■JAPAN
Summer bonuses plunge
Summer bonuses offered by companies have plunged a record 16.6 percent on average this year, the second straight year of decline, a survey found. The poll, released yesterday, was conducted by the Nikkei Shimbun, covering some 700 listed and major non-listed firms. Bonuses are traditionally given twice a year, in the summer and the winter. The poll showed that the average bonus this summer was ¥701,012 (US$7,579) per employee, some ¥140,000 lower than a year ago, with 78 percent of the firms saying they were cutting bonuses. More than half the firms were trimming their payouts by more than 10 percent.
■FINANCE
Nomura agrees to tie-up
Japan’s top securities firm, Nomura Holdings, agreed to an asset-management capital tie-up with Life Insurance Corp (LIC), India’s largest life insurer, a newspaper reported yesterday. Under the accord, Nomura will take a 35 percent stake in LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management Co, a LIC subsidiary, for about ¥6 billion, the Nikkei Shimbun reported. Nomura is expected to send executives and staff to LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management, which has ¥600 billion in assets under management, the newspaper said. Nomura, which began stock trading operations in India last year by taking over the business base of the collapsed Lehman Brothers, plans to start selling bonds in the country later this year.
■IRAN
Inflation down slightly
Inflation, one of the biggest economic challenges facing the country, fell slightly to 22.5 percent in the Iranian calendar month ending on June 21, the Sarmayeh newspaper said yesterday, quoting a central bank report. The figure is down from 23.6 percent the previous month. Inflation in Iran, OPEC’s second biggest oil exporter, has been witnessing a downward trend since September, when it peaked at 29 percent.
■MINING
Union rejects Vale contract
Union workers at Vale Inco’s Sudbury nickel mine in Canada rejected the company’s final contract offer and planned to go on strike, the United Steelworkers union said on Saturday. Negotiations between Vale Inco — the nickel mining and processing division of Brazil’s Companhia Vale do Rio Doce — and its union broke down this week as the two sides failed to agree on bonuses, pensions and other issues. Members of the union’s Local 6500 voted overwhelmingly to reject the company’s offer and were to launch a strike yesterday. The Local represents about 3,300 workers at the site. Eighty-five percent of the miners rejected the company’s proposal, the union said.
■NATURAL GAS
Progress on Nabucco deal
Turkey will have access to European gas under a Nabucco pipeline deal and has abandoned a demand to buy 15 percent of the gas, a major obstacle to finalizing the deal, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said. The pipeline — connecting Turkey and a major natural gas hub in Austria — is to be built so that gas can flow in a west-east direction, as well as east-west as planned, to allow Turkey that access, he said. But Yildiz said that Turkey would have a right to take a share of the gas flowing through the pipeline. He did not specify what percentage Turkey would have a right to. Transit agreements for the EU and US-backed Nabucco pipeline are set to be signed in Ankara today.
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
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
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
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