August, 2016

• 1 August

  Amazon takes on Alibaba with Japan portal for Chinese shoppers

  

    Bloomberg Just before the stores open in Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district, buses pull up, unleashing Chinese tourists and their credit cards to snap up televisions, rice cookers and other gadgets. Walk into any department store and there they are, buying mascara, t-shirts and other merchandise. China’s infatuation with Japanese products is now discovering a new source of satisfaction: the ...

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• 1 August

  Fragile US economy faces slowdown in building boom

  

    Bloomberg At a quarry in Bridgeport, Texas, where rock is crushed, sorted and cleaned, it’s hard to tell that the nation’s construction boom may be hitting a wall. Workers maneuver front-end loaders to fill a long line of rail cars and trucks with up to 25 tons of washed stone each. The destination: one of many construction projects that ...

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• 1 August

  Hong Kong housing rebound may be short-lived

  

    Bloomberg Hong Kong’s secondary property prices rose in the second quarter, marking a pause in a correction that analysts said may resume amid higher supply and weaker demand. Secondary property prices advanced 1.6 percent in the three months ended June 30, compared with a drop of 4.8 percent in the prior three months, according to figures released Friday by ...

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• 1 August

  Rexel’s new CEO pledges review of 2020 targets

    Bloomberg Rexel SA’s new chief executive officer will review the company’s 2020 targets as partial recoveries in the French construction and oil and gas markets help the electrical-equipment maker meet its goals for this year. The management team will focus on “delivering our 2016 targets, along with reviewing our action plans and updating our 2020 ambitions,” Chief Executive Officer ...

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• 1 August

  China’s new home price rise accelerates in July

  

    AFP Price rises for new homes in China accelerated in July from the previous month, a survey showed on Monday, with some buyers possibly prompted by moves in some cities to curb prices. The average price for new homes in 100 major cities increased 1.63 percent month-on-month in June to 12,009 yuan ($1,814) per square metre, the China Index ...

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• 1 August

  Vodafone’s new ‘voiceless’ plan strikes accord with tech-savvy

  

    Bloomberg Inside a packed Vodafone Group Plc store in the Zambian capital of Lusaka, a group of the city’s tech-savvy students wait in line for wireless modems they hope will transform their ability to surf the internet. They don’t even care that they won’t be able to get a voice plan to talk over the British mobile operator’s network ...

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• 1 August

  Glaxo, Alphabet to make bio-electronic medicines

  

    Bloomberg GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the UK’s biggest drugmaker, is forming a joint venture with Google parent Alphabet Inc.’s life-sciences business to explore using electrical signals to treat diseases. Glaxo will hold a 55 percent stake in the venture, called Galvani Bioelectronics, and Alphabet’s Verily Life Sciences LLC will hold 45 percent, according to a statement on Monday. The companies will ...

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• 1 August

  The VCR bows out in 2016

  

    Relaxnews Funai Electric Company, the last remaining Japanese manufacturer of VCR devices — sold under various brand names, such as Sanyo in North America — has announced an end to production this summer. The manufacturer reported sales of 750,0000 video recorders worldwide in 2015. This latest nail in the coffin for the VCR spells the end of a technological ...

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• 1 August

  Trawlers hit fishermen hard

  

    DPA The day doesn’t start too badly for fisherman Celmo Mantovani. His patch, the Copacabana, is at its best at 5.30 in the morning, the rising sun streaks the sky with red and gold, and the Sugarloaf mountain rears up black against it. Mantovani and a couple of colleagues push their 23-year-old boat, the El Shaday, into the water ...

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• 1 August

  Passion for the classics

  

    AFP Thomas Kurz strokes the hood of his Plymouth Road Runner almost affectionately with a cloth. “It’s a 1970 model,” he says, alluding to the fact that this highly polished muscle-car with 335 horsepower under the hood is exactly as old as its owner. Kurz is a trained vehicle mechanic who specializes in US classics. Late last year, he ...

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