Chinese investment in US doubled in 2013: study
China’s investment in the United States doubled to $14 billion last year despite sometimes rocky political ties, with private firms leading the way, said a study out Tuesday. About half of the value consisted of Shuanghui International’s takeover of prominent pork producer Smithfield Foods, a $7.1 billion deal that marked the largest ever Chinese acquisition of a US company. But the report by the Rhodium Group, a New York-based firm that looks closely at Chinese investment, found that the total number of deals had also risen from 2012 to 82. The total value of investment hit a record high of $14 billion, with high-profile deals in real estate as well as Chinese investors took stakes in the General Motors Building and Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York.
CES 2014 Trends: The Weird and the Wonderful
Devices ranging from the sublime to the strange are debuting this week at International CES 2014. Products unveiled at the show suggest growing trends toward wearable health-tracking products and increased human-gadget interaction. There’s a bed, for example, that tells owners how they slept the previous night and what they can do to sleep better in the future.
Read More →Japan FM arrives in Spain amid China row
Japan’s foreign minister arrived Tuesday in Spain, the first venue in a European tour that will also include a stop in France that he is expected to use to press Tokyo’s case in its spat with China. Fumio Kishida’s trip comes as Japan is locked in an increasingly bitter row with China, with Beijing accusing nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of whitewashing his country’s empire-building past with a visit to a controversial spot that honours convicted war criminals. Abe’s pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine on December 26 came after more than a year of high tensions over the sovereignty of disputed islands in the East China Sea, which has left some observers warning of the danger of an armed clash in the area.
Intel Leaps Out of the Box
CEO Brian Krzanich laid out the road map for Intel’s future in his first Consumer Electronics Show keynote as CEO. Krzanich, who took over the top job last May, focused on wearable technology — including some products designed internally — as well as dual operating system tech and Intel’s McAfee security software. Among the products Krzanich displayed was a Bluetooth headset codenamed "Jarvis."
Read More →New Year’s Resolutions: Be More Secure in 2014
If you’re inclined to make resolutions this time of year and you’re concerned about your online and offline security, here are some suggestions that can keep you safer in the days ahead. At the top of the list: You should vow to change the passwords to your important accounts on a frequent basis. Using the same password for many websites is also something you should vow to avoid in 2014.
Read More →Bad to the Bone: Dealer Pleads Guilty in Fossil Smuggling Scheme
Ishihara backs sacked military chief for Tokyo governor
China-baiting former Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara on Tuesday threw his weight behind the political ambitions of an ex-military chief who was sacked after insisting Japan was not a World War II aggressor. The acerbic Ishihara, 81, who was governor of Tokyo for 13 years to 2012, said he believed the next leader of the metropolis should be fellow hardline nationalist Toshio Tamogami, the onetime chief of staff of Japan’s Air Self-Defence. Tamogami was fired from the role in 2008 after he said Japan was an Asian bulwark against Western imperialism in World War II, rather than the nation responsible for continent-wide suffering. Ishihara’s bid to buy the disputed Senkaku Islands during his tenure as Tokyo governor sparked a nosedive in relations with China, which claims them as the Diaoyus.
EU official says China’s financial sector largely closed
China’s financial sector is not open enough to foreign participation and key obstacles remain to investment, a top European Union official said Tuesday. “Chinese banks are some of the biggest and most powerful banks in the world,” Michel Barnier, European commissioner for internal market and services, told reporters. Barnier spoke at the end of a visit to China for talks with officials, including Finance Minister Lou Jiwei. The 28-nation EU and China announced in late November the launch of negotiations for a landmark investment agreement, even as they clashed bitterly last year over commercial disputes ranging from Chinese solar panels to European wine.
So Now China IS Lifting Videogame Console Ban
China reportedly will temporarily lift a sales ban on foreign videogame consoles, reversing a 14-year prohibition. Companies like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo — which long have salivated over the heretofore obstructed gold mine of Chinese videogamedom — will be allowed to make game consoles in Shanghai’s free trade zone and then sell them in China.
Read More →China lifts ban on foreign consoles, but will consumers bite?
Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony can now manufacture consoles for the Chinese market, but will consumers care when the PC scene currently runs on games that are available for free or next to nothing? The China State Council has lifted a 14-year-old ban on the sale of foreign game consoles, allowing government-approved, foreign-invested enterprises to manufacture within the 29km2 FTZ and then sell domestically, according to a report from Reuters. Nintendo had already got around the ban with the Chinese iQue brand, cramming a 1996 Nintendo 64 home console into a single control pad for the 2003 iQue Player, and rebranding 2012’s Nintendo 3DS XL as the iQue 3DS XL later that year. But Sony and Microsoft are used to selling their consoles at a loss and recouping the difference on games, a dangerous tactic when punters are put off by the high price of official software.
