INDISTRY
CMEC to aid smelter
China’s state-owned China Machinery Engineering Corp (CMEC, 中國機械設備工程) is to modernize Tajikistan’s flagship aluminum smelter in a US$545 million deal. A representative for Tajik Aluminium Co (Talco) on Friday said that “the contract between CMEC and Talco was signed on April 15.” Talco’s smelter is a key industrial asset in an impoverished and mostly agrarian nation of 9 million bordering China. Annual production of the smelter fell 7.2 percent last year and its Soviet-era equipment is in sore need of upgrading.
CHINA
Petition supports accuser
Hundreds of people have added their names to an online petition in support of a University of Minnesota student who said she was raped in August last year by Richard Liu (劉強東), the CEO of e-commerce retailer JD.com Inc (京東). The student, Liu Jingyao (劉靜瑤), from China, filed a civil lawsuit against Richard Liu in a Minneapolis court on Tuesday, nearly four months after prosecutors declined to press criminal charges against him. The company did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
SINGAPORE
Fraud suspect extradited
The nation has extradited an Indian national to the US to face charges in a call center operation that allegedly defrauded millions of dollars from people in the US, the US Department of Justice announced on Friday. Hitesh Madhubhai Patel, 42, of Ahmedabad, India, was scheduled to be arraigned on Friday in a Houston, Texas, federal court for his role in a case that was first announced in 2016, charging 60 people with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.
BANKING
Malayan ends agreement
Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) ended a collaboration agreement with Tuaspring and Hyflux Ltd. The termination of the agreement is expected to have a material impact on the group’s financial performance, Hyflux said in a statement to the Singapore Exchange. Maybank also stated its intention to appoint receivers and managers over the assets of Tuaspring, save for its desalination plant and shared infrastructure, according to Hyflux. The company is saddled with S$2.8 billion (US$2.1 billion) of unsecured claims and default notices.
ENERGY
Reliance denies PDVSA link
Reliance Industries Ltd does not have any arrangement to buy crude oil from Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), for payment in cash to third parties and media reports of such a mechanism are false, the company said in a statement. While releasing quarterly results on Thursday, Reliance chief financial officer V. Srikanth said it was sourcing Venezuelan crude from Russian and Chinese companies. Payment made to them for supplies are adjusted against dues owed by Venezuela to these companies, Srikanth said.
REAL ESTATE
Manhattan sale confirmed
Vornado Realty Trust sold almost half of a US$5.6 billion collection of Manhattan properties to Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, and Crown Acquisitions Inc. The buyers would each acquire stakes of about 24 percent.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
Nintendo Co hopes to match the runaway success of the Switch when its leveled-up new console hits shelves on Thursday, with strong early sales expected despite the gadget’s high price. Featuring a bigger screen and more processing power, the Switch 2 is an upgrade to its predecessor, which has sold 152 million units since launching in 2017 — making it the third-best-selling video game console of all time. However, despite buzz among fans and robust demand for pre-orders, headwinds for Nintendo include uncertainty over US trade tariffs and whether enough people are willing to shell out. The Switch 2 “is priced relatively high”
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