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SEOUL (ITNTV) - South Korea’s March factory output jumped by the most in 11 years as demand for display panels and cars received an unexpected boost from lengthy shutdowns in competing Chinese factories amid the coronavirus pandemic. Industrial output surged by a seasonally adjusted 4.6% in March from a month earlier, government data showed on Wednesday, marking the biggest expansion since a 7.3% jump in February 2009 and handily beating a 1.3% fall tipped in a Reuters survey. Production of electronic components including display panels soared 12.7% while autos output surged 45.1%, as virus-related production disruptions in China benefited Korean manufacturers and the launch of new car models also helped. “Output of electronic components were seen weakening before March but demand surged in March on production disruptions at Chinese companies,” a Statistics Korea official said. ADVERTISEMENT The boost is likely to be short-lived, however, as factories in China gradua...

CHICAGO (ITNTV) - With the pandemic hobbling the meat-packing industry, Iowa farmer Al Van Beek had nowhere to ship his full-grown pigs to make room for the 7,500 piglets he expected from his breeding operation. The crisis forced a decision that still troubles him: He ordered his employees to give injections to the pregnant sows, one by one, that would cause them to abort their baby pigs. Van Beek and other farmers say they have no choice but to cull livestock as they run short on space to house their animals or money to feed them, or both. The world’s biggest meat companies - including Smithfield Foods Inc, Cargill Inc, JBS USA and Tyson Foods Inc - have halted operations at about 20 slaughterhouses and processing plants in North America since April as workers fall ill, stoking global fears of a meat shortage. Van Beek’s piglets are victims of a sprawling food-industry crisis that began with the mass closure of restaurants - upending that sector’s supply chain, overwhelming...

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (ITNTV) - President Donald Trump on Tuesday plans to order meat processing plants concerned about coronavirus outbreaks to stay open to protect the food supply in the United States, drawing a backlash from unions who said at-risk workers required more protection. FILE PHOTO: Plant workers produce lean, finely textured beef (LFTB) at the Beef Products Inc (BPI) facility in South Sioux City, Nebraska, November 19, 2012.REUTERS/Lane Hickenbottom/File Photo With concerns about food shortages and supply chain disruptions, Trump is expected to sign an executive order using the Defense Production Act to mandate that the plants continue to function, a senior administration official said. The five-page order is designed to give companies such as Tyson Foods Inc and others legal cover with more liability protection in case employees catch the virus as a result of having to go to work. The order will also include guidance to minimize risk to workers who are e...

NEW YORK (ITNTV) - The Federal Reserve is widely expected on Wednesday to lift the interest rates that influence its fed funds target, a technical move that could keep interbank lending running smoothly and help prevent financial market disruption should the benchmark rate fall below zero. FILE PHOTO: The Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue is pictured in Washington, U.S., March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid The effective fed funds rate dropped as low as 0.04% twice in the past week. That matched the level set in December 2011, two years after the economy emerged from the last recession, heightening concerns among some investors that it could go negative for the first time in the wake of the Fed’s aggressive moves to limit market damage from the coronavirus outbreak. The fed funds rate declined despite the $1.35 trillion in Treasury bills brought to the market in the past four weeks, as low rates on repurchase agreements and depressed yields on T...

ANKARA (ITNTV) - At least 40 civilians were killed, including 11 children, when a bomb detonated in the northern Syrian town of Afrin on Tuesday, the Turkish Defence Ministry said, blaming the attack on the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. In a statement on Twitter, the ministry said the blast occurred in a crowded area in Afrin’s centre. A video shared by the ministry showed black smoke billowing in the air while ambulance and police sirens wailed in the background. The United States condemned the attack late on Tuesday, which State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said claimed “the lives of dozens of people shopping in the central market as they prepared to break the Ramadan fast.” ADVERTISEMENT “Initial reports indicate many victims were civilians, including children,” she said in the statement, reiterating a U.S. call for a nationwide ceasefire in Syria. “Such cowardly acts of evil are unacceptable from any side in this conflict.” Ankara views the YPG as a terror...