Incorporated today [yesterday] announce that their boards of directors have unanimously approved and the companies have entered into a merger agreement pursuant to which Shire will acquire all the outstanding shares of the rare disease company ViroPharma for ... a total consideration of approximately US$4.2 billion,” the companies said.
TELECOMS
Deutsche Telekom to buy GTS
Deutsche Telekom AG agreed to buy GTS Central Europe for 546 million euros (US$730 million), adding landline networks in countries where the German phone company’s services are predominantly wireless. Deutsche Telekom is acquiring Warsaw-based GTS from private equity firms, including Columbia Capital, HarbourVest Partners, Innova Capital and M/C Partners, the Bonn-based company said on Sunday. The transaction, subject to regulatory approval, will give Deutsche Telekom landline grids in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania.
CHINA
Car sales rose last month
The nation’s passenger vehicle sales rose 24 percent last month, helped by a recovery in economic growth and rebound in demand for Japanese brands. Wholesale deliveries of cars, multipurpose and sport utility vehicles climbed to 1.61 million units last month, the state-backed Association of Automobile Manufacturers said yesterday. That compares with the median estimate of 1.5 million units made by three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
MINING
Anglo mine hit by protest
Thousands of workers at an Anglo American Platinum Ltd mine in South Africa have refused to come out from underground in protest at the suspension of one of their leaders, the firm said on Sunday. The workers, members of the militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, have been underground for nearly two days at the top global producer’s Dishaba mine in the northern Limpopo Province, company spokeswoman Mpumi Sithole said. The leader was suspended for “a breach of safety regulations,” the firm said.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS