BANKING
US requests Deutsche data
The US government has requested that Deutsche Bank provide information on transactions potentially linked to Michael Flynn, US President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The request is part of an investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in last year’s presidential election that brought Trump to office, the paper said. Flynn has pleaded guilty in a deal under which he agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation. Earlier this week, two sources said that Germany’s biggest bank had been subpoenaed for records.
EUROPEAN UNION
Leaders seek banking union
EU leaders on Friday set the completion of a banking union and expansion of the role of the eurozone bailout fund as priorities for eurozone integration. “In the next six months, the work of our finance ministers should concentrate on areas where the convergence of views is the biggest,” summit chairman Donald Tusk told reporters after a summit of the 27 countries that are to remain in the EU after Britain leaves in 2019. Tusk said discussions would continue on other ideas, such as a eurozone budget, finance minister, parliament or sovereign insolvency mechanism, but they needed more time to “mature.”
ITALY
Amazon to pay settlement
Amazon.com Inc has agreed to pay the Italian taxman 100 million euros (US$117.5 million) to settle a dispute over suspected tax fraud, the Italian Agency of Revenue said on Friday. Italian authorities have been investigating Amazon for tax evasion in the period between 2011 and 2015, but the deal means that the case is now closed, it said in a statement. Italy has previously forced other US Internet giants to pay up for taxes owed, including Apple Inc, which in December 2015 agreed to pay 300 million euros to end a tax fraud investigation. In May last year, Google agreed to pay 306 million euros.
RUSSIA
Key rate drops to 7.75%
Russia’s central bank on Friday reduced its key interest rate to 7.75 percent, the sixth reduction this year as inflation hits a record low. The bank said in a statement it had trimmed its main interest rate by 0.5 percentage points, a quarter of a percentage point more than most analysts had predicted. The bank said inflation holds at 2.5 percent and will gradually draw near 4 percent by late next year. The bank also said it would continue its “gradual” monetary policy as medium-term inflation risks persist.
MASS MEDIA
AT&T chief leaves Boeing
AT&T Inc’s chief executive Randall Stephenson stepped down from the boards of Boeing Co and Emerson Electric Co to shield both companies from any fallout as he battles the US government to win approval for the takeover of Time Warner Inc, according to a person familiar with the matter. Stephenson, 57, thought it wise to sever ties with the companies, both federal contractors, so they would not face any repercussions, the person said. Both companies announced his departure in separate filings on Friday, saying he told them he needed to focus on the pending litigation over the Time Warner transaction.
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
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