■INTERNET
Amazon Japan must pay taxes
Japanese authorities told a sales affiliate of US retail giant Amazon.com to pay about US$119 million in tax for unreported income over a three-year period, a newspaper said yesterday. Amazon Japan and Amazon Japan Logistics are responsible for operations in Japan, but the income has been reported in the US by the company’s Seattle-based affiliate — Amazon.com International Sales, the Asahi Shimbun said. The Tokyo tax bureau reportedly judged that the company should have paid tax in Japan for the income made in the country during the three years to 2005, the daily said. Amazon has asked for the case to be negotiated between the Japanese and US tax authorities, saying the taxation was “inappropriate,” the Asahi said.
■OIL
Samsung wins refinery bid
South Korea’s major builder Samsung Engineering said yesterday it had won an order of US$2.6 billion to renovate an oil refinery in Algeria. The company said a contract was signed Saturday with Algeria’s state-run oil company Sonatrach. Under the deal Samsung Engineering will upgrade facilities at the refinery over the next three years, it said. It was the single biggest contract Samsung had received, Yonhap news agency said. “The contract also brightens the prospects for winning more orders from Sonatrach,” Samsung Engineering CEO Jeong Yeon-ju told Yonhap.
■FRANCE
Economy to shrink 3 percent
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Europe’s third-largest economy would shrink 3 percent this year. Speaking at a conference at Aix en Provence, Lagarde said France’s recession had not been as bad as those elsewhere. Lagarde also said that stress tests for banks need to be standardized across borders and as transparent as possible. “I tend to prefer throwing daylight,” she said. “But transparency won’t give much, if the tests don’t allow us to compare what is happening.” As for China’s call to rethink how international foreign exchange reserves are managed, Lagarde said authorities should better coordinate currency policies.
■BOLIVIA
Nationalization plan looms
President Evo Morales on Saturday said that parts of the country’s energy and rail sectors, currently backed by foreign capital, could soon be nationalized. “It is true we have not fulfilled all our promises, we still have railways and we still have energy,” Morales said in reference to vows of nationalizing the industries. The leftist leader said the government did not have enough money to allow nationalization to take place immediately, but hinted a move in that direction might be in the offing. the nation’s electricity sector is dominated by Spanish firms Iberdrola and Red Electrica, French firm GDF Suez and the UK’s Rurelec.
■AUTOMOBILES
Porsche, Qatar outline deal
Porsche SE and Qatar have agreed on the general outlines of a deal that would give the emirate stock options equivalent to a 20 percent stake in Volkswagen AG and an investment in Porsche’s European holding company, the Euro am Sonntag reported, citing unnamed officials involved in the talks. Three more bidders are also interested in taking a stake in Porsche, rivaling investment plans by Qatar, German magazine Focus reported on Saturday. In an advance release of remarks due to be published today, Focus said without citing sources that a Chinese and a Russian sovereign wealth fund as well as a hedge fund were interested.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
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
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
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