■ Monopolies
Competition law revised
The Japanese parliament approved a revision to the Antimonopoly Act yesterday aimed at imposing stiffer penalties for price cartels, bid-rigging and other unfair practices, a parliamentary official said. The revised law, which will take effect next January, will increase the penalty on large manufacturers to 10 percent of sales from the current 6 percent, while large retailers will be fined 3 percent of sales rather than 2 percent, he said. Under the amended law, penalties will be reduced or even removed for a maximum three companies in each antitrust case if they voluntarily report their wrongdoing, the official said. The revision, the second major change to the law, was made amid frequent bid-rigging in public projects.
■ Aviation
Singapore rivals cut prices
Two of Singapore's low-cost carriers upped the ante in the region's cutthroat budget airline market yesterday, with Valuair announcing its second China destination and Tiger Airways slashing prices to US$6. Valuair said in a statement it would begin flying to Xiamen from Monday, its second destination in China after opening a route to Chengdu earlier this week. Tiger Airways -- an offshoot of Singapore Airlines -- said it would offer one-way tickets to any of its 10 destinations for S$9.98 (US$6) from today until the end of June, the peak school holiday travel season. Current fares range up to about 10 times higher. Observers say both airlines are trying to take advantage of the upcoming summer holidays and Singaporeans' affinity for travel overseas, especially during school breaks.
■ Banking
DoCoMo buys card firm
Japan's top mobile phone carrier NTT DoCoMo will buy a stake of up to 33.4 percent in Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co to enter the credit card business, a report said yesterday. DoCoMo will purchase the stake from Japan's third ranked bank Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, which onws Sumitomo Mitsui Card, Japan's second-largest credit card firm, the business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. The deal could cost DoCoMo some ¥100 billion (US$935 million) and the companies aim to reach an agreement by the end of this month, it said. The move underlines DoCoMo's efforts to build a new growth business as it faces severe competition from Japan's number two telecoms operator KDDI amid a slowdown in the mobile phone market, the daily said.
■ Retail
Benetton ups China stores
Italian clothing retailer Benetton is to open 40 shops in China this year and a total of 200 by 2008, the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore reported yesterday, quoting the company's vice president Alessandro Benetton. The newspaper said that the Shanghai Foreign Economic and Trade Commission had granted Benetton a commercial licence to open and run the shops itself, without recourse to intermediaries or joint ventures. The paper quoted Alessandro Benetton as saying: "We have been present in China since 1991. We encountered problems but we had the strength to persist. This is a key factor for a foreign investor in China." Early last month Benetton said that it intended to develop in China and in India through local retail distribution agreements and to increase the amount of its production moved to Asia.
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
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
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
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