■ MARKETS
Japan to tighten regulations
Japan aims to increase fines for accounting fraud, insider trading and other violations of securities laws following a series of high-profile scandals, a news report said yesterday. The Financial Services Agency will submit a bill to parliament next year to bring fines closer to levels imposed in the US, according to a report in Japan's largest business newspaper, the Nikkei. Critics say the current fines, set by the agency based on individual cases, are too small to deter companies from illegal activity. The move to boost penalties follows a string of high-profile accounting fraud cases.
■ ENERGY
Oil-from-coal effort may end
China is considering halting efforts to make oil from coal due to concerns about the expense and energy demands, a state news agency yesterday quoted an official as saying. China is hoping to ease its rising dependence on imported oil by promoting alternative energy sources such as oil-from-coal and solar, wind and nuclear power. "Liquefied coal projects consume a lot of energy, though the successful industrialization of liquefied coal could help reduce the country's dependence on petroleum," Xinhua news agency said, citing an official of the National Development and Reform Commission on Saturday.
■ TOURISM
IDB, Elad to build US casino
Israel's IDB Development Corp and Elad Group agreed in principle to form a joint venture to develop a Las Vegas hotel and casino project for between US$6 billion and US$8 billion. The venture, which will be held equally by the two companies, will build the complex on a 14 hectare site now occupied by the New Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, IDB said yesterday in a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The project, to be called "The Plaza," will include a casino, a 3,500-room hotel, luxury apartments and shops, it said. Tel Aviv-based IDB's holdings include insurance, retail and industrial companies mainly in Israel.
■ ELECTRONICS
Samsung to invest in Russia
Samsung Electronics Co, the world's largest liquid-crystal-display television maker, will invest US$57 million in a television factory in Russia to meet rising demand for digital TVs in the region. Samsung will begin building the plant next month in Russia's Kaluga State, southwest of Moscow, and complete construction by October 2008, the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in a statement yesterday. Samsung plans to make 2.2 million digital TVs annually from the factory in 2010, the company said. Samsung currently has television factories in Korea, Mexico, China, Slovakia, Hungary, Thailand, Indonesia and Brazil, according to the statement.
■ AUTOMAKERS
Denso to set up offshoot
Japanese auto-parts maker Denso will produce eco-friendly fuel-injection equipment for diesel engines in China to meet growing demand for cleaner vehicles there, a report said yesterday. Denso Corp would set up a subsidiary in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, and build a plant to produce the equipment, possibly in 2009, the Japanese business daily Nikkei said. The company's investment in the plant was estimated at ¥5 billion (US$41 million), the daily said. The injection systems would be supplied chiefly for use in locally produced commercial vehicles.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
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