■ Insurance
Sanyo cuts premium costs
Sanyo Electric Co will cut its total insurance premium costs by about 20 percent by setting up a subsidiary in Hawaii to handle insurance for the company's 160 units, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported. Osaka-based Sanyo is the world's biggest maker of digital cameras. The company's affiliates and subsidiaries currently use different insurers and take out policies separately. The insurance subsidiary will handle about ¥200 million (US$1.89 million) of insurance policies in its first year, the paper said.
■ Communications
Postal service boosted
Japan may pump ¥1 trillion yen (US$9.5 billion) into the state-run postal service planned for privatization in April 2007 to short up its capital, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported. The Japanese government and the ruling coalition parties began discussions on the plan aimed at helping Japan Post, whose liabilities exceed assets by more than ¥500 billion, the paper said, citing sources it didn't identify. While the plan is aimed at strengthening the financial base of Japan Post after privatization, financial institutions including banks may oppose it, insisting it will hinder private-sector businesses, the paper said.
■ Legal issues
Microsoft investigated
South Korea's antitrust watchdog said yesterday it has expanded an investigation into Microsoft Corp, after local competitors accused the company of using its dominant position to unfairly shut out rivals. "RealNetworks has raised a complaint against the US headquarters and the Korean unit of Microsoft for the alleged violation of antitrust laws," the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said in a statement. The antitrust watchdog aims to complete the investigation into Microsoft Korea by Dec-ember, an FTC official said. The FTC has already been conducting a probe into allegations raised by South Korea's Internet portal, Daum Communications Corp, in September 2001 that Microsoft breached antitrust laws by selling a version of the Windows system that incorporated its instant-messaging software. The move to expand the investigation comes after European regulators had fined Microsoft a record US$611 million in March for breaking antitrust law and ordered it to strip Windows Media Player software from its operating system.
■ Economy
Warnings of collapse
Former Cabinet officials yesterday issued an open letter to President Gloria Arroyo, calling for emergency measures to avoid an economic collapse. The measures suggested include politically-risky moves such as raising some taxes, imposing a three percent surcharge on imports and withholding about 10 percent of revenue allotted to local govern-ments. Among those who signed the letter carried in the Philippine Star newspaper were former finance secretaries Jose Isidro Camacho, Vicente Jayme, Ramon del Rosario, Ernest Leung and Jesus Estanislao and former central bank governor Jose Cuisia. They praised Arroyo for admitting in August that the country was in a fiscal crisis and for taking measures to raise revenues and cut expenditures. But the letter warned that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had found the government's efforts to be "insufficiently ambitious," while credit rating agencies were considering down-grading the Philippines.
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday decided to shelve proposed legislation that would give elected officials full control over their stipends, saying it would wait for a consensus to be reached before acting. KMT Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) last week proposed amendments to the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan (立法院組織法) and the Regulations on Allowances for Elected Representatives and Subsidies for Village Chiefs (地方民意代表費用支給及村里長事務補助費補助條例), which would give legislators and councilors the freedom to use their allowances without providing invoices for reimbursement. The proposal immediately drew criticism, amid reports that several legislators face possible charges of embezzling fees intended to pay
REQUIREMENTS: The US defense secretary must submit a Taiwan security assistance road map and an appraisal of Washington’s ability to respond to Indo-Pacific conflict The US Congress has released a new draft of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes up to US$1 billion in funding for Taiwan-related security cooperation next year. The version published on Sunday by US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson removed earlier language that would have invited Taiwan to participate in the US-led Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC). A statement on Johnson’s Web page said the NDAA “enhances U.S. defense initiatives in the Indo-Pacific to bolster Taiwan’s defense and support Indo-Pacific allies.” The bill would require the US secretary of defense to “enable fielding of uncrewed and anti-uncrewed systems capabilities”
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
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