■ ECONOMY
Brazilian GDP up 5.2%
Latin America's biggest economy grew more than 5 percent last year, boosted by high global demand for Brazilian ethanol, iron ore and agricultural products, as well as a booming domestic market, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Friday. Mantega said GDP grew between 5.2 percent and 5.3 percent last year. The government reported expansion of 5.7 percent in the third quarter of last year, largely because of big gains in the agricultural and industrial sectors. Mantega said industrial output is expected to grow by more than the 6 percent posted last year.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Strike grinds on
The United Auto Workers and auto parts maker American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc negotiated all day on Friday, trying to end an 11-day strike that has affected dozens of factories in the US and Canada. The bargaining came as General Motors Corp said parts shortages from the strike would force it to shut down part or all of 28 assembly and components factories. On Friday, GM added 17 components plants to the growing list and said on its Web site that the affected plants employ more than 37,000 hourly workers. All 17 additional plants are scheduled to go on partial shutdown starting tomorrow, the Detroit-based automaker said.
■ GLASS
Corning may ditch Steuben
Corning Inc, the biggest maker of glass for flat-panel displays, may sell or close its unprofitable Steuben Glass luxury crystal unit. Steuben, founded in 1903, has been losing money for "a few years," spokeswoman Kelli Hopp-Michlosky said yesterday in an e-mailed message. If Corning can't find a buyer, it will consider closing the business, which has about US$25 million in annual revenue and employs 150 people, she said. A sale would allow Corning to focus on its other businesses. Almost half of its sales come from liquid-crystal-display glass, where orders have surged as manufacturers switch to producing high-definition TV sets.
■ BEVERAGES
Carlsberg can buy brewer
EU competition regulators on Friday approved Danish brewer Carlsberg's purchase of some of the assets of British rival Scottish and Newcastle. Scottish and Newcastle in January accepted a £7.8 billion (US$15.5 billion) takeover bid by Carlsberg of Denmark and Heineken of the Netherlands. Under the deal, Carlsberg and Heineken are to split Scottish and Newcastle's assets between them. Carlsberg will take Scottish and Newcastle's half of their joint Russian venture Baltic Beverages Holding, which makes Russia's Baltika beer, and its Chinese, French, Greek and Vietnamese operations. Heineken, meanwhile, will take businesses in Belgium, Britain, Finland, India, Ireland, Portugal and the US.
■ STEEL
Workers poisoned
Workers at an Arcelor Mittal steelworks in Bosnia sought medical attention for nausea and vomiting after eating a special meal provided by the company to mark its "health and safety day" on Thursday. "Some 163 workers ... reported having stomach problems this morning. Ninety sought medical attention but only one was hospitalized," said Boba Lizdek, spokeswoman for the steel plant. In addition to a standard lunch, workers were given extra sweets and fruit juice. Meals provided by Arcelor Mittal are prepared by a local catering firm.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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