■SARS closures
Ricoh closes factory
Ricoh Co, Japan's second-biggest office-equipment maker, said it shut a factory in Beijing for six days earlier this month after a worker was diagnosed with SARS. Ricoh closed the plant, which produces thermal transfer ribbons, from May 6 to 11, said spokesman Takanobu Matsunami. The company, which said SARS hasn't affected its production or earnings, asked 50 of the plant's 60 employees to stay home during the period. SARS has killed 662 people worldwide, with more than 80 percent of deaths in China and Hong Kong, according to the World Health Organization's Web site.
■ Technology
Temporary DVD unveiled
The Walt Disney Co is to test a rental DVD that self destructs in a bid to increase home viewing of its movies. The DVD's will go on sale in August for slightly more than it costs to rent a movie. Buyers can view the enclosed movie as many times as they want for 48 hours after opening the package, after which a chemical will be released that will render the movie unwatchable. Disney also plans to launch a trial version of a pay-per-view movie receiver box, which will plug into televisions like other devices such as video recorders. The box will come pre-loaded with 100 films, and Disney will upload about 10 more per month via broadcast in the pilot markets. Scheduled to launch in Salt Lake City and two other cities, Disney will make the set-top receivers available for rent at elec-tronics stores. Movie prices will be similar to those of rentals, and viewers will be able to watch a rented film as many times as they wish within a 24-hour period. Disney hopes that cus-tomers will use its new technology from home rather than drive to video rental stores.
■ Taxes
Expats keep tax break
The US Congress appears likely to retain tax-free status for 6 million Americans living overseas that make less than US$80,000 per year, the Asian Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. A repeal of the Section 911 income-tax exclusion would make employing US workers more expensive and would send many expats home. Senate and House members have been taken aback by an aggressive campaign against the change from US businesses abroad, the report said. The repeal has modest support in the Senate and is expected to be retained by a majority in the House of Representatives, it said. Senate and House negotiators could finalize a decision no earlier than next Monday.
■ Monetary policy
Bank chief becomes cabbie
Brazil's respected former Central Bank chief Arminio Fraga is soon to be seen dispensing financial wisdom from behind the wheel of a taxi. Fraga is set to appear as a taxi-driver in one of Brazil's most popular satirical television shows, Casseta&Planeta, a local network said on Tuesday. In the skit a businessman is shocked to find his cab driver confidently expound-ing views on the wild swings of Brazil's exchange rate. Fraga's cover is eventually blown and he explains why he has chosen his new profession. "After I left the Central Bank I started thinking, where can a guy with my curriculum and knowledge be used to his full potential? In a taxi! Because the people who really run the economy and everything else are taxi drivers," Fraga is scripted to say, according to a Globo Television spokesman.
Agencies
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday criticized the nuclear energy referendum scheduled for Saturday next week, saying that holding the plebiscite before the government can conduct safety evaluations is a denial of the public’s right to make informed decisions. Lai, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), made the comments at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting at its headquarters in Taipei. ‘NO’ “I will go to the ballot box on Saturday next week to cast a ‘no’ vote, as we all should do,” he said as he called on the public to reject the proposition to reactivate the decommissioned
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