■UNITED KINGDOM
UK hit by record decline
The UK’s recession-battered economy shrank at its fastest pace in more than 50 years in the first quarter of this year, revised official data showed yesterday, amid the worst global slowdown in decades. GDP contracted 2.4 percent in the first three months of the year from the final quarter of last year, the Office for National Statistics said. On a year-on-year basis, Britain’s economy declined by 4.9 percent in the first quarter, the largest contraction since records began in 1948.
■EUROZONE
Inflation turns negative
Inflation in the 16 countries using the euro turned negative last month for the first time on record, dipping 0.1 percent over 12 months, an estimate from the Eurostat data agency showed yesterday. The Eurostat figure put eurozone inflation at the lowest point on records going back to 1996 and was down from the zero percent that the agency booked in May. The figure hit a record high point of 4 percent last year.
■FINANCE
SEC looks to freeze assets
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking to permanently freeze the assets of a Taiwanese immigrant financier accused of bilking investors until his fraud trial is over. Judge Philip Gutierrez said on Monday that he would rule next week on the request concerning the assets of Danny Pang (彭日成), who is accused of bilking investors in his Private Equity Management Group companies. Gutierrez temporarily froze Pang’s assets in April, when he also ordered the California financier to repatriate any assets sent overseas and turn over his passports.
■FINANCE
China mulls new company
China is weighing a plan to set up a new company to manage some of the country’s nearly 18 trillion yuan (US$2.6 billion) in state assets, a report said yesterday. The state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission has been working to establish an asset management company since 2005, the state-run China Daily reported, citing director Li Rongrong (李榮融). Li also warned many state-owned enterprises were not qualified to make overseas acquisitions and would have to improve their corporate governance. The commission currently oversees 138 state companies.
■AUTOMOBILES
Qatarmakes Porsche offer
Qatar has offered to invest in debt-laden German sports car maker Porsche and to buy stock options it holds in Volkswagen, a Porsche spokesman said. “We have received an offer from Qatar for the acquisition of a participation and a purchase of options on Volkswagen shares,” he said late on Monday. The offer would serve as a basis for further talks, but must be examined by the Porsche and Piech families, who own all of the voting rights in Porsche, he added.
■INTERNET
Small firm buys Pirate Bay
A small Swedish software firm announced yesterday that it had purchased Pirate Bay, the popular file-sharing Web site, for 60 million kronor (US$7.8 million). Global Gaming Factory X said the deal would include rights to use the Pirate Bay domain name and accompanying Web sites. The acquisition is expected to be completed in August, the firm said. Pirate Bay is one of the world’s largest file-sharing venues, with more than 20 million users worldwide. In April, four men connected with the site were sentenced to one-year prison sentences for violations of copyright law.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
RSS