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.
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
RSS