FASHION
Fakes cost EU US$28bn
Counterfeits are worth nearly 10 percent of the clothes, shoes and accessories sold in the EU, taking away more than 26 billion euros (US$28 billion) in business, according to a study released on Tuesday. The report estimated the direct impact on Italy to be the highest in Europe at 4.5 billion euros per year and nearly 50,000 jobs. The study by the EU’s Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market put direct annual losses to the industry from counterfeit clothing, footwear and accessories at approximately 26.3 billion euros, or 9.7 percent of the sector’s sales. If knock-on effects on other industries and lost government revenue are included, the economic impact rises to 43.3 billion euros per year.
MACROECONOMICS
Inflation rose 0.7% in Q2
Australian consumer prices rose 0.7 percent in the April-to-June period, as gasoline prices increased, official data showed yesterday, but annual inflation was soft, giving the central bank leeway to lower interest rates. The consumer price index increase in the second-quarter followed a 0.2 percent lift in the first three months of the year and took headline inflation to 1.5 percent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported.
ENERGY
UAE scraps oil subsidies
Leading oil producer the United Arab Emirates is to scrap subsidies on gasoline and diesel from next month to cut spending as low crude prices hit revenues, the Ministry of Energy said yesterday. Pump prices for the two fuels are now to be set on the basis of world prices and adjusted each month, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official WAM news agency. The move is expected to save billions of US dollars a year.
TRANSPORTATION
Eurotunnel seeks damages
Eurotunnel, the company that runs the cross-Channel rail tunnel, yesterday said it was seeking 9.7 million euros from the British and French governments in compensation for disruption caused by illegal migrants. The firm said it was seeking the amount from London and Paris after it incurred a security bill of 13 million euros in the first half of the year trying to stop migrants crossing to England from France. The amount was equivalent to its entire costs in the sector for all of last year.
AIRLINES
AirAsia to fly to Japan
AirAsia Bhd yesterday said it would start domestic and international flights from Japan early next year, after a high-profile exit from the market following the collapse of its joint venture with All Nippon Airways (ANA) in 2013. The Malaysia-based company said it has applied to Japan’s transport ministry to operate commercial flights, becoming the latest budget carrier aiming to crack a market long-controlled by ANA and Japan Airlines.
CAMERAS
GoPro beats profit forecasts
Action camera maker GoPro Inc on Tuesday reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue, helped by strong sales in markets outside North America. GoPro, whose helmet and body-mounted cameras are popular with surfers, skydivers and other adventure sports enthusiasts, said its net income rose to US$35 million, or US$0.24 per share, for the second quarter from a loss of US$19.8 million, or US$0.24 per share, a year earlier. Excluding items, the company earned US$0.35 per share. Revenue rose 71.7 percent to US$419.9 million.
AI REVOLUTION: The event is to take place from Wednesday to Friday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center’s halls 1 and 2 and would feature more than 1,100 exhibitors Semicon Taiwan, an annual international semiconductor exhibition, would bring leaders from the world’s top technology firms to Taipei this year, the event organizer said. The CEO Summit is to feature nine global leaders from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), Applied Materials Inc, Google, Samsung Electronics Co, SK Hynix Inc, Microsoft Corp, Interuniversity Microelectronic Centre and Marvell Technology Group Ltd, SEMI said in a news release last week. The top executives would delve into how semiconductors are positioned as the driving force behind global technological innovation amid the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, the organizer said. Among them,
When she was in fifth grade, Scarlett Goddard Strahan started to worry about getting wrinkles. By the time she turned 10, she and her friends were spending hours on ByteDance Ltd’s TikTok and Google’s YouTube watching influencers tout products for achieving today’s beauty aesthetic: a dewy, “glowy,” flawless complexion. Goddard Strahan developed an elaborate skin care routine with facial cleansers, mists, hydrating masks and moisturizers. One night, her skin began to burn intensely and erupted in blisters. Heavy use of adult-strength products had wreaked havoc on her skin. Months later, patches of tiny bumps remain on her face, and her cheeks turn
Former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) yesterday warned against the tendency to label stakeholders as either “pro-China” or “pro-US,” calling such rigid thinking a “trap” that could impede policy discussions. Liu, an adviser to the Cabinet’s Economic Development Committee, made the comments in his keynote speech at the committee’s first advisers’ meeting. Speaking in front of Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) and other officials, Liu urged the public to be wary of falling into the “trap” of categorizing people involved in discussions into either the “pro-China” or “pro-US” camp. Liu,
Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said Taiwan’s government plans to set up a business service company in Kyushu, Japan, to help Taiwanese companies operating there. “The company will follow the one-stop service model similar to the science parks we have in Taiwan,” Kuo said. “As each prefecture is providing different conditions, we will establish a new company providing services and helping Taiwanese companies swiftly settle in Japan.” Kuo did not specify the exact location of the planned company but said it would not be in Kumamoto, the Kyushu prefecture in which Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC, 台積電) has a
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