U.S. President Joe Biden will visit Asia for the first time on May 23 to meet with Kishida| read the world

Reading Global(2022.04.28)

U.S. President Joe Biden will make his first visit to Asia for talks with Kishida on May 23

Kyodo News Agency reported that Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroichi Matsuno revealed at a press conference on the 28th that US President Biden will visit Japan from May 22 to 24. Biden will hold summit talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the 23rd, and attend the summit of the "Quad" mechanism (Quad) between Japan, the United States, Australia and India on the 24th. The White House released news that Biden will visit Japan and South Korea from the 20th to the 24th. The South Korean side said that the schedule of visiting South Korea is 20 to 22 days, and it will visit Japan after that. This will be Biden's first visit to an Asian country since taking office.

The White House stressed that "the Biden administration's unwavering engagement in a free and open Indo-Pacific and alliance with Japan and South Korea will be developed." "In addition to confirming cooperation in response to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the Issue of North Korea, which accelerates the development of nuclear and missiles, will also become an issue."

Biden aims to enhance close cooperation on security and economic terms through talks with Kishida and Yoon Seok-yue, who will become South Korea's president on May 10.

At the Quad Summit, in addition to strengthening cooperation, the focus was on how in-depth positions could be demonstrated around the situation in Ukraine. India has close ties with Russia at the security level such as arms procurement, and has also exercised restraint in publicly criticizing Russia. The Quad Summit wants to avoid exposing inconsistencies in pace.

Biden will invite the heads of state of the Association of Association (ASEAN) to visit the United States on May 12 and 13 for a special U.S.-ASEAN summit.

WHO: Suspected salmonella-containing chocolate has led to cases in 11 countries

Lianhe Zaobao reported on April 28 that the World Health Organization recently issued a communiqué saying that 11 countries have recently reported cases of Salmonella infection suspected of being related to chocolate produced in Belgium, and salmonella-contaminated chocolate has been sold to at least 113 countries and regions.

The WHO said that the United Kingdom reported a group of salmonella infection cases to the WHO on March 27, and the investigation showed that the source of infection can be traced back to the Kinder chocolate series produced by the Italian Ferrero Group at the plant in Arlon, Belgium, in December and January this year.

As of April 25, 151 cases of salmonella infection suspected of being associated with the consumption of contaminated chocolate products had been reported in 11 countries, including Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, WHO said. Eighty-nine per cent of those infected are children under 10 years of age, and at least nine infected people are hospitalized.

Salmonella can cause food poisoning with symptoms including fever, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea. Most infected people do not need special treatment to heal themselves, but for special groups such as children and the elderly, severe illness or even death can occur.

The Official Website of International Food Safety has issued an alert on April 10 to recall related products worldwide. The WHO said the risk of global spread was tentatively assessed as "moderate" until it obtained comprehensive information on the recall.

Nearly a third of the ECB's managers are German

Reuters reported that the data released by the European Central Bank on the 28th showed that one-third of the ECB's managers are German, which makes the representativeness of the ECB's host country much greater than its size suggests.

For the first time, the ECB has broken down its employees and management by nationality, and the data shows that France, the eurozone's second-largest country, is underrepresented at the ECB. Since 2019, the central bank has been led by Christine Lagarde, a French woman.

The data also shows that 31.3 percent of the Frankfurt-based institution's managers are Germans; 27.7 percent of the roughly 4,000 employees.

That's higher than the country's 21.4 percent stake in ecbloc capital, which is calculated based on the size of a country's economy as well as its population, and is used by the central bank in distributing profits and financial firepower.

France has 10.8 percent of the ECB's managers and 7.2 percent of its employees, down from its own 16.6 percent stake in the ECB and even behind Italy and Spain in terms of top representation.

Despite Britain's departure from the EU in 2020, at the end of last year, Britons still accounted for 4.6% of all ECB employees and 3.8% of managers, possibly because they joined the ECB before Brexit.

Only EU citizens can join the ECB, regardless of whether their country uses the euro as its currency.

Fitness Metacosm: This company lets you trade your sweat for cryptocurrency and NFTs

Forbes reported on the 28th that exercise is good for both waistline and hip bottom line, which is a suggestion made by OliveX to its mobile blockchain gamers.

Players can earn DOSE tokens and NFTs by completing OliveX's adventure game missions, which require players to run different distances with their smartphones in hand in the real world. The virtual rewards they accumulate can be used to upgrade the game or trade on crypto exchanges and NFT markets.

The company says it can tap into three booming industries by combining physical fitness with mobile video games that incorporate blockchain technology. The company's long-term goal is to build a fitness gaming ecosystem that combines with Animoca Brands' metaversymic game Sandbox. In this virtual world, players can create, buy, and sell their own in-game assets while interacting with other users and brands.

The company is listed in Australia and raised $8 million ($5.7 million) in funding through a rights issue last November to develop Dustland Runner, OliveX's first blockchain game launched at the end of March. In the game, players will take on the role of "runners" who are employed as freelancers and recycle and transport mysterious contraband in an apocalyptic desert inhabited by bandits and monsters.

OliveX's decision to join the cryptocurrency boom has attracted the attention of investors. The company's market capitalization has doubled in the past year to $190.5 million. Its financial reports show that in the six months to December last year, the company's revenue was $1.3 million, a 10-fold year-on-year increase, while net loss narrowed by 55% year-on-year to $2.3 million. The company said it was considering a secondary listing in Canada.

Now, OliveX is preparing for its next game, Dustland Rider, with its newly acquired fitness gaming platform, Sol Cycle. The blockchain game, which may have launched as early as June this year, will use the bicycle as a gaming tool to replace running. After that, the company hopes to incorporate more sports like boxing and boating, and has begun using motion detection technology in games.

Lawson will sell MUJI products at all stores in Japan

Japan Economic News reported on the 28th that Rosen will expand the sales of the daily necessities brand "MUJI". It plans to replace more than 5% of approximately 3,500 products with MUJI products in approximately 14,000 stores that are roughly equivalent to all of Lawson's stores by 2023. Due to the successive increase in the price of food, consumers are looking higher and higher in choosing goods. Rosen intends to increase traffic by adding well-known "MUJI" daily necessities and food products to its products.

Rosen began trial sales of MUJI products in June 2020, and currently sells the brand in about 110 stores in the Tokyo area. Starting in May 2022, it will take about half a year to promote it in about 5,000 stores in Kashin-etsu, Kanto. With a target of 2023, MUJI products will be introduced to approximately 14,000 stores in 47 prefectures in Japan, which is roughly equivalent to all Lawson stores.

In addition to about 170 kinds of daily necessities such as stationery, cosmetics, and socks, we will also sell about 30 kinds of foods such as fast food curries and snacks. The price is the same as that of muji's regular store. The two companies will also discuss further expanding their products and jointly developing their own brand products.

At the Lawson store, which has exchanged some of its products for trial sales, sales have increased by about 20% compared to the original products. Since confirming MUJI's products would boost sales across stores by 2 to 5 percent, Rosen decided to sell them in almost all stores.

(This article is compiled from Kyodo News Agency, Liana Zaobao, Reuters, Forbes, Nihon Keizai Shimbun)

Economic Observation Network intern reporter Zhou Yuqing sorted out