Latest news with #industryministry
Japan Times
a day ago
- Business
- Japan Times
As Japan grays, government looks to aid public-private cooperation in nursing care
The industry ministry is working to promote cooperation between private firms and local governments to ensure a stable supply of nursing care and elderly support services as demand increases in the graying country. The initiative is aimed at making it easier for companies to develop services in the fields by helping them understand demand in each region. In fiscal 2025, subsidies of up to ¥6 million ($40,800) will be provided to companies that work to develop services tailored to each region, such as by conducting surveys to learn about specific needs in cooperation with local governments. The ministry hopes to create model cases of public-private cooperation. The selected companies will be announced in mid-August. After their projects are completed, the companies will be asked to submit performance reports. As the population ages, the proportion of people who provide nursing care while working is on the rise, and demand for services not covered by insurance, such as helping elderly people with shopping, keeping an eye on them and accompanying them to hospital, is also expected to grow. Meanwhile, private-sector companies are often cautious about entering the market out of concern for their ability to figure out the needs for nursing care and elderly support. After obtaining information such as the number of elderly people and resident requests from local governments, the ministry aims to promote the development of sustainable services reflecting the needs of each region.
LBCI
14-07-2025
- Business
- LBCI
Malaysia clamps down on export, transit of US-made AI chips
Malaysia clamped down Monday on the export, trans-shipment, and transit of all U.S.-made artificial intelligence chips, seeking to stop illegal trade, including to countries such as China. "Effective immediately, all exports tranships, and transits of high-performance AI chips of U.S. origin are subject to a strategic trade permit," Malaysia's investment, trade, and industry ministry said in a statement. AFP
Japan Times
04-07-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Japan eyes 'golden share' as condition for aid to Rapidus
The industry ministry on Friday announced a plan for the government to hold a veto-wielding "golden share" in exchange for financial aid to companies such as Rapidus, which aims to realize domestic production of next-generation semiconductors. Golden shares in the companies will be held by the Information-Technology Promotion Agency, an independent administrative agency under the industry ministry. Parameters of the golden shares will be drawn up by companies and then screened by the ministry. Companies capable of producing semiconductors with a circuit line width of up to 2 nanometers in the country by the late 2020s will be eligible for government aid. In addition to granting the government a golden share and some voting rights, companies that receive government aid will also be required to raise funds from the private sector as much as possible. The government has already decided to provide more than ¥1.7 trillion to Rapidus. It plans to sell Rapidus shares received in exchange for the aid at an appropriate time, based on the company's stock price and management situation. It will also provide debt guarantees, which will be only partial to prevent the company from becoming too dependent on government support. The ministry will begin accepting applications for some ¥100 billion in aid around this summer or autumn.
Reuters
27-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
China's total gold imports via Hong Kong fall 1.5% m/m in May
June 27 (Reuters) - China's total gold imports via Hong Kong fell 1.5% in May from April, Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department data showed on Friday. As the world's leading gold consumer, China's purchasing activities can significantly influence global gold markets. The Hong Kong data may not provide a complete picture of Chinese purchases, as gold is also imported via Shanghai and Beijing. Net imports via Hong Kong to China for May stood at 48.127 metric tons, compared to 43.462 tons net imports in April. China's total gold imports via Hong Kong reached 57.76 tons in May, down 1.5% from 58.61 tons in April. China aims to increase its gold resources by 5% to 10%, and its gold and silver output by more than 5% by 2027, the industry ministry said on Monday in an implementation plan for 2025 to 2027. Shanghai Gold Exchange said on Wednesday it would list ipau99.99hk and ipau99.5hk contracts on Thursday to expand the opening-up of the gold market to the outside world.
BBC News
26-06-2025
- BBC News
Why your old mobile phone may be polluting Thailand
At an industrial site in eastern Thailand, Thitipas Choddaechachainun sifts through mounds of scrap metal, circuit boards and old computer keyboards in a cavernous warehouse next to a busy forensic scientists, she and her team of inspectors from Thailand's industry ministry take samples of the waste and carefully bag it up to be taken away for analysis."A lot of this is clearly electronic waste and the company that owns this site doesn't have a licence to process it," she concludes. "This is a growing problem in Thailand."Ms Choddaechachainun is the head of a ministry task force trying to get to grips with Thailand's e-waste week, she and her team head out to raid these unlicenced plants, which have popped up in recent years, mostly in rural areas, out of sight of the despite their efforts, the problem keeps growing. In the past, China was a major recipient of electronic waste. Tonnes of it were shipped across the world, mostly from Western countries, to be dumped there and recycled in 2018, Beijing banned imports. That forced shippers to look elsewhere and many of them alighted on Thailand and other countries in Southeast introduced its own import ban in 2020 but it has not solved the problem. According to environmental group Earth Thailand, the amount of electronic waste flooding into the country has increased twentyfold in the past decade, from around 3,000 tonnes a year before the Chinese ban to 60,000 of it comes from the US and the European Union, where consumers update their mobile phones and computers relatively frequently, and where per-capita use of electrical goods like fridges and washing machines is though most Western countries have laws in place to prevent the dumping of e-waste in other countries, there are ways round them. Some waste, for example, is deliberately mis-labelled as "second-hand electronic goods for re-sale", only to be smashed up, recycled and smelted once it reaches its smelting is a dirty business, releasing mercury, lead and toxic fumes into the environment. But it is also lucrative, producing millions of dollars-worth of copper, gold and other valuable metals and minerals. "Thailand is not getting anything from these businesses," Thai industry minister Akanat Promphan tells the BBC in Bangkok. "There's no value to the economy, it destroys the environment, it poses threats and endangers the livelihood of the people. That's why I've formed a special task force to engage in a full-on crackdown on these businesses."He says the unlicenced recycling plants, many of which are Chinese-owned, have created "a sort of a garbage site - an international garbage processing facility - in Thailand".Once the e-waste arrives in Thailand and reaches the sites, it is fed into giant crushing machines which reduce it to a kind of gravel. It is then smelted to retrieve the valuable Promphan says most of that metal is then exported to environmental impact of this business can be devastating. On his small plot of land in eastern Thailand, 57-year-old Seng Wongsena tells the BBC that polluted water running from a nearby smelter has blighted his cassava harvest. "The plants don't flower like the used to," he says, complaining that the smell from the smelter is so bad that it keeps him awake at environmentalists say the plant is operating illegally and have urged the local authorities to shut it environmentalists are campaigning on these issues too."Thailand has really borne the brunt of so much," says Jim Puckett, executive director of the Basel Action Network, an NGO that campaigns against the shipment of toxic waste. "If you import this very dirty material for recycling you were going to contaminate your soil, your people."Thailand's fight against e-waste is part of a much larger global problem. According to the United Nations, the world produces over 60 million tonnes of electrical and electronic waste each year – twice as much as 15 years ago. That figure is projected to grow by more than 30% by the end of the than a quarter of it is collected and recycled responsibly, the UN says. And the rate of recycling is failing to keep up with the rate at which we are generating countries have introduced laws to make the manufacturers of electronic goods – the likes of Apple, Samsung, Dell and Hewlett Packard – more responsible for taking back gadgets once they have reached the end of their life and disposing of them is planning to follow suit with a law of its own."I'm hoping for the enactment of this new legislation as soon as possible, maybe towards the end of this year, maybe at the beginning of next year," Mr Promphan says. "I'm fully committed to take full actions against this illegal business and drive them out. Completely."
