■ OIL
Bangkok buses get discount
Thailand’s four state-run refineries will sell diesel to Bangkok bus companies at a nearly 8 percent discount to pump prices, the government said yesterday, after a one-day strike by operators over low fares. The four refineries, all affiliates of Thailand’s biggest oil and gas firm PTT PCL, agreed to supply as much as 122 million liters of cheaper diesel per month, Thai Energy Minister Poonpirom Liptapanlop said. The 3 baht (US$0.094) per liter discount for Bangkok’s buses will start on Monday and run for six months. Meanwhile, a top South Korean policymaker said yesterday the government may lower taxes on diesel to ease price pressure.
■ BANKING
Bear Stearns sale approved
The shareholders of Bear Stearns, the most high-profile victim of the US subprime property crisis, accepted a deal on Thursday to sell the Wall Street firm to banking giant JPMorgan Chase at a bargain-basement price of US$1 billion. The approval concluded a deal engineered in March by the US Fed to avert a collapse that some feared could create a financial tsunami. A statement from the two companies said 84 percent of shares voted were in favor of the merger, to close at the end of yesterday. Bear Stearns shares will be converted to 0.21753 shares of JPMorgan Chase common stock and Bear Stearns will become a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase.
■ AVIATION
Silverjet suspends flights
British business class airline Silverjet said yesterday it was suspending operations with immediate effect owing to a cash crisis. Silverjet, founded in January last year, flies from London to New York and Dubai. It said last week that money agreed under a deal worth £12.7 million (US$25.4 million) signed with a Middle Eastern investor had not come through. Silverjet sells business class tickets only with about 100 seats per aircraft. It has a fleet of three aircraft.
■ TRADEMARKS
Coke shape registered
The familiar curvaceous shape of the Coca-Cola bottle is now officially registered as a trademark in Japan — this nation’s first such recognition of a three-dimensional bottle form devoid of any lettering. A Japanese court ruled on Thursday in favor of Coca-Cola Co, which had been demanding registration for its so-called “contour bottle” since 2003, said Maki Morino, spokeswoman for the company’s Japan unit, yesterday. The Japanese Patent Office had previously refused the demand. The sticking point with the Coke bottle was that it was a container without any lettering that seemed to be similar to other bottles, Patent Office spokesman Yoshihisa Ariga said. The Patent Office needs to study the Tokyo High Court ruling, and has not yet decided whether it will appeal, Ariga said.
■ BEVERAGES
Starbucks Argentina opens
Global coffee giant Starbucks opened its first store in Argentina yesterday with beverages tailored to the local palate. Starbucks Corp Latin America president Buck Hendrix says the Seattle-based chain will offer Argentines a coffee drink made with “dulce de leche,” a traditional caramel-style cream. There will also be a milky “mate” latte based on the tealike infusion popular in Argentina. Hendrix said on Thursday that Starbucks planned to open as many as four stores in Argentina by year’s end.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
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