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Tesla hits China speed bump with blowback over safety, service
Beijing (AFP) - Electric carmaker Tesla has hit a speed bump in China with questions being raised over safety and service just as local competitors gear up to challenge the US-based company in the huge Chinese market. Tesla's road in China had seemed paved with gold after founder Elon Musk was granted rare permission to build a wholly-owned factory in Shanghai that has allowed it to accelerate to the head of the pack in China's electric vehicle (EV) market. But a Tesla customer's protest at the Shanghai Auto Show on Monday has the company backpedalling after mounting pressure from consumers an...
AFP
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Germany's Maas calls for cooperation, not confrontation, with China
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that despite the profound differences between Germany and China, the two countries should focus on cooperation, rather than confrontation, in comments on Wednesday ahead of talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi. "Disengagement is the wrong path in our view," said Maas. His talks with Wang are part of German-Chinese intergovernmental consultations. The talks are usually hosted alternately by each country, attended by government leaders and ministers. However, one-to-one ministerial meetings have been held by video this year due to the pandemic. Chin...
DPA
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Deadly new snake named after mythical Chinese goddess of healing
Researchers have described a new species of venomous snake, from one of the deadliest and most medically significant groups of snakes in Asia. The new reptile species, the Suzhen’s krait (Bungarus suzhenae), was previously grouped together with the many-banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus). However, after careful examination of the features and mitochondrial DNA sequence data from snake specimens collected between 2016 and 2019 from Yunnan province, China, researchers decided there were enough differences to warrant a new species. The findings are published in the journal ZooKeys. The new krai...
Mongabay
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Mideast states made 'chilling' use of executions amid pandemic: Amnesty
Paris (AFP) - States in the Middle East made "ruthless and chilling" use of the death penalty in 2020 despite the Covid-19 pandemic, led by Iran which employed capital punishment as a method of political repression and Egypt which tripled executions, Amnesty International said Wednesday. The London-based rights group said it recorded 483 executions in 18 countries worldwide last year, a decrease of 26 percent from the 657 recorded in 2019 and the lowest number it has registered in the past decade. Amnesty's report does not include China, which it said remains the "world's leading executioner,"...
AFP
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Thailand’s PTT invests $50 mil. in Taiwan’s Lotus for SE Asian pharma growth
By Gloria Cho TAIPEI, NNA - Innobic (Asia) will invest $50 million for a 6.7 percent stake in Taiwan's Lotus Pharmaceutical Co. to forge a partnership to target the fast-growing Southeast Asian pharmacy market. Innobic, a wholly owned subsidiary of Thailand's state-owned oil and gas company PTT, will buy over 17 million newly issued Lotus shares at $2.87 each. Expected to be completed by this week, the transaction will be done through Innobic LL Holding Co., which was established recently under Innobic (Asia) to operate as the pharmaceutical and life science arm of PTT, Lotus said in a stateme...
NNA Business News
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Chip giant TSMC to invest $100 bil. to meet rising demand
By Gloria Cho TAIPEI, NNA – The world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., plans to fork out $100 billion to expand chip fabrication over three years starting from 2021 to profit from the strong demand for 5G technology and high-performance computing (HPC). Revising revenue upwards from 15 percent to 20 percent, TSMC has also decided to raise its full-year capital expenditure to around $30 billion, up from the $28 billion announced previously. The significant investment outlays reflect its optimistic outlook for this year and beyond, said its top executives at ...
NNA Business News
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Cooperate despite 'genocide'? Biden tests ties with China, Russia
Washington (AFP) - US President Joe Biden's administration accuses China of genocide but reached a joint pledge to cooperate on climate. The White House is also working to arrange a summit with Russia, despite imposing harsh new sanctions. Biden's strategy is not about easing tensions, so often the stated goal of diplomacy, but identifying narrow areas to work together -- especially on climate change -- while acknowledging that much of the relationship will remain hostile. Biden alluded to America's Cold War relationship with the Soviet Union last week after he ordered sanctions and the expuls...
AFP
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Huawei exec seeks months-long delay in US case
Vancouver (AFP) - Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on Monday requested a four-month delay in her extradition case in Canada, citing newly obtained documents from investment bank HSBC her team claims are key to her defense. Chief financial officer Meng -- whose father is the company's founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei -- is fighting extradition to the United States, where she faces charges of bank fraud and conspiracy related to a Huawei subsidiary's alleged violations of US sanctions on Iran. Her lawyers asked that the case, which was due to resume at the end of April, be pushed to August 3, so they ...
AFP
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Hong Kong's pro-Beijing camp wants to ‘get rid of’ pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily
Pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po's full-page feature calling for an investigation on pro-democracy media outlets for “spreading fake news”. Screen capture via Twitter user Galileo Cheng. Hong Kong's independent media are anticipating a sweeping purge of the critical press in the coming weeks — if recent words voiced by Police Chief Chris Tang, which were widely endorsed by the city's pro-Beijing newspapers, are any indication. In a public speech delivered on the occasion “national security education day” on April 15, Tang accused a few media outlets of “disseminating fake news” that “serves the interest...
Global Voices
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Volkswagen pushes electric car plans at Shanghai auto show
Volkswagen hopes its share of China's market for cars with alternative engines can soon reach about 15 per cent, equivalent to the share it currently enjoys in sales of standard automobiles, the boss of its China branch has said. "Volkswagen has a solid history of arriving somewhat later, but with that much more heft," Stephan Woellenstein said on Sunday ahead of the start of the trade show 2021 Auto Shanghai. Volkswagen has recently announced massive plans to shift away from combustion engines and into cars powered by electricity and other forms of power. Companies like Tesla have a major hea...
DPA
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