■ POVERTY
Ban appoints Douste-Blazy
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed former French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy on Tuesday to look for innovative ways to finance UN goals to fight poverty. The goals include cutting extreme poverty by half, ensuring an elementary school education for all children, and halting and reversing the AIDS pandemic, all by 2015. He will serve as Ban's special adviser on innovative financing for development, with the rank of undersecretary-general and a salary of US$1 a year. UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe, who announced the appointment, said aid from governments was noy enought to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Smart car makes a splash
Daimler AG's Smart car has made a big splash in the US, with sales off to a speedy start in its first month on the market, distributor Penske Auto Group said on Tuesday. "We're really excited about the smart business," Roger Penske said. "We think it's the right car at the right time." Smart USA expects to sell between 20,000 and 25,000 of the fuel-sipping two seaters this year and Penske said he was pressing Daimler to ship more vehicles. The Smart is the first French built car sold in the US in more than 20 years.
■ BANKING
A&L profit down
British bank Alliance & Leicester's (A&L) profit last year tumbled 30 percent as it suffered a £185 million (US$360.4 million) writedown on its exposure to risky assets. A&L, Britain's seventh-biggest listed bank, reported a pretax profit of £399 million yesterday, down from £569 million in 2006 and below an average forecast of £416 million from 12 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates. The bank said underlying core operating profit rose 3 percent from 2006 to £602 million. It raised its full-year dividend by 2.2 percent to 55.3 pence per share, below an average forecast of 56.2 pence.
■ RETAIL
Carrefour Malaysia to invest
Carrefour Malaysia is planning to invest some US$373 million over the next three years to double the number of its hypermarkets here to 26, a report said yesterday. The New Straits Times said the expansion, including the construction of three more outlets this year, would create 4,200 jobs. "We expect to spend not less than 1.2 billion ringgit [US$373 million] over the next three years for openings," Carrefour customer operations and marketing director Sivakumar Haridas told the daily. "Prior to 2006, we only had eight stores. Between 2006 and January 2008 we have already added five stores," he said.
■ INVESTMENT
Japanese stock alluring
The chief operating officer of Dubai International Capital said it is time to buy sluggish Japanese stocks, a news report said yesterday. "It is a good investment opportunity," Anand Krishnan was quoted as saying by the Nikkei Shimbun. The investment company, owned by the ruler of the booming Persian Gulf city-state, has been keen on overseas investment opportunities. The fund said in November it has acquired a stake in Sony Corp, without specifying ownership percentage. Krishnan said that the fund is seeking out Japanese shares besides Sony, the Nikkei said. Krishnan said he was interested in companies with significant market shares in emerging markets.
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RULES BROKEN: The MAC warned Chinese not to say anything that would be harmful to the autonomous status of Taiwan or undermine its sovereignty A Chinese couple accused of disrupting a pro-democracy event in Taipei organized by Hong Kong residents has been deported, the National Immigration Agency said in a statement yesterday afternoon. A Chinese man, surnamed Yao (姚), and his wife were escorted by immigration officials to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where they boarded a flight to China before noon yesterday, the agency said. The agency said that it had annulled the couple’s entry permits, citing alleged contraventions of the Regulations Governing the Approval of Entry of People of the Mainland Area into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入台灣地區許可辦法). The couple applied to visit a family member in
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