■ Internet
Livedoor delist coming soon
The Tokyo Stock Exchange is expected to delist shares in scandal-hit IT firm Livedoor as early as Monday because of a fresh criminal complaint against its former president, reports said yesterday. Livedoor founder Takafumi Horie will face a new fraud allegation to be filed with prosecutors by the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission, Jiji Press and other media reported. The commission's complaint alleges that Horie and his associates falsified Livedoor's financial report for the year to September 2004 to add ?5.34 billion (US$45.1 million) to the group's results, Kyodo News said, citing unnamed regulatory sources.
■ US Economy
Trade deficit hits record
The US trade deficit grew to a record US$68.5 billion in January, pumped up by rising oil prices and Americans' appetite for imported goods, especially from China, government data showed on Thursday. The latest increase, which came despite a rise in US exports, was fuelled by a strong market that is giving Americans money to spend. The values of imports and exports were the highest on record, the Bloomberg financial news agency reported. US imports rose 3.5 percent in January to US$182.9 billion, lifted by record shipments of consumer goods, autos, business equipment, and industrial supplies such as petroleum. Exports increased 2.5 percent to US$114.4 billion as US companies sold record amounts of industrial supplies, vehicles and capital goods, including aircraft, abroad, Bloomberg said.
■ Piracy
China creates piracy court
China has created a special court to prosecute product piracy cases, a government spokesman said yesterday, amid demands for Beijing to step up action against rampant illegal copying of movies, music, software and other goods. The supreme court has named a Judicial Court of Intellectual Property to handle such cases nationwide, court spokesman Sun Huapu said at a news conference held during the annual meeting of China's parliament. Last year China's courts convicted 741 people in 505 criminal product piracy cases, Sun said. Courts handled 16,453 civil cases of intellectual property rights violations last year, up more than 20 percent from the previous year, he added. US officials say Chinese copying of goods such as software, golf clubs, Hollywood movies and heart medications costs legitimate producers worldwide up to US$50 billion a year in lost potential sales.
■ Health
Chinese ads blasted
China should ban all medical advertising to protect public health, members of parliament were quoted by state media as saying yesterday, accusing most ads of "cheating and misleading" consumers. Advertisements promising cures for everything from hemor-rhoids to balding are plastered all over Chinese cities, on the sides of buses, inside taxis, in newspapers and even crudely glued to lamp posts. "Nowadays medical advertisements about hospitals and medicines are flooding the Chinese media, and some of them are full of appalling lies," Xinhua news agency quoted Kang Jiaoyang, member of a parliamentary advisory body, as saying. Some ads promised "miraculous cures" for cancer and AIDS, added Wu Liying, a delegate from the northeastern province of Liaoning.
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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