WTO calls on China to rethink its growth model
WTO calls on China to rethink its growth modelRUNNING OUT OF RAIL: A vast trade surplus combined with its weak consumer spending and a debt crisis do not a solid future make, the WTO head said in MunichAFP, MUNICH, GERMANYThe head of the WTO on Friday urged China to change its growth model, arguing that its soaring trade surplus was ultimately unsustainable and risked sparking new trade barriers. However, “the export-led growth model that drove China’s growth for the past 40 years cannot drive China’s growth for the next 40,” Okonjo-Iweala said. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria speaks at the headquarters of the WTO in Geneva on Wednesday. Photo: AP“And the US$1.2 trillion trade surplus is not sustainable. “And if China does not act, we will see more barriers.”China’s trade surplus hit a record US$1.2 trillion last year.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2026 17:15 UTC
Advertisers salivate over thought of AI-embedded ads
Advertisers salivate over thought of AI-embedded adsAFP, PARISThe introduction of advertisements and sponsored content in chatbots has spawned privacy concerns for artificial intelligence (AI) users as brands scramble to stay relevant in a fast-changing online environment. ChatGPT developer OpenAI began showing ads in chatbot conversations for free and low-cost users to start balancing its hundreds of billions in spending commitments with new revenue sources. AI search engine Perplexity Inc has been testing ads in the US since 2024, while Alphabet Inc’s Google is testing ads in the AI “overviews” its namesake search engine has been offering since last year. AI companies are “concerned that selling ads will scare away users,” US data firm Emarketer analyst Nate Elliott said. The practice is known as GEO (generative engine optimization) — an evolution of the Search Engine Optimization strategy during the era of Google’s dominance over the Web.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2026 17:15 UTC
Amazon’s down streak continues for the ninth day
Shares fell 0.4 percent on Friday last week, their ninth straight negative session. This is the longest losing streak for the stock since another nine-day drop that ended in July 2006. An Amazon Web Services AI data center in New Carlisle, Indiana, on Oct. 3, 2025. The four biggest spenders — Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta Platforms Inc — have together forecast capital expenditures of about US$650 billion this year. Amazon shares are down about 17 percent this month, on pace for their biggest monthly percentage drop since April 2022.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2026 17:15 UTC
Crash course: Vietnam’s cryptotrading boom goes bust
A Vietnamese cryptocurrency investor looks at the latest bitcoin values on a laptop in Hanoi on Thursday last week. However, what once looked like first-mover advantage increasingly looks like a liability as investors stare down a crypto winter. Vietnamese crypto start-ups hawking everything from NFTs to blockchain-based lending and trading services have been hammered, with bankruptcies and layoffs roiling the industry. Hanoi has also announced a five-year crypto trading pilot program, which would allow Vietnamese firms to issue digital assets. However, that is cold comfort for the nearly 55 percent of individual Vietnamese crypto investors who according to one market analysis reported losses last year.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2026 17:15 UTC
Valentine’s Day inflation
Tesla not planning to cut pricesNEW IMPORTS: Car dealer PG Union Corp said it would consider introducing US-made models such as the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Stellantis’ RAM 1500 to Taiwan Tesla Taiwan yesterday said that it does not plan to cut its car prices in the wake of Washington and Taipei signing the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade on Thursday to eliminate tariffs on US-made cars. On the other hand, Mercedes-Benz Taiwan said it is planning to lower the price of its five models imported from the US after the zero tariff comes into effect. Tesla in a statement said it has no plan to adjust the prices of the US-made Model 3, Model S and Model X as tariffs are not the only factor the automaker uses to determine pricing policies.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2026 17:15 UTC
India curbs loans to brokers in blow to trading volumes
India curbs loans to brokers in blow to trading volumesBloombergThe Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) tightened rules for loans taken by firms that undertake proprietary trading in shares and commodities, and offer leverage to clients, the latest measure aimed at reducing speculative market activity in the South Asian nation. Photo: ReutersThe stricter measures would raise the cost of raising capital by proprietary trading firms and squeeze profits. While Indian banks traditionally do not directly finance proprietary trading, the directive closes a loophole that allowed short-term working capital loans given by banks to be diverted for trading by brokers. The new rule would narrow the type of securities trading firms can offer as collateral to banks. The central bank also tightened lending rules for margin trading facility under which stock brokers offer leverage to their clients.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2026 17:15 UTC
Cuba suspends cigar event amid economic crisis
Cuba suspends cigar event amid economic crisisAFP, HAVANACuba on Saturday announced the cancelation of its iconic cigar festival, amid a major energy crisis sparked by US pressure on the cash-strapped nation. Photo: AFPThe “Festival del Habano” draws cigar enthusiasts, traders and specialized journalists from around the world, and features an auction of luxury cigars and humidors. The US cut off oil deliveries to Cuba from Havana’s key ally Venezuela following the abduction of longtime Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in early last month. US President Donald Trump also signed an executive order allowing his country to impose tariffs on countries selling oil to Havana. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has accused Trump of wanting to “suffocate” the nation’s economy, which has been under US embargo since 1962.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2026 17:15 UTC
SpaceX weighs dual-class IPO shares
SpaceX weighs dual-class IPO sharesCONTROL: The dual-class share structure typically gives founders and insiders 10 or even 20 votes for each of their shares compared with only one vote for ordinary sharesBloombergSpace Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) is considering a dual-class share structure in its planned initial public offering (IPO) this year, mirroring a strategy its billionaire founder Elon Musk floated for Tesla Inc, people familiar with the matter said. The move would allow insiders such as Musk to maintain control of the company even with a minority stake. Dual-class shares are common among US technology firms including Meta Platforms Inc and Google parent Alphabet Inc, and tend to be pitched as a way to enable founders to focus on a longer-term vision. Under a dual-class structure that gives Musk super-voting shares, the billionaire would establish a bulwark against activist shareholders exerting changes at the company against his wishes. SpaceX has discussed the feasibility of a tie-up between SpaceX and Tesla, an idea that some investors are pushing.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2026 17:15 UTC
Uber to expand into seven new markets, report says
Uber to expand into seven new markets, report saysReutersUber Technologies Inc plans to roll out its delivery business into seven new European countries this year, as tech groups ramp up their efforts in the multibillion-euro food-delivery market, the Financial Times reported yesterday. Earlier last week, Uber agreed to acquire the delivery arm of Turkey’s Getir from Emirati-controlling shareholder Mubadala Investment Co to expand its Turkish footprint. The deal spans Getir’s entire delivery portfolio, including food, grocery, retail and water, Uber said in a statement on Monday last week. Uber would acquire the food delivery portion of the business for US$335 million in cash, the company said in a regulatory filing. Uber agreed to buy a US$700 million stake in another Turkish delivery app, Trendyol Go, in May last year.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2026 17:15 UTC
EU central bank pushes access to euro
EU central bank pushes access to euroFINANCIAL MANEUVERING: The bank’s head announced the move at the Munich Security Conference, the first time that it has made an announcement at that venueReuters, FRANKFURT, GERMANYThe European Central Bank (ECB) unveiled plans on Saturday to widen access to its euro liquidity backstop, making it globally available and permanent in a bid to bolster the international role of the single currency. “The ECB needs to be prepared for a more volatile environment,” Lagarde said at the Munich Security Conference, the first time an ECB president spoke at the event. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde addresses the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, last week. “This facility also reinforces the role of the euro,” Lagarde said. Such a guaranteed access to euros could naturally increase demand for euro-denominated assets and encourage banks outside the 21-nation euro zone to buy assets from the bloc.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2026 17:15 UTC
ByteDance rolls out newest model for flagship AI app
ByteDance rolls out newest model for flagship AI appAUSPICIOUS TIMING: Ostensibly looking to spike the guns of domestic rivals, ByteDance launched the upgrade to coincide with the Lunar New YearReuters, BEIJINGChina’s ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動) has rolled out its Doubao 2.0 model, an upgrade of the country’s most widely used artificial-intelligence (AI) app, the company announced on Saturday. The release of Doubao 2.0, ahead of a highly anticipated new DeepSeek model, is likely aimed at preventing such a scenario from repeating itself. A video-generation AI model that ByteDance released on Thursday, Seedance 2.0, has already drawn comparisons with DeepSeek’s success last year after going viral on Chinese social media and drawing praise overseas on platforms such as X, including from its owner Elon Musk. Photo: AFPDoubao 2.0 is positioned for the “agent era,” where AI models are expected to execute complex real-world tasks rather than only answer questions, ByteDance said in a statement. “This cost advantage will become even more crucial as real-world, complex tasks involve large-scale inference and multi-step generation that will expend a huge amount of tokens,” ByteDance said, referring to the unit of data processed by an AI model.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2026 17:15 UTC
Starlink gets license to set up shop in Vietnam
Starlink gets license to set up shop in VietnamAFP, HANOIVietnam has granted a license to Starlink to operate its satellite Internet services in the country, a government agency said. The radio frequency regulator said local unit Starlink Services Vietnam Co can initially deploy four gateway stations and a maximum of 600,000 terminal devices in Vietnam. Nearly 80 percent of Vietnam’s approximately 100 million people are Internet users, according to the Vietnam Internet Network Information Center. US-based Starlink says its services in Vietnam are “coming soon,” according to an availability map on its Web site. It was not clear if Lam, general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party, would hold trade talks with Trump.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2026 17:15 UTC
CPC freezes prices over Lunar New Year holiday
CPC freezes prices over Lunar New Year holidayStaff writer, with CNAState-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday announced that gasoline and diesel prices at its stations across Taiwan would remain unchanged over the Lunar New Year holiday, effective today. CPC said international oil prices rose last week due to the Northern Hemisphere’s winter fuel demand and the US consumer confidence index hitting a record high this month. According to CPC’s weekly fuel price adjustment formula, gasoline and diesel prices would normally increase by NT$1.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively. However, CPC said it would absorb the increases — NT$1.2 for gasoline and NT$0.3 for diesel — to keep domestic prices below those of neighboring Asian countries. Since the start of the year, CPC has absorbed about NT$14 million in fuel price increases to help stabilize domestic costs.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2026 17:15 UTC
Formosat-8 satellite better than expected, TASA says
Formosat-8 satellite better than expected, TASA saysTAIWAN PROWESS: FS-8A’s highest-resolution images could be useful in disaster prevention, national security, mapping and precision agriculture, the agency saidBy Sam Garcia / Staff writer, with CNAThe Formosat-8 Chi Po-lin Satellite (FS-8A), the first satellite in Taiwan’s first domestically produced optical remote sensing satellite constellation, has delivered results beyond expectations, the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) said yesterday after the satellite released its first images on Wednesday last week. A Formosat-8 satellite orbits Earth in a simulated image. Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Space Agency via CNAThe instruments completed testing and their first scientific measurements during the satellite’s early orbital operations, TASA said. FS-8A’s main mission is optical remote imaging, and it can capture the world’s highest-resolution images in the red-edge bands, TASA said. The second Formast-8 satellite, FS-8B, is nearly complete and would soon begin tests, with launch expected via a SpaceX rocket at the end of this year.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2026 17:14 UTC
Man arrested after parcel explosion injures 2 in Yilan
Man arrested after parcel explosion injures 2 in YilanStaff writer, with CNAPolice said yesterday they have arrested a suspect in connection with a parcel explosion in Yilan City a day earlier that injured two elderly siblings. A suspect surnamed Wu, center, is surrounded by police during an arrest in Yilan on Saturday. Photo courtesy of the policeThe explosion occurred Saturday morning when a brother and sister in their 70s, surnamed Hung (洪), opened the parcel at their home. Police said the parcel was not mailed but was allegedly delivered to the victims’ doorstep by the suspect two days before the explosion. The case is being investigated as attempted murder and has been referred to the Yilan District Prosecutors Office, police said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2026 17:14 UTC