GAMBLING
Macau casino revenue falls
Macau casino revenue fell to the lowest in more than four years amid China’s slowing economy and a graft crackdown that deterred high-rollers. A surprise easing of Chinese travel restrictions to the territory might bring some relief. Gross gaming revenue last month fell 36.2 percent to 17.4 billion patacas (US$2.2 billion), according to data released by Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. The decline last month has eased for a fourth straight month since February, when gaming revenue plunged 48.6 percent for the worst monthly drop on record. The year-to-date drop is 37 percent.
ENTERTAINMENT
Cirque du Soleil to be sold
Canada on Tuesday approved the sale of the government-owned Cirque du Soleil to a US investment fund and its Chinese partners, according to officials. US private equity firm TPG and China’s Fosun International Ltd (復星國際) bought the Quebec circus juggernaut for an undisclosed sum in April as the carnival looks to expand in Asia. Canadian Minister of Industry James Moore said the sale would benefit the nation economically, adding that Canadians would remain in key positions within the company.
INTERNET
Google wins YouTube battle
Google Inc on Tuesday won a legal victory over German performing rights organization Gema, which had sought to make the company’s video-sharing service YouTube pay each time users watched music videos by artists it represents. A Munich court rejected Gema’s demand that YouTube pay 0.37 euros per view of certain videos. In its claim, Gema had picked out a sample of 1,000 videos, which it said would cost YouTube about 1.6 million euros. The Munich court ruling, which has not yet been published in full, might still be appealed by Gema.
TRANSPORTATION
Asciano given takeover offer
Australian ports and rail operator Asciano Ltd yesterday said it had received an A$8.8 billion (US$6.8 billion) takeover offer from Canada-based Brookfield Infrastructure Group and was considering the proposal. Asciano said the cash and stock offer valued its shares at A$9.05. The proposal, subject to Brookfield’s due diligence, would be by scheme of arrangement, meaning only 50 percent of shareholders must support the deal for it to go ahead. It would also need the approval of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and the Foreign Investment Review Board.
AUTOMAKERS
Hyundai’s sales decline
Hyundai Motor Co’s sales fell for a third straight month, dragged down by a slump in overseas deliveries as unfavorable currency-exchange rates undermine its ability to compete against Japanese automakers. Deliveries fell 1.2 percent to 408,026 vehicles last month from a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. Overseas sales declined 2.2 percent to 345,224 units, while deliveries at home climbed 4.8 percent.
ECONOMY
Inflation rises in Indonesia
Inflation rose in Indonesia last month as tens of millions of Muslims observing the Islamic holy month spent extra cash on food, government data showed yesterday. The consumer price index rose 7.26 percent year-on-year, the government’s statistics agency said. Inflation in May was 7.15 percent. Despite inflation being higher than the previous month, last month’s figure was lower than that forecast by economists.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary
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