■ Banking
Rescue funds expanded
Japan's Financial Services Agency plans to broaden eligibility of banks for public fund injections to help prevent a financial crisis, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. The agency may allow banks with capital-adequacy ratios higher than the minimum required level to apply for public funds, according to the newspaper, which didn't say where it got the information. It will submit a bill to next year's regular session of parliament allowing it to change rules of eligibility, the report said. The agency wants to reduce concern about the financial system by injecting funds into banks that meet minimum standards but are unable to improve their finances, the paper said.
■ Trade
Japan to start FTA talks
Japan will start talks to establish free-trade agreements with the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand by the end of the year, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. Thailand is calling for tariffs on rice, chicken and other agricultural products to be abolished, while the Philippines and Malaysia are asking for Japan to allow nurses and other workers into the country, the Nikkei said. Japan and Mexico failed to sign a trade agreement by the middle of last month as planned because Tokyo did not accept Mexico's request to eliminate tariffs on orange juice and pork, the newspaper said. Japan's only free-trade agreement is with Singapore, which doesn't have a large local agricultural industry.
■ Investment
Silverstein to recoup equity
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein and his investors will get back US$98 million of the US$125 million in equity they put up to lease the property as part of an agreement to pay off his lender, GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp, the New York Times said. Silverstein and his partners will retain control of their rights to rebuild the site, the paper said, citing people who have been briefed on the deal. Silverstein put up US$14 million of the US$800 million in fees and down payments made to the Port Authority of New York and in New Jersey in July 2001, the Times said. Total payments over the 99-year lease would have to come to US$3.2 billion. Under the deal to pay off GMAC's US$563 million loan and buy out Westfield America Trust's retail rights for US$140 million, Silverstein will in effect get back some of the collateral used to obtain the loan.
■ Trading
Insider selling rises in US
Insider selling compared to buying last month was the most lopsided in at least a decade, indicating that executives are skeptical about the future of their companies' stock prices, Barron's said, citing Lon Gerber of Thomson Financial. Executives bought US$52 million worth of shares last month, the least since July 1995, and sold US$3.2 billion worth, Barron's said in its ``Up and Down Wall Street'' column. The same is occurring this month, with insider selling totaling US$2.7 billion while buying amounts to US$47 million, the weekly newspaper said. The selling has been concentrated in companies that make semiconductors, such as Texas Instruments Inc, Lam Research Corp and Intel Corp, Barron's said.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
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