HSBC to axe at least 200 senior operations managers
HSBC to axe at least 200 senior operations managersReuters, HONG KONG and LONDONHSBC is cutting as many as 15 percent of its 2,000 senior operations managers worldwide, as it attempts to streamline its management ranks and reduce costs, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. The logo of HSBC is pictured on its headquarters at the financial Central district in Hong Kong on Aug. 4, 2020. The lender has been shrinking its sprawling global business for several years, downsizing in many regions and exiting some countries entirely as it tries to improve shareholder returns. The initiative, codenamed “project banyan,” follows HSBC’s last major redundancy plan in 2020, which targeted about 35,000 job cuts globally across all staffing levels. On Wednesday, HSBC announced a possible sale of its business in New Zealand and its plans to close 114 branches in the UK.
Source:Taipei Times
December 03, 2022 03:53 UTC
Property transactions increased last month amid end-of-year profit boost
However, the volume represents a 28.5 percent plunge from November last year, as interest rate hikes and economic uncertainty slowed purchase decisions. Transactions in the first 11 months of this year fell 7 percent from a year earlier, and the pace of retreat has been widening each month, Chen said. Taiwan’s central bank has hiked interest rates three times this year and is widely believed to make another increase later this month. The housing market in southern Taiwan enjoyed a two-year boom on the back of investment and expansion plans of local chipmakers and international equipment suppliers. H&B Business Group (住商不動產) research director Jessica Hsu (徐佳馨) said the lack of consensus over house prices have also dragged transactions.
Source:Taipei Times
December 03, 2022 03:53 UTC
Musk delivers first Tesla truck; no update on pricing
Musk delivers first Tesla truck; no update on pricingReutersTesla Inc chief executive officer Elon Musk delivered the company’s first heavy-duty Semi on Thursday to PepsiCo without offering updated forecasts for the vehicle’s pricing, production plans or how much cargo it could haul. Tesla Inc chief executive officer Elon Musk, right, speaks with Tesla Semi Truck Engineering senior manager Dan Priestly during a live-streamed unveiling of the Tesla Semi electric truck in Nevada, US, on Thursday. Photo: REUTERSHowever, industry experts remain skeptical that battery electric trucks can economically take the strain of hauling hefty loads for hundreds of miles. PepsiCo, which completed its first cargo run with the Tesla truck to deliver snacks for those attending the Nevada launch event, had ordered 100 trucks in 2017. Musk said the semi-truck has been doing test runs from Tesla’s Nevada factory to its plant in Fremont, California.
Source:Taipei Times
December 03, 2022 03:53 UTC
Memory of macabre cult massacre buried in Guyana jungle
A picture of a memorial site for the victims of the Jonestown Massacre in November 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana. Bodies of more than 400 members of the Jim Jones’ sect “Temple of people” in Jonestown, where the Cult leader Jim Jones had established the Peoples Temple. Fitz Duke on Sept. 21 gestures at the entrance of Jonestown, Guyana. Forty-four years later, only a white slab in the overgrowth bearing the words “in memory of the victims of the Jonestown massacre” bears testament to what happened at the site. But, if children want to study that, or people want to visit as a tourist site, there is nothing,” she added.
Source:Taipei Times
December 02, 2022 20:33 UTC
China’s central bank says focus is on growth
China’s central bank says focus is on growthBloombergPeople’s Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Yi Gang (易綱) said the central bank’s attention is to be centered on economic growth, a sign policymakers might shift gear toward supporting economic recovery as the nation gradually eases COVID-19 controls. “Our focus is growth right now,” Yi said yesterday in a video speech given to a central bank conference in Bangkok. Photo: REUTERSThe central bank recently surprised market watchers by cutting the reserve requirement ratio for banks — unleashing more cash that banks can use for lending. Yi’s comments “confirmed the recent shift of policy focus to growth after the party congress” in October, Mizuho Bank foreign exchange strategist Ken Cheung (張建泰) said. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe and Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo attended the event.
Source:Taipei Times
December 02, 2022 20:31 UTC
Brain chip to start human trials in six months: Musk
Brain chip to start human trials in six months: MuskReutersElon Musk said on Wednesday he expects a wireless brain chip developed by his company Neuralink to begin human clinical trials in six months, after the company missed earlier timelines he set. “We want to be extremely careful and certain that it will work well before putting a device into a human,” Musk said during a much-awaited public update on the device. Neuralink’s last public presentation, more than a year ago, involved a monkey with a brain chip that played a computer game by thinking alone. Neuralink has repeatedly missed internal deadlines to gain FDA approval to start human trials, current and former employees have said. It received US regulatory clearance for human trials last year and has completed studies in four people in Australia.
Source:Taipei Times
December 01, 2022 17:34 UTC
Kao, Gou alliance in Hsinchu a risk for Ko
Kao, Gou alliance in Hsinchu a risk for KoBy Shih Chia-liang 施佳良In Saturday’s local elections, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) secured its place as the third force in Taiwanese politics. As party chairman, Ko only has five legislators-at-large and 14 newly elected city councilors in his pocket. Furthermore, Kao seems to consider Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) her boss and superior, more so than Ko. As she assumes office, Kao is to become a chief administrative officer in Hsinchu, and head of a local TPP faction with resources at her disposal. Through TPP headquarters in Hsinchu, Gou could have the city government acting as his central headquarters, and providing him with access to TPP members and powerbrokers.
Source:Taipei Times
December 01, 2022 16:40 UTC
The Liberty Times Editorial: Election win a challenge for KMT
The Liberty Times Editorial: Election win a challenge for KMTCalm reigns at last as Taiwanese mull over the results of Saturday’s hotly contested nine-in-one elections. Why was there such a big difference between that poll and the local election results? Besides, opposition parties’ election strategies are more aggressive than they used to be, and they use hatred to mobilize and replace their own nominees when others are seen as better positioned to win. Chu and Ko both made gains in the local elections, but the reversal of fortunes that took place between 2018 and 2020 shows that there is no inevitable relation between this year’s local elections, and the presidential and legislative elections of 2024. The election results have shown the international community how unpredictable Taiwan’s lively democracy can be.
Source:Taipei Times
December 01, 2022 04:06 UTC
Election sets stage for tense 2024 presidential race
Election sets stage for tense 2024 presidential raceBloombergTaiwan is set for a more contentious presidential race focused on rising tensions with China, after low turnout in local elections contributed to the Democratic People’s Party’s (DPP) massive losses. The DPP won just five of 21 city and county races on Saturday. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held on to 13 seats, and captured the mayoral seats in Taipei and Taoyuan. For both parties, the results are certain to ignite internal jockeying ahead of the presidential election in 2024, when Tsai is to step down due to term limits. “However, Hou is long-favored as the next candidate in the party.”However, the economy could play a key role in 2024 if growth continues to slow.
Source:Taipei Times
December 01, 2022 04:02 UTC
Retired officer and convicted spy must return pension payments, court rules
Retired officer and convicted spy must return pension payments, court rulesStaff Writer, with CNAThe Supreme Administrative Court has upheld a ruling that a retired military intelligence officer must return pension payments totaling about NT$1.66 million (US$53,528) after being convicted of leaking military secrets to an intermediary who passed them on to China. The verdict against the retired lieutenant colonel, surnamed Chu (朱), cannot be appealed, the supreme court said on Nov. 24 after a review of the case’s ruling, which had been handed down by a lower administrative court. Retired Military Intelligence Bureau major Wang Tsung-wu is pictured at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on March 5, 2015. In its ruling, the Taipei administrative court said due to Chu’s conviction under the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces, his eligibility for a pension had been voided, a ruling that Chu then appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court. Lin, a retired military officer, had been recruited by another retired Taiwanese officer named Wang Tsung-wu (王宗武), who had been recruiting spies for China and helping identify Taiwanese spies in that country.
Source:Taipei Times
November 29, 2022 02:29 UTC
Asian faiths try to save sacred swastika corrupted by Hitler
White supremacists, neo-Nazi groups and vandals have continued to use Hitler’s symbol to stoke fear and hate. RECLAIMING A SYMBOLOver the past decade, as the Asian diaspora grew in North America, calls to reclaim the swastika as a sacred symbol became louder. Sheetal Deo and her husband, Sanmeet Deo, on Nov. 13 hold a Hindu swastika symbol in their home in Syosset, New York. Photo: APDeo believes she and people of other faiths shouldn’t have to sacrifice or apologize for a sacred symbol simply because it is often conflated with its tainted version. They supported a new California law that criminalizes the public display of it, making an exception for the sacred swastika.
Source:Taipei Times
November 28, 2022 22:15 UTC
Gasoline prices to fall NT$0.1 as crude falters
Gasoline prices to fall NT$0.1 as crude faltersBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterGasoline and diesel prices are to fall NT$0.1 per liter this week due to a decline in global crude oil prices last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said in separate statements yesterday. CPC said that based on its floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil fell 6 percent last week from a week earlier, as several adverse factors dented market sentiment and depressed oil prices. “Oil prices fell last week on market rumors that OPEC and its allies plan to raise oil production by 500,000 barrels per day in December,” CPC said. A rebound in the US dollar against a collection of major currencies in the week also contributed to the crude oil price decline, CPC said. US gasoline inventories that rose to levels higher than expected and the news that the planned price cap on Russian oil by G7 nations could be above the current market level also caused downward pressure on crude oil prices, Formosa said.
Source:Taipei Times
November 28, 2022 07:34 UTC
Investors head north in global shift
Strategists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc said they expect Asia’s equity leadership to shift from Southeast Asia and India to markets such as China and South Korea next year. Photo: Isaac Lawrence, AFP“Of concern to us is that Southeast Asia is beginning to underperform in the last few weeks, as investors rotate back into North Asia,” CLSA chief equity strategist Alexander Redman said. The brokerage is overweight on Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and South Korea, neutral on Indonesia and underweight on India. That is not to say the road uphill for North Asia will be smooth. Equity benchmarks in China, South Korea and Taiwan are down more than 15 percent year-on-year, while those in Indonesia and India are up about 7 percent each.
Source:Taipei Times
November 28, 2022 07:32 UTC
2022 ELECTIONS: Defeated Taipei candidates Chen, Huang thank voters
Democratic Progressive Party Taipei mayoral candidate Chen Shih-chung, left on car, waves to members of the public in Taipei yesterday to thank them for their support in Saturday’s elections. Former Taipei deputy mayor Vivian Huang, right, who ran as an independent in the mayoral election in Taipei on Saturday, thanks supporters in the city yesterday for their support. Asked about her feelings after the election, Huang said that she believes everything in life is a task. Taipei mayor-elect Chiang Wan-an, leaning down from car, celebrates his election victory with supporters in Taipei yesterday. Huang, who the TPP endorsed ahead of the mayoral election, has abundant political experience and dedication to serve the public, Ko said.
Source:Taipei Times
November 27, 2022 22:01 UTC
KMT’s win hides vulnerabilities
KMT’s win hides vulnerabilitiesBy Chen Wen-ching 陳文卿Saturday’s local elections were a setback for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but it does not necessarily mean that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would be victorious in the 2024 presidential election. In the 2018 local elections, the KMT also claimed victory, but the DPP triumphed in 2020. Second, the KMT is facing a major threat from the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The TPP and Gou would affect the KMT’s plan, and Gou is unlikely to work with the KMT again, after how he was treated in the KMT’s most recent internal elections. Despite its terrible showing in the local elections, the DPP is still the governing party.
Source:Taipei Times
November 27, 2022 17:16 UTC