Day: April 4, 2024

Rescuers search for 18 people following Taiwan’s biggest quake in 25 years

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Rescue teams in Taiwan continued to look for missing people Friday following a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit eastern Hualien county on Wednesday. The quake killed 10 people, injured more than 1,000 and left hundreds of people stranded after boulders blocked roads. Around 200 people near the quake’s epicenter are staying in shelters, with the main road to Taipei still closed. The fire department said 18 people are still missing, according to the Reuters news agency. Rescue workers are still trying to reach hundreds of people trapped in tunnels that…

Tech war: Intel’s US$7 billion loss a cost of winning back American supremacy in chip production, says chief executive

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Emphasising that there is only one Western firm among the three companies “on the planet” that can make advanced semiconductors, Gelsinger added that “rebuilding the Western supply chains of the world” could become profitable in the years to come. “We expect to break even in that business in the 2027 time frame. And then turn nicely profitable”, he said of the company’s plan. Gelsinger said “part of the problem is we have to significantly overinvest to get back to competitive” against Asian rivals. Intel discloses US$7 billion operating loss for…

Chinese cities spark outcry with ban on joss paper sales and ‘feudal superstitions’ for Ching Ming Festival

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The city warned of fines, administrative penalties and even criminal prosecution for those found violating the rules. People visit the tombs of relatives during the annual Ching Ming Festival at Beijing’s Babaoshan Cemetery in April 2023. Photo: AFP During Ching Ming Festival, Chinese families visit the tombs of their ancestors, clean their gravesites and make ritual offerings to the dead in a solemn ceremony of remembrance. Offerings typically include traditional food dishes and the burning of joss sticks, incense paper, and paper replicas of items such as mansions, cars, and…

Samsung signals end to chip downturn with forecast 10-fold jump in profit

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Samsung Electronics expects to post a 10-fold jump in first-quarter operating profit as memory chip prices stage a strong recovery after the industry’s worst downturn in decades last year. The world’s largest maker of memory chips by sales estimated on Friday that operating profit surged 931 per cent to Won6.6tn ($4.9bn) in preliminary numbers for the first three months of this year. That was better than analysts’ expectations of Won5.7tn, according to…

Junta artillery destroys 400 homes, kills 5 in southern Myanmar

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Junta artillery shelling in the southern part of Myanmar killed five people and burned down an estimated 400 homes, the first major attack in relatively peaceful Mon state since the February 2021 military coup d’état, residents said. Naval vessels fired heavy weapons at Dhamma Tha village in Kyaikmaraw township from the Gyaing River on March 27-28, killing a 12-year-old child, two women and two others, according to the Mon State Federal Council, or MSFC, a political organization representing the people of the state. More houses went up in flames after…

US official talks AUKUS expansion ahead of summit with Japan

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washington —  U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell has suggested that the U.S.-U.K.-Australia trilateral security partnership known as AUKUS may soon be expanded to include other Indo-Pacific nations. AUKUS was established in 2021 in the face of China’s increasingly assertive presence in the Indo-Pacific. Talks about other countries joining the group or participating in what is called Pillar 2 have been circulating for more than a year. “It was always believed when AUKUS was launched that, at some point, we would welcome new countries to participate, particularly in Pillar…

US, Japan, Philippines eye cooperation on South China Sea

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washington —  Planning is already underway for three-nation naval patrols in the South China Sea ahead of a high-profile summit next week among the leaders of the United States, Japan and the Philippines, senior officials have said. Philippine ambassador to the U.S. Jose Manuel Romualdez was quoted by the Financial Times on Wednesday saying that Washington, Tokyo and Manila are finalizing details of an agreement on the patrols, including when to begin and how often they will take place. The U.S. and the Philippines have conducted joint patrols in the…

China’s central bank sees resolve for stable yuan, stimulus tested as Fed holds firm on rates

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Although China’s central bank has hinted at plans for more monetary easing, uncertainty over the exact timing of US interest rate cuts and renewed depreciation pressures on the yuan are likely to delay any moves in that vein, analysts said. Stress has piled on the yuan as the US Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady following a two-day policy meeting that ended on March 20. At least one reduction in rates is widely anticipated for this year after months of increase and maintenance, and officials have suggested as many as…

North Korean no-no: Carrying bags on your shoulder

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In North Korea, carrying a bag with a strap on your shoulder can get you in trouble – because that’s the way they do it in the capitalist South.  Instead, true socialists carry bags on their back or in one hand, people are told, sources in the reclusive country said. It’s the latest example of authorities controlling even the personal details of North Koreans’ lives. Women are told they can’t wear shorts, people are punished for using loan words from English, which they may have learned from South Korean TV…

Rebel drones target junta powerbase in Myanmar’s capital, shadow govt says

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Rebel groups targeted the junta’s military headquarters and air base in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw with 29 drones on Thursday in a rare attack on the military regime’s stronghold, according to the shadow National Unity Government, or NUG. Anti-junta armed groups aligned with the NUG are increasingly turning to low-cost drones in a bid to level the playing field in their conflict with the military, which seized power in a February 2021 coup d’etat.  The military regularly conducts airstrikes with fighter jets and uses heavy artillery to target rebel positions, often…