■ Banking
Construction Bank to cut jobs
One of China's biggest banks plans to cut more than 100,000 jobs, or about one-third of its workforce, as it prepares to sell its first shares to foreign investors, according to a major state newspaper. The Construction Bank, China's third-largest state-owned commercial bank, is expected to sell up to US$5 billion worth of shares in a public offering sometime in the next two years. Other major state banks are also expected to raise money through share sales. The communist government is trying to turn its debt-laden banks into profitable, competitive businesses as it prepares to open its financial markets to foreign rivals.
■ Free Trade
Parliament approves deal
South Korea's parliament yesterday approved the country's first free trade agreement, an accord reached with Chile a year ago but delayed by protests of local farmers who fear it will threaten their livelihoods. The National Assembly endorsed the pact 162-71. Lawmakers put off votes on the issue three times amid violent demonstrations by farmers who say the accord will flood the Korean market with cheaper products. Under the trade pact signed by the two governments last February, Chile will lift tariffs on South Korean motor vehicles, cellular phones, computers, TV sets and air conditioners. In return, South Korea will remove tariffs on Chilean copper products, animal feed, wheat, wool and tomatoes, as well as more than 250 fisheries products. South Korean farmers have threatened to campaign against lawmakers who support the trade agreement in the upcoming April 15 elections.
■ Music
Government mulls ban
The government is considering imposing a ban on the import of low-priced Japanese pop music CDs, made exclusively and legally for overseas markets by Japanese firms, news reports said yesterday. The Agency for Cultural Affairs is considering the ban in response to complaints from Japanese music companies which claim their business is being hurt by an influx of CDs intended for sale in other countries, mostly in the Asian region, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun daily said. The ban, which is likely to take effect in 2005, would be effective for five years after the release of the CDs and would also cover cassette tapes and vinyl records. The music industry welcomed the reports. CDs of Japanese pop songs and other popular music sell for ?550 to ?1,600 (US$5 to US$15) in many Asian nations, such as China and South Korea, compared with ?2,500 or more in Japan, according to the Recording Industry Association of Japan.
■ Aviation
Honda to work on engines
Honda Motor Co will work with General Electric Co of the US to make jet engines for small business planes, both sides said yesterday, marking the Japanese automaker's entry into the aviation industry. The basic agreement signed Friday covers marketing Honda's HF118 turbofan jet engine under a joint brand while continuing discussions to come up with a plan to mass produce the engine. Honda started its jet engine and aircraft project in 1986 and has carried out test flights of the HF118 engine, which is for small business jets, a market that is expected to grow in the US. Honda Chief Executive Takeo Fukui said General Electric was chosen because of its sales network and experience in jet engines.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
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