In Thursday's Asia papers

14 June 2007 02:00  [Source: ICIS news]

Asahi Shimbun, Japan (online edition)

Front page

 

Rule-breaking Nova hit with suspension order

The industry ministry Wednesday ordered Nova Corp, the nation's largest English language school operator, to suspend part of its operations for six months as punishment for deceiving potential students and committing other violations.

Starting today, Nova is banned from soliciting, accepting or finalizing new contracts for long-term courses that last for over a year, the sources said.

 

Young voters breaking away from Abe, Internet survey shows

Voters in their 20s and 30s, who buttressed the sky-high popularity levels of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, have not taken a shine to his successor.

In fact, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet have increasingly lost the support of these voters who are seen by both the ruling and opposition camps as a key in the Upper House election in July.

 

Business & Industry

 

Rules tightened on European eel trade          

Two moves this week to safeguard eel harvests in European waters could push up prices of eels destined for Japanese dining tables.

On Monday, a panel voted to restrict trade in European eels at a meeting of signatory nations of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in The Hague.

 

Yamaha wins trademark suit in China

Yamaha Motor Corp said Tuesday that China's top court has ordered three local companies to pay the equivalent of about yen (Y) 120m ($978,118) in damages for selling scooters with trademarks that resembled Yamaha's.

The amount ordered by the Supreme People's Court is the largest to be awarded in a trademark infringement suit that a Japanese company filed in China, according to Yamaha.

 

China Daily, China (online edition)

Front page

 

US: China not currency manipulator

Despite pressure from the US Congress, the Bush administration yesterday refused to cite China as a country that manipulates its currency to gain an unfair trade advantage.

In its semi-annual currency report, the administration said that China did not fit the technical profile of a country that is manipulating its currency.

 

Repentance acts 'study in contrast'

The contrast between official and societal attitudes of Germany and Japan toward lingering war issues shows how much the latter is still in denial and refuses to accept its share of responsibility, say analysts.

The comments came as Germany on Tuesday formally completed its payments program for people coerced to work for the Nazi while Japan's top court recently rejected an appeal by Chinese citizens seeking government compensation for using them as wartime slave labourers.

 

Business & Industry

 

Sino-EU talk to adjust trade rules

China and the European Union agreed to kick off negotiations to improve the framework documents on bilateral economic and trade relationship, according to a senior trade official.

"The two sides have agreed to officially launch negotiations toward adjustment of the Sino-EU agreement on trade and economic cooperation inked in 1985," Yao Shenhong, a spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, said yesterday.

 

Steel pipe makers unite against US charges

China's 18 steel pipe producers have teamed up in Beijing to respond to dumping and subsidy charges from their US counterparts, according to a Chinese trade body.

"We are studying the sensitive issue and will provide a press release soon," said Chen Yanshan, an official from China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters, the main initiator of the grouping.

 

Taiwan News, Taiwan (online edition)

Front page

 

Cabinet to invest NT$100bn in rural development

The Cabinet yesterday approved a package 10-year "rural reconstruction" plan and an accompanying draft special law that will mandate New Taiwan dollar (NT$) 100bn ($3.0bn) in projects aimed at rebuilding Taiwan's rural communities, revamp living environments, upgrade village economies and assist socially-disadvantaged persons.

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung told the weekly meeting of the Democratic Progressive Party-led Cabinet that concentration of development in urban areas has spurred large-scale migration of rural youth to Taiwan's cities, left rural areas bereft of adequate public facilities and undermined the quality of rural life.

 

Cross-strait divide needs to be accepted, Ma says

Mutual non-denial of the existence of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait could be the first step toward ending the current cross-strait tensions, Kuomintang presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou said yesterday on the second day of his visit to India to promote bilateral trade between Taiwan and the world's most populous democracy.

The ruling Democratic Progressive Party immediately blasted Ma's statement, saying that he is not in touch with reality if he expects China to let go of its authoritarian claims on Taiwan.

 

Business & Industry

 

Google accuses Microsoft of antitrust violation

Microsoft is defending itself against charges by Google that it rigged its new Vista operating system to give its desktop search software an unfair edge over that of its rivals.

In a freshly revealed complaint lodged late last year with the US Department of Justice and state attorneys general Google accuses Microsoft's Vista of violating a 2002 antitrust decree.

 

Cost of living soars 65.6% in Zimbabwe

The cost of living for an average urban family in Zimbabwe rose by 66% last month, the country's consumer watchdog said in its latest report yesterday.

The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe said the cost of living for a family of six increased 65.6% from Zimbabwean dollar 3.3m ($13,300/$44 at the parallel market rate) in April to Zimbabwean dollar 5.5m in May.

 

Korea Herald, South Korea (online edition)

Front page

 

Some BDA funds reportedly withdrawn

North Korea has withdrawn some of its funds from a Macau bank, signaling a breakthrough in the long-running dispute blocking Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament, a newspaper said Wednesday.

South Korea's foreign minister said negotiations to transfer North Korean funds are in their final stages. A South Korean official said the transfer could be completed by the end of the week.

 

Ministry threatens to cut subsidies for dissident colleges

The Education Ministry yesterday said it could cut state financial subsidies to private universities that refuse to comply with government-set admission guidelines.

Several universities, including Yonsei, Ewha Womans and Sungkyunkwan, said they were looking into a different method of evaluating students' records, giving less weight to high school records and more to national university entrance exams.

 

Business & Industry

 

Pfizer to invest $300m in Korea

Pfizer Inc, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, will invest $300m in Korea over the next five years in research and development, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday.

Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler and Vice Health and Welfare Minister Byun Jae-jin signed a memorandum of understanding on the joint R&D investment at the Hyatt Hotel in Seoul yesterday.

 

Golf course to open in Mount Geumgang

A golf course will open to South Koreans visiting Mount Geumgang in North Korea in late October, course operator Emerson Pacific Group said yesterday.

The golf course, which will be open in late August for test-playing, will officially open on 25 October, company official Kim Min-jung said. "The grass work is almost finished and the club house is being built now. The trial play will be possible in August," Kim said.

 

Business Standard, India (online edition)

Front page

 

Govt takes strikers head on

Even as 62 (over 32%) of Indian Airlines’s 192 flights were cancelled and many delayed today, leaving 6,000-8,000 passengers in the lurch, the government decided to take a tough stand against the flash strike called by the Air Corporation Employees Union (ACEU), directing it to call it off by evening or face drastic action.

The latter includes withdrawing arrears of Indian rupee (Rs) 2.67bn ($65.6m) that the management had agreed to pay the staff and possibly declaring a lock-out.

 

Tata Tea sues HUL over tea process patent

Tata Tea, the world’s second largest tea maker, has sued Hindustan Unilever, India’s largest fast moving consumer goods firm, over a patent granted by the Indian government for the process of making instant tea from cold water.

HUL claims its parent company, Unilever, owns the invention and has already patented it in Europe and the United States.

 

Economy & Policy

 

Exporters may get sops against Re rise

Concerned by the effect of the appreciating rupee on exports, the commerce ministry today said it would ask its finance counterpart to implement a series of measures, including increase of drawback rates and reducing interest rates on export credit, to help exporters cushion losses.

The commerce ministry has also decided to decrease the premium for export insurance cover as well as speed up the clearance of terminal excise duty and central sales tax reimbursements to exporters.

 

Textile sector may lose 5,79,000 jobs: Study

Stagnation in textile exports due to rupee appreciation would lead to a loss of around 5,79,000 potential new jobs in 2007-08 alone, including the loss of 2,72,000 direct jobs in the industry and the balance in allied sectors, a study carried out by the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) has stated.

In the twelve-month period from June 2006, the rupee has appreciated by 12%. “Most textile orders placed in June last year will be delivered in the US this year. The appreciation will bring down the earnings of Indian exporters significantly,” DK Nair, secretary general, CITI said.

 

Business Times, Singapore (print edition)

Front page

 

Creative Tech says to delist from Nasdaq

Singapore-listed Creative Technology said it plans to voluntarily delist its shares from the Nasdaq, citing administrative overhead and reporting costs.

The company, which makes Nomad and Zen MP3 players, said 1 August will be its last day of trading on the Nasdaq.

 

Fed sees expanding economy, no price pressure rise

US economic activity expanded from mid-April through May, with some regions reporting stronger growth, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday.

Separately, a Fed official called the rise in US Treasury debt yields part of a global phenomenon of higher interest rates and said the Fed would stay focused on fighting inflation.

 

 

Business & Industry

 

Falling prices slash chip sales growth: SIA

Global microchip sales will grow by only 1.8% this year, much slower than an earlier projection of a 10% increase, as prices in key markets tumble, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Total microchip sales will reach $252bn in 2007 as prices fall rapidly in the three main market segments of microprocessors, dynamic random access memory (Dram) for computers, and flash memory used in consumer gadgets, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said.

 

USTR rejects lawmakers' request for China probe

The Bush administration said on Wednesday that it again rejected a request from US lawmakers for a formal investigation into whether China's currency practices are an unfair trade practice.

'We do not believe that this Section 301 petition is likely to be the most productive way to secure Chinese movement towards currency flexibility,' US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said in a statement.

 

Bangkok Post, Thailand (online edition)

Front page

 

Thailand may be unsafe for Thaksin

Ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra can return to Thailand to defend his frozen assets, but the man who overthrew him says he can't guarantee Mr Thaksin's safety.

Coup leader Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, chairman of the Council for National Security (CNS), responded on Wednesday to a remark by Noppadon Pattama, a legal adviser to Mr Thaksin, that his boss might have to return to Thailand to defend the assets that the Assets Scrutiny Committee (ASC) has ordered frozen on several charges.

 

Rights gone wrong

Article 32(3) of the draft constitution was supposed to protect civil liberties. Instead, it expands police powers to search people without a warrant.

Human rights activists have expressed grave concerns over the contentious reversal of the draft constitutional clause. Instead of providing stronger laws to protect civil liberties, it seems to give even more extensive powers to police.

 

Business & Industry

 

Index plummets on rumours

Local shares lost 2.26% yesterday on investor fears of possible violence caused by anti-government protesters.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand index closed at 726.60 points, down 16.82 points, in trade worth baht (Bt) 16.2bn ($496.9m).

 

DTAC prices shares at Bt40

The initial public offering of Total Access Communications Plc (DTAC), the country's second-largest mobile operator, was oversubscribed by three times and the shares have been priced at Bt40 each. While the company did not record full subscription at yesterday's close to the allotment for retail investors, it received strong demand from institutional investors both local and overseas.

By: Staff Reporter
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