■ Trade
US turns down appeal
The US has turned down a Bangladeshi appeal to waive a US$50 million penalty for exporting garments beyond its quota, officials said yesterday. A commerce ministry official said the US decision would be a "big blow for the country's garment sector," which is cash-strapped Bangladesh's key earner of foreign exchange. The US imposed the US$50 million penalty after Bangladesh last year shipped 175,000 items of cotton trousers beyond its quota allowance. In a letter to Bangladesh's Commerce Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury released here, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said Washington "cannot waive the penalty that was imposed."
■ Petroleum
Manila to subsidize oil
President Gloria Arroyo's government is considering a limited oil subsidy to help consumers of diesel, the fuel of choice for the Philippines' mass transport system, her office said yesterday. The government is concerned over the possible inflationary effect of rising prices of refined oil products. "I have ordered the Department of Transportation and Communication and the Department of Energy to conduct a thorough study on the capability of the government to subsidize petroleum prices so that the price of diesel can be kept low," Arroyo said in a statement. The government is observing austerity measures to keep the national budget deficit within the target ceiling of 202 billion pesos (US$3.69 billion) this year.
■ Real estate
Japan to raise airport rents
Japan will raise rents for companies operating Narita, Haneda and 24 regional state-owned airports because current charges, which are indexed to land prices, have fallen, inflating operator margins, the Nikkei English News reported. Fees will be levied on parking and store sales in order to collect an additional several billion yen from the closely held operators of the airports, the report said, citing people in the Japanese government that it did not identify. Rents at the Tokyo International Airport at Haneda declined by 60 percent between 1994 and last year, while sales at the airport rose, the report said. Operators' pretax profit margins stand at 7.9 percent compared with 5 percent for publicly traded retail and real estate companies, the report said, citing the government.
■ Software
MS settles with Be Inc
Microsoft Corp has agreed to pay US$23.25 million in an out-of-court settlement to resolve an antitrust lawsuit that had been brought against the company by defunct software maker Be Inc. Microsoft announced the settlement with California-based Be Inc late Friday. The two groups did not divulge further details of their settlement, which is related to a lawsuit Be Inc filed against the world's largest software maker in February last year. In a short statement Microsoft simply confirmed that, in light of the payment, Be Inc had agreed to end its federal lawsuit against Microsoft. The settlement comes after the Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft had tried to pressure computer makers to boycott a program being marketed by Be Inc. In May, Microsoft agreed to pay US$750 million to AOL Time Warner for AOL to abandon an antitrust suit concerning Internet browsers that enable computer users to surf the Web.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a