■MINING
Australia probes Rio Tinto
Australia’s corporate watchdog is probing mining giant Rio Tinto after China jailed four staff for bribery and industrial espionage, the body’s chief said yesterday, describing the inquiry as “routine.” Tony D’Aloisio, head of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), told public broadcaster ABC’s Inside Business program the body was checking for possible breaches of Australian corporate law. Australian citizen Stern Hu (胡士泰) has announced he will not appeal his 10-year sentence handed down last month. Three Chinese colleagues were given jail terms of between seven and 14 years. The four were arrested in July last year during failed iron ore contract talks, which the Shanghai court said cost China heavy losses.
■AUSTRALIA
Swan defends stimulus end
Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said he remains confident the government is acting appropriately by withdrawing fiscal stimulus gradually as the global economy recovers from recession. Australia is performing better than other developed nations and many businesses expressed optimism in consultations with the government, Swan said yesterday in his weekly economic note. Retailers remain cautious and property developers said demand is weakening after the government reduced its grants to first-home buyers, Swan said. The Reserve Bank of Australia raised its benchmark interest rate to 4.25 percent on Tuesday, its fifth increase in seven months, while the nation’s jobless level is 5.3 percent, about half that of the US.
■AVIATION
Qantas sees recovery
Qantas Airways Ltd, Australia’s biggest carrier, said an improving global economy is feeding a recovery in business demand, while leisure travel remains strong in the face of increased borrowing costs. “We are seeing very strong leisure demand despite interest rates having gone up,” Qantas chief executive officer Alan Joyce said on the Sky Business Channel yesterday. “We’re still seeing the business market recovering because confidence is returning to the business sector.” Qantas is increasing capacity as domestic economic growth and gains in the Australian dollar spur travel demand.
■COSMETICS
Iran is No. 7 consumer
Iran has emerged as the world’s seventh largest consumer of cosmetics, spending US$2.1 billion annually on various beauty products, the state-run English-language Iran Daily newspaper said yesterday. The report quoting a survey conducted by TMBA, a private economic research body, said that Iran accounts for 29 percent of the cosmetics market in the Middle East. About 14 million Iranian women aged between 15 and 45 years living in major cities spend about US$7 a month per capita on cosmetics, the survey said, without giving a complete breakdown on the nation’s spending. The average monthly salary in Iran is between US$600 and US$700.
■TELECOMS
Egyptian court blocks sale
An Egyptian court has upheld a verdict that prevents France Telecom SA from gaining full control of the Egyptian Co for Mobile Services, allowing Orascom Telecom Holding SAE to keep its stake in the Egyptian company. France Telecom’s offer to buy the outstanding shares in the Egyptian Co at 245 Egyptian pounds (US$44.4) per share is unfair to minority shareholders, Hamdi Yassin, the presiding judge in the case, said after Saturday’s ruling, which can be appealed.
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
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
‘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
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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