■ Tourism
Visa fees waved for Expo
Japan said yesterday that it would waive visa charges for visitors to the six-month World Exposition, the international showcase of technology and innovation which opens next month in Aichi Prefecture. Japan said short-term, non-employment visas issued from tomorrow to Sept. 25, the last day of the World Expo, would be free if the trip included a visit to the event. Japan generally charges ?3,000 (US$29) for a single-entry visa and ?6,000 for a double-entry or multiple-entry visa. Japan already allows nationals of 58 countries to enter without visas and is specially exempting South Korean and Taiwanese tourists to encourage them to visit the World Expo, which opens March 25.
■ Banking
Red tape seen a threat
Overregulation has been singled out by banks worldwide as the biggest risk to the finance industry, a survey showed yesterday. It was the first time "too much regulation" was regarded as the greatest risk since the annual survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation started 10 years ago. It jumped from sixth last year. The poll of 440 bankers from 54 countries kept credit risks second, but corporate government emerged as the third-greatest fear, rising from eighth last year. Increased regulations raised entry barriers and could eventually "create significant market concentration and depress competitiveness," said the accounting firm and think tank.
■ Steel
Baoshan delays issue
China's largest steel maker Baoshan Iron and Steel Co (Baosteel, 寶鋼) has delayed its 22.5 billion yuan (US$2.7 billion) share issue due to weakness in the country's struggling stock markets, state press said yesterday. Baosteel's offer would have been be the largest single issuance on domestic markets but with indices slumped at near six-year lows the decision was taken to delay the listing, board chairman Xie Qihua was quoted as saying by the China Securities News. Baosteel Group spokesman Meng Haibiao refused to confirm the report. The company was given the green light by regulators to issue an additional 5 billion shares last month as part of an expansion strategy to fund the acquisition of over a dozen affiliated firms from parent Shanghai Baosteel Group.
■ Automobiles
Chinese want MG Rover
A deal for Shanghai Auto to buy a majority stake in stricken British carmaker MG Rover is days away from completion and is being strongly backed by London, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said during a three-day visit to China. British authorities were also willing to sweeten the deal with tax breaks for the loss-making firm, Brown told reporters in Shanghai. Brown said he had discussed the matter in Beijing with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) and Finance Minister Jin Renqing (金人慶).
■ Aviation
KL getting new terminal
A new terminal for low-cost airlines will be built at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in a move that will help budget carrier AirAsia, the government said yesterday. The terminal would cost 100 million ringgit (US$26 million), Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy told a news conference. "The building of a dedicated terminal will make sure an aircraft can make a turnaround time of 20 minutes," he said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique