■SARS closures
Ricoh closes factory
Ricoh Co, Japan's second-biggest office-equipment maker, said it shut a factory in Beijing for six days earlier this month after a worker was diagnosed with SARS. Ricoh closed the plant, which produces thermal transfer ribbons, from May 6 to 11, said spokesman Takanobu Matsunami. The company, which said SARS hasn't affected its production or earnings, asked 50 of the plant's 60 employees to stay home during the period. SARS has killed 662 people worldwide, with more than 80 percent of deaths in China and Hong Kong, according to the World Health Organization's Web site.
■ Technology
Temporary DVD unveiled
The Walt Disney Co is to test a rental DVD that self destructs in a bid to increase home viewing of its movies. The DVD's will go on sale in August for slightly more than it costs to rent a movie. Buyers can view the enclosed movie as many times as they want for 48 hours after opening the package, after which a chemical will be released that will render the movie unwatchable. Disney also plans to launch a trial version of a pay-per-view movie receiver box, which will plug into televisions like other devices such as video recorders. The box will come pre-loaded with 100 films, and Disney will upload about 10 more per month via broadcast in the pilot markets. Scheduled to launch in Salt Lake City and two other cities, Disney will make the set-top receivers available for rent at elec-tronics stores. Movie prices will be similar to those of rentals, and viewers will be able to watch a rented film as many times as they wish within a 24-hour period. Disney hopes that cus-tomers will use its new technology from home rather than drive to video rental stores.
■ Taxes
Expats keep tax break
The US Congress appears likely to retain tax-free status for 6 million Americans living overseas that make less than US$80,000 per year, the Asian Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. A repeal of the Section 911 income-tax exclusion would make employing US workers more expensive and would send many expats home. Senate and House members have been taken aback by an aggressive campaign against the change from US businesses abroad, the report said. The repeal has modest support in the Senate and is expected to be retained by a majority in the House of Representatives, it said. Senate and House negotiators could finalize a decision no earlier than next Monday.
■ Monetary policy
Bank chief becomes cabbie
Brazil's respected former Central Bank chief Arminio Fraga is soon to be seen dispensing financial wisdom from behind the wheel of a taxi. Fraga is set to appear as a taxi-driver in one of Brazil's most popular satirical television shows, Casseta&Planeta, a local network said on Tuesday. In the skit a businessman is shocked to find his cab driver confidently expound-ing views on the wild swings of Brazil's exchange rate. Fraga's cover is eventually blown and he explains why he has chosen his new profession. "After I left the Central Bank I started thinking, where can a guy with my curriculum and knowledge be used to his full potential? In a taxi! Because the people who really run the economy and everything else are taxi drivers," Fraga is scripted to say, according to a Globo Television spokesman.
Agencies
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
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