■AUTOMOBILES
Group lobbies for subsidy
Carmakers need a government subsidy to roll out the vehicles that Australians want to buy, an industry lobby group said yesterday. Federal Chamber of Automotive Industry spokesman Andrew McKellar said the government should help pay for the shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles from gas-thirsty cars as part of its response to the challenge of climate change. “We have to ensure those new technologies that will support achieving these objectives that they are coming into the marketplace, they are being taken up in terms of new vehicles being manufactured in Australia as well as being made available more broadly across the market,” he said. The government has already promised US$450 million in subsidies for the production of a “green car.”
■TELECOMS
Qatar firm wins court case
Qatar Telecom QSC, which paid US$1.8 billion in June to buy a 40.8 percent stake in Indonesia’s PT Indosat, said the Indonesian Supreme Court had thrown out the legal challenge to its ownership of the stake. “The Supreme Court’s decision today removes the District Court’s order and allows us to keep the shares we acquired in June” in Indonesia’s second-biggest mobile phone operator, Qtel chairman Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed Bin Saud al-Thani said in a statement posted on the Doha bourse Web site yesterday. Qatar Telecom is in the process of starting a tender to buy more Indosat shares, the statement said.
■HONG KONG
New slogan being sought
The government is spending hundreds of thousands of US dollars looking for a new slogan to replace the boast of “Asia’s World City,” a news report said yesterday. The territory has spent US$160,000 hiring multi-national communications company Fleishmann- Hillard to supervise the task, the Sunday Morning Post reported. Another US$64,000 is being spent on setting up a Web site for people to offer their ideas on a new slogan and image for the territory of 6.9 million people. The new slogan is expected to compete against regional slogans such as “Malaysia Truly Asia.”
■LIVESTOCK
China open to trotters
The German pork industry, Europe’s largest, is turning its attention to China, not only a vast market, but one with a taste for pigs’ ears, feet and other delicacies that are shunned at home. After two years of negotiations, Berlin sealed a deal last week in Beijing opening the door to China for German pork. “It is extremely positive,” said Michael Stab, in charge of the meat sector for the German Farmers Association. “There is demand for products that are not worth much here, such as trotters and ears, and we are going to try to get quite a good price for them.” The US, Denmark, France and Canada are the biggest meat suppliers to China.
■INDIA
Inflation slowing down
Indian prices of primary articles including food and oil seeds increased at a slower pace in the past 12 months than in the previous year, the government said. Prices of food and non-food articles such as oil seeds and minerals rose by 7.86 percent on average as of Aug. 30, slower than the 9.49 percent annual rate a year earlier, the finance ministry said in an e-mailed statement. Annual inflation remains at a 16-year high, rising three times since the beginning of the year.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
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