■South Korea
Six businesses face probe
South Korea will begin investigating affiliates of Samsung and the nation's other five top business groups on Monday for possible internal trading of assets, funds and other illegal practices. The Fair Trade Commission said it will review the groups' transactions from 2000 through last year. President Roh Moo-hyun pledged to root out illegal practices among major business groups when he took office in February. The agency announced earlier this year that it would start another probe this quarter. South Korea's watchdog agency has been cautious on the timing of the probe as the nation's corporate and financial industries are still recovering from an account-ing scandal involving the trading arm of SK Group, which said in March it hid debt and inflated earnings.
■ Hong Kong
Pimping goes high-tech
Pimps in Hong Kong are luring customers by sending high-tech digital images of prostitutes to potential clients over their mobile phones, a news report said yesterday. The hustlers are exploiting the latest mobile phone technology to beam lurid photographs of girls onto the latest color-screen handsets, according to the South China Morning Post. Police have been checking the mobile phones of pimps arrested in raids in the city's red light districts, according to the paper. No one has so far been arrested for soli-citing by mobile phone, however. A police source quoted by the newspaper said: "The first to maximize the technology are the pimps in the Mongkok area. Before they make the deal they show the client a photo preview on the mobile phone." Hong Kong has one of the highest rates of mobile-phone ownership in the world with more than eight out of 10 of the terri-tory's 6.8 million population owning a handset.."
■ Chipmaking
Chartered lowers Q2 loss
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd, the world's fourth-largest supplier of made-to-order chips, improved its second-quarter forecast to a loss of about US$97.5 million, because sales are higher than it had expected. Chartered Semiconductor now predicts revenue of about US$123 million, because of increasing demand for chips such as those used in high-speed Internet gear, its mid-quarter business update said. The Singapore-based company had previously forecast a net loss of about US$102 million based on sales of about US$117 million.
■ Aviation
Ryanair Q4 net rises 35%
Ryanair Holdings Plc, Europe's No. 2 no-frills carrier, said fourth-quarter profit rose 35 percent after the company cut fares to lure budget-conscious travelers. Net income in the three months ended March 31 rose to 45.3 million euros (US$53.2 million) from 33.5 million euros in the year-earlier period. Sales in-creased 33 percent to 192 million euros. "We remain confident of another suc-cessful year for Ryanair during which we will deliver substantial traffic growth," said chief executive Michael O'Leary in an e-mailed statement. Dublin-based Ryanair is adding planes and expanding its network of routes and base airports as it aims to become Europe's biggest scheduled airline. O'Leary aims to overtake rival EasyJet Plc as the biggest low-cost carrier by September or October by increasing passenger numbers by 50 percent this year.
Agencies
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
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
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
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