■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.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued a sea alert for Typhoon Fung-wong (鳳凰) as it threatened vessels operating in waters off the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), the Bashi Channel and south of the Taiwan Strait. A land alert is expected to be announced some time between late last night and early this morning, the CWA said. As of press time last night, Taoyuan, as well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties had declared today a typhoon day, canceling work and classes. Except for a few select districts in Taipei and New Taipei City, all other areas and city
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