In Tuesday's Asia papers

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

Asahi Shimbun, Japan (online edition)

Front page

 

No guarantee Japanese art safe in diplomatic missions

Dozens of valuable art works hanging at Japanese embassies and other Foreign Ministry missions overseas have been thrown out with the garbage or lost, according to officials.

In total, 46 works of art have disappeared since 2002, the Foreign Ministry said, citing a survey it conducted in response to requests for information by Yukichi Maeda, a Lower House member of Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), and Muneo Suzuki, a Lower House member of New Party Daichi.

 

Smart card to unify social security data

A smart card with a social security number could be introduced in a few years to help people jointly manage their pensions, healthcare and other social security programs.

Ruling camp officials have set their sights on introducing the system on a nationwide basis by around fiscal 2011. They say it would prevent a recurrence of the recent pension scandal, in which the Social Insurance Agency lost or failed to identify records of pension premium payments.

 

Business & Industry

 

JVC, Kenwood OK merger terms

Victor of Japan and Kenwood Corp. have reached a basic agreement to merge their management teams under a holding company, sources said.

They said Matsushita Electric Industrial, JVC's parent company, intends to sell its stake in JVC to the holding company to be established in 2008.

 

JAL to cut retirement allowance by 10%

Japan Airlines Corp. plans to cut retirement allowances by about 10% from fiscal 2008 to further accelerate its streamlining efforts, sources said Friday.

The carrier will move forward by more than one year its plan to reduce the payroll by 4,300 by the end of fiscal 2009. It will also consider increasing the number of job cuts.

 

China Daily, China (online edition)

Front page

 

New drugs give rise to legal relook

China's top court is mulling a judicial interpretation to the criminal law to cope with the spiraling number of cases involving new drugs, a senior court official has said.

Gao Guijun, presiding judge of the Fifth Criminal Court under the Supreme People's Court, said a new judicial interpretation detailing the penalties for smuggling, producing and transporting new drugs will be soon announced.

 

Hu stresses scientific development

President Hu Jintao Monday once again stressed the importance of implementing the scientific concept of development, promoting social harmony and building a well-off society.

Against the current international backdrop, China faces unprecedented opportunities and challenges, which require us to have a clear view of today's China and the world, meet new demands of development and new expectations of the public, draw experience and formulate scientific guidelines," he said ahead of the 17th national congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) later this year.

 

Business & Industry

 

Red chip companies may return home in August

The long-awaited return of red-chip companies - mainland firms which are registered and listed overseas - to the domestic stock market could be within the next two months, a source close to the securities watchdog said Monday.

A draft rule to facilitate their entry is being discussed and could be announced in late July or early August, an official with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), who did not want to be named, told China Daily.

 

BOC: Audit won't affect results

Bank of China Monday said irregularities uncovered in a regular government audit will not affect its financial results.

"The audit findings have no impact on the bank's overall operational results and do not affect its financial statements that have been issued," the bank said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

 

Taiwan News, Taiwan (online edition)

Front page

 

Wang reports Double Ten plans on track

Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng said yesterday that preparations for the Double Ten National Day celebrations are following procedure. Wang, who concurrently serves as the chairman of the October 10 National Day Organizing Committee, made the remarks after listening to reports by Vice Interior Minister Lin Chung-sheng on the preparations.

 

Ma sets economy as main theme of 2008 campaign

Ma Ying-jeou, presidential candidate of the main opposition Kuomintang, said yesterday that he will make "economy" the main theme of his election campaign.

Ma made the remarks during a meeting with KMT representatives from overseas at the party's headquarters.

 

Business & Industry

 

US firm forced to withdraw Yukos audits

The international accountancy group PricewaterhouseCoopers has withdrawn nine years of audits for bankrupt oil group Yukos following a series of tax inquiries, PwC said on Monday.

"PwC decided to withdraw its audit opinions for Yukos when it became aware of new information which had it been known at the time may have affected Yukos's audit reports," the company said in a statement.

 

Proton, VW alliance seen likely to occur

Chances of an alliance between Malaysian national carmaker Proton and Germany's Volkswagen AG are "reasonably good," a cabinet minister said yesterday.

The two carmakers may hold a third round of negotiations, although no timetable is set for conclusion of the talks, Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop told reporters on the sidelines of an international economic conference here.

 

Korea Herald, South Korea (online edition)

Front page

 

Anti-FTA strike loses momentum

The nationwide union of metal workers launched a scaled-down strike yesterday amid a government warning of a crackdown, and a lacklustre response from its members and the public.

More than 3,000 members of the Korean Metal Workers' Union started the weeklong protest against the Korea-US free trade agreement, walking off the job for two hours in the afternoon in Chungcheong and Jeolla provinces.

 

IAEA scrutiny to resume after 5 years

Working-level officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency are back in North Korea after a five-year absence. Circumstances have changed quite a bit since 2002, with North Korea now reportedly in possession of up to 10 nuclear weapons and having already carried out a test last October.

The IAEA team, led by Olli Heinonen, the deputy director general for safeguards, will be staying in the North for five days to discuss what facilities in Yongbyon must be shut down and how that process would be verified. Another team of on-site IAEA inspectors will be dispatched to the site sometime next month to carry out technical verification procedures.

 

Business & Industry

 

More women take public sector jobs

The number of females in the workforce has increased, particularly in the public service sector, accounting for half of the new employees in one third of 31 major public corporations, an analysis of their data showed yesterday.

The information gleaned from their employment records during the past two years has found that female employees account for over 40% of newly recruited staff at 11 of the 31 public enterprises. Most of the women were employed in finance and international services departments.

 

Public corporations highlight goals

The heads of six public financial institutions signed memoranda of understanding concerning management policies with Finance Minister Kwon O-kyu yesterday.

The institutions include the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation and the Korea Securities Depository.

 

Business Standard, India (online edition)

Front page

 

Bajaj`s first car to be priced at Rs200,000-500,000

Bajaj Auto, India’s second-largest two-wheeler maker, plans to price its first car between Indian rupee (Rs) 200,000 ($4,921) and Rs500,000. A concept vehicle will be showcased in January 2008 at the annual Auto Expo.

Describing the offering as a “four-wheel passenger vehicle” rather than a small car as commonly assumed, Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj clarified that it would not be within the Tata Motors small car price tag of Rs100,000.

 

Government nod to Cairn pipeline plan

The government has agreed to Cairn India’s proposal to lay a “pre-heated” 580-km pipeline at a cost of $600m (Rs24bn) to transport the crude oil from its Barmer oil fields in Rajasthan to Virangam in Gujarat.

This replaces the earlier proposal for a ‘mini refinery’ at Rajasthan to process the crude oil.

 

Economy & Policy

 

PM panel`s meeting on gas pricing deferred to 12 July

A crucial meeting of the Energy Coordination Committee to discuss pricing and allocation of natural gas for the fertilizer sector has been postponed to 12 July while a committee of secretaries (CoS) has been asked to look into the issue of pricing of the gas found off the east coast.

“The ECC was to meet tomorrow but the meeting has been postponed to 12 July,”a government source said. He did not give any reason for the decision.

 

Japan lines up $30bn for investment in core sector

Akira Amari, Japan’s minister for economy, trade and industry, is likely to announce an investment of $30bn in infrastructure projects during his visit as the head of the largest ever Japanese delegation towards the end of this month.

The package would include building a high-speed freight railway system between New Delhi and Mumbai, a port in Gujarat, and industrial complexes in Rajasthan.

 

Business Times, Singapore (print edition)

Front page

 

FT report says SingTel likely to buy stake in Pakistan's Warid

Singapore Telecommunications is likely to buy a 30% stake in Warid Telecom in a deal that would value Pakistan's third-largest mobile phone operator at $1bn, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

Citing unidentified people familiar with the situation, the FT said the Singapore firm had emerged as a strong favourite to buy the stake ahead of rivals MTN of South Africa and Britain's Vodafone.

 

SembCorp Marine receives $190m rig order

SembCorp Marine, the world's second-largest manufacturer of offshore oil rigs, said on Tuesday it had received a contract worth $190m to build a deep drilling offshore jack-up rig.

The Singapore company said in a statement that the Baker Marine Pacific Class 375 rig would be ready for delivery in September 2009.

 

Business & Industry

 

Zoellick confirmed as new World Bank president

The World Bank on Monday unanimously approved Robert Zoellick as its president after a controversial two-year term by Paul Wolfowitz, who agreed to resign over a promotion scandal involving his companion.

Mr Zoellick, former deputy US secretary of state and trade representative, was the only nominee for the job and will overlap for a week with Mr Wolfowitz before he officially takes the reins of the poverty-fighting institution on 1 July.

 

Google seeks to extend Microsoft antitrust decree

Google asked a federal judge on Monday to extend the consent decree that settled the landmark antitrust case against Microsoft in order to address competition concerns involving the Windows Vista operating system.

Google told the judge overseeing the 2002 consent decree that even though Microsoft has agreed to modify Vista to address the concerns, 'more may need to be done to provide a truly unbiased choice of desktop search products'.

 

Bangkok Post, Thailand (online edition)

Front page

 

Thaksin relative's assets frozen

The Assets Examination Committee on Monday ordered a freeze on an additional baht (Bt) 4.775bn ($162m) in three bank accounts belonging to a brother-in-law of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

It was the fourth group of assets ordered frozen by the panel in less than a month, following the earlier freeze of 21 bank accounts of Mr. Thaksin worth about Bt52bn and another Bt8.8bn on 18 June as well as nearly Bt5bn in seven bank accounts owned by the deposed prime minister.

 

Surayud off on a busy India tour
Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont and Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh are to sign pacts on Tuesday on energy and culture, while speeding up talks on a free trade deal that could be signed next month.

Gen Surayud left Bangkok for India late on Monday afternoon, Thailand time.

 

Business & Industry

 

CAT suing mobile phone firms

The protracted dispute over telecom access charges is nearing a climax with a decision by Telecom to pay access charges to TOT Plc and in turn sue True Move and DTAC, the two mobile operators that hold CAT concessions.

CAT will demand Bt4.8bn from the pair as compensation for the money it intends to pay TOT.

 

Chon Buri's new 'Little Tokyo'

A new ''little Tokyo'' has arisen in Si Racha, Chon Buri province, with many property projects targeting Japanese executives who work in the Eastern Seaboard, according to the property agency Knight Frank Chartered (Thailand).

Managing director Phanom Kanjanathiemthao said more than 5,000 Japanese executives worked in eight industrial estates along the Eastern Seaboard.

By: Staff Reporter
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