RETAIL
China detains Husi workers
Chinese police yesterday detained five people from Shanghai Husi Food Co (上海福喜食品), a unit of US food supplier OSI Group, a statement said, in a case involving expired meat sold to fast food giants including McDonald’s and KFC. The Shanghai Public Security Bureau said the five included the company officials responsible. It said a quality manager was among them but did not name the five. Shanghai authorities on Sunday shut an OSI plant for mixing out-of-date meat with fresh product, relabeling expired goods and other quality problems, following an investigative report by a television station.
MACROECONOMICS
Australia inflation rises
Australian inflation rose 0.5 percent in the three months to June, new figures showed yesterday, giving the country’s central bank room to keep interest rates at a record-low to support the economy. The consumer price index had lifted 0.6 percent in the previous quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. The latest figures took the annual rate of inflation to 3 percent, up from 2.9 percent in the year to March.
MACROECONOMICS
Hungary cuts interest rates
Hungary’s central bank, MNB, cut its main interest rate to a record low of 2.1 percent on Tuesday, ending a two-year-long monetary easing cycle aimed at stoking economic growth. MNB Governor Gyorgy Matolcsy later told journalists the loosening cycle — begun in August 2012 when the rate was 7 percent — was one of the “longest and deepest cuts in modern history.” Matolcsy said the monetary easing was both helped and made possible by a “turnaround” in the Hungarian economy, the most indebted in emerging Europe.
AUTOMAKERS
Chrysler to recall SUVs
Chrysler Group LLC on Tuesday said it would recall up to 792,300 sport utility vehicles (SUV) to fix an ignition-switch problem, the same part involved in the massive General Motors Co recall. The automaker took the move because ignition keys can be moved unintentionally from the “on” position, causing engine stall, reducing braking power and potentially disabling frontal airbags. Chrysler said the switch might be shifted by an “outside” force, often the driver’s knee. The recall affects certain models of the 2006 to 2007 Jeep Commander and 2005 to 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles.
INTERNET
Google tried to buy Spotify
Internet titan Google last year tried to buy music-streaming service Spotify, but backed off for reasons including a huge price tag, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. The Journal cited an unnamed source as saying that Sweden-based Spotify was asking for more than US$10 billion despite being valued at about US$4 billion in its latest round of equity funding. Spotify is the world’s leading service for streaming music on the Internet.
MANUFACTURING
LG Display earnings surge
LG Display Co says its earnings for the April to June quarter more than doubled due to demand for ultra-high-definition TVs. The South Korean display-panel maker said on Wednesday its net income reached 256 billion won (US$250 million), compared with 105 billion won a year earlier. The panel supplier for Apple Inc said higher demand for ultra-high-definition TVs during the FIFA World Cup increased panel shipments.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
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