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World Business Quick Take

■ Automobiles
Nissan reducing production
Nissan Motor Co, Japan's second-biggest automaker, said yesterday it was cutting back production at two domestic auto assembly plants in the face of weakening sales in Japan. Tokyo-based Nissan had already forecast falling output for the current fiscal year through March next year, and the production reductions were based on that plan, Nissan spokesman Kiyoshi Ariga said. The lower production would affect Nissan's Oppama plant in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, and another plant in Tochigi Prefecture, northeast of the capital. Sales in Japan slid 27 percent in April from a year earlier, the company said.

■ Internet
Netscape reborn
Netscape, a pioneering Internet search portal, was reborn on Thursday as an interactive news Web site that merges the ingenuity of users with the skills of professional journalists. Parent company AOL launched a preliminary version of the Web site at www.beta.netscape.com and plans to "flip the switch," making the change official on July 1, according to spokesman Andrew Weinstein. In the new Netscape, users can channel stories, images, blog entries, videos or other potentially interesting tidbits to the site, where experienced news reporters will determine the page play and follow-up on their merit, Weinstein said.

■ Trade
Malaysia wants FTA
Malaysian producers yesterday said a trade pact with the US would allow the local industry to compete against China, which enjoys a lower cost advantage. "Preferential treatment gained through the FTA [free trade agreement] will provide Malaysian manufacturers the competitive advantage over competitors that are able to produce at lower cost such as from China," the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers said in a statement. Malaysia and the US were to conclude yesterday the first round of their FTA talks in Penang.

■ Tax
Germany hikes VAT
Germany's upper house of parliament yesterday agreed to a proposal from Chancellor Angela Merkel's government to increase the value-added tax from 16 percent to 19 percent next year. Business groups have complained that the increase in the tax, paid by consumers at the cash register, will squelch recovering domestic demand and hurt the economy. But the government insists the money is needed to cut the budget deficit. Leading economists have forecast that economic growth will slow to 1.2 percent next year from 1.8 percent this year. The increase was approved by the Bundestag lower house on May 19.

■ Trade
May exports up 18.2%
Singapore's main exports grew 18.2 percent year-on-year last month, picking up speed on the back of strong electronics shipments to the city-state's main markets such as the US, the government said yesterday. Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) last month were valued at S$13.42 billion (US$8.49 billion), compared with S$13.36 billion in April when they were up 10 percent year-on-year, International Enterprise Singapore. Last month's 18.2 percent rise in NODX was at the top end of analysts' forecasts of 13.7 percent to 18.5 percent. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, last month's NODX fell 2.3 percent.

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