CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Anhui bans mining projects
China dealt another blow to its beleaguered cryptocurrency industry, with Anhui Province becoming the latest to pledge to crack down on the practice of using power-hungry machines to mint bitcoin and other virtual currencies. Anhui Province plans to shut down all cryptocurrency mining projects within the next three years due to a power supply shortage, hf365.com reported. The province is to also curb new projects that require large amounts of energy or power consumption and build data centers in an orderly manner, said the news portal, which belongs to a media group affiliated with the government of the province’s capital, Hefei.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Alexion buyout approved
AstraZeneca PLC’s US$39 billion buyout of US-based rare diseases business Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc is expected to close next week after the UK’s competition watchdog cleared the deal yesterday. The merger, which would beef up AstraZeneca’s line of cancer medicines, is expected to close on Wednesday next week, the drugmaker said. The British Competition and Markets Authority began a review of the deal in May to check if it could reduce competition in the UK or other markets. It decided not to initiate a broader probe into the deal following its initial assessment. The clearance follows one from the EU earlier this month.
AVIATION
Adani buys Mumbai airport
Adani Enterprises Ltd has taken control of Mumbai international airport from GVK Group, in a bold bet by billionaire Gautam Adani that travel is to stage a rapid recovery after being crushed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The deal for Mumbai International Airport Ltd, India’s second-busiest airport, makes Adani Airport Holdings Ltd the nation’s largest airport infrastructure company, accounting for 25 percent of all passenger traffic and 33 percent of air cargo, a statement said on Tuesday. Adani, which operates six airports in India, is expecting its share of passenger traffic to grow to 100 million people next year from 80 million last year following the acquisition.
UNITED KINGDOM
Inflation soars to 2.5%
Inflation has soared to a new peak, as consumer prices accelerated on easing COVID-19 restrictions, official data showed yesterday. The consumer price index (CPI) hit 2.5 percent last month, the highest rate since August 2018, from 2.1 percent in May, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. “Prices for food, second-hand cars, clothing and footwear, eating and drinking out, and motor fuel rose in 2021 but mostly fell in 2020,” the office said in a statement. Inflation has accelerated sharply since March.
UNITED STATES
CPI highest since 2008
The CPI soared to 5.4 percent, not seasonally adjusted, over the 12 months to last month, the Department of Labor said on Tuesday, its highest rate since August 2008. Food prices rose a comparatively modest 2.4 percent for the year ended last month, and 0.9 percent last month, department data showed. Even excluding more volatile food and energy prices, core CPI over the 12 months to last month jumped 4.5 percent, unadjusted, the biggest increase since November 1991, the department said. Compared with May, seasonally adjusted CPI surged 0.9 percent, it said.
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday signed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), expressing an interest to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and invest in the latter’s Alaska LNG project, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Under the agreement, CPC is to participate in the project’s upstream gas investment to secure stable energy resources for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Alaska LNG project is jointly promoted by AGDC and major developer Glenfarne Group LLC, as Alaska plans to export up to 20 million tonnes of LNG annually from 2031. It involves constructing an 1,290km
NEXT GENERATION: The company also showcased automated machines, including a nursing robot called Nurabot, which is to enter service at a Taichung hospital this year Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) expects server revenue to exceed its iPhone revenue within two years, with the possibility of achieving this goal as early as this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said on Tuesday at Nvidia Corp’s annual technology conference in San Jose, California. AI would be the primary focus this year for the company, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), as rapidly advancing AI applications are driving up demand for AI servers, Liu said. The production and shipment of Nvidia’s GB200 chips and the anticipated launch of GB300 chips in the second half of the year would propel
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