■ Airlines
Budget terminal opened
Asia's second budget airline terminal opened yesterday at Singapore's Changi Airport with only one airline using it, but authorities expressed optimism that more would follow. Tiger Airways, backed by Singapore Airlines and the government's investment arm Temasek Holdings, is the only one to make the switch so far out of at least 18 regional no-frills airlines. The S$45million (US$27.7 million) terminal opened three days after Malaysia's budget terminal in Kuala Lumpur, which beat the city-state for first in the region. A third major terminal is under construction.
■ Automobiles
Smart forfour canned
German-US carmaker DaimlerChrysler AG will stop production of its four-seater Smart forfour model because of it poor performance, with a resultant 300 job losses, it announced on Saturday. But an end to production would have to be negotiated with Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors Corp and other partners in the project, a statement said. The Smart forfour is currently produced in the Netherlands in partnership with Mitsubishi. DaimlerChrysler plans to concentrate in future on the two-seater Smart fortwo. The company said the brand name would be integrated into the Mercedes group and "would show positive results by 2007."
■ Investment
Japanese seeking capital
Japanese companies are stepping up issuance of shares and bonds as they need cash to invest in production and capital tie-ups, a press report said yesterday. The value of their equity financing and bond issuance at home and abroad in the business year to March 31 is estimated at a seven-year high of ¥11.1 trillion (US$94 billion), the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. It is up 10 percent from the previous year, keeping up an uptrend since the year to March 31, 2003, when it totaled ¥8.8 trillion, the leading business daily said. Fueling the growth is higher fund demand for capital investment as well as mergers and alliances, the report said. Other factors are the recovering stock market and growing expectations of an interest rate hike, it added.
■ Broadcasting
Tallest tower planned
Plans are underway to build the world's tallest tower in Tokyo, about 600m high, in a derelict railway yard, press reports said at the weekend. Japan's six broadcasting networks have selected a former freight shunting yard as the site for New Tokyo Tower which will become their radio and television transmitter tower by 2010, the reports said. Tobu Railway Co, a private rail firm which owns the land in Sumida in eastern Tokyo, will shoulder part of the construction cost estimated at ¥50 billion (US$420 million), said Kyodo News agency and Nihon Keizai Shimbun. New Tokyo Tower will dwarf the capital's nostalgic landmark, the 333m tall Tokyo Tower.
■ Energy
China raises fuel prices
China yesterday raised prices of petroleum products for the first time in eight months and set up a system to subsidize prices in some vulnerable industries such as grain, fishing and forestry industries as well as public services. The National Development and Reform Commission increased wholesale prices of gasoline by 300 yuan (US$37) per tonne and diesel by 200 yuan (US$24) per tonne, rises of 6.8 percent and 5.2 percent respectively.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
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
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft