■RUSSIA
Retail sales rose 13.8%
Retail sales growth slowed last month as average wages rose at a slower pace. Sales climbed an annual 13.8 percent last month, compared with a revised 14.5 percent in May, the Moscow-based Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. That was less than the 14.5 percent median forecast of 16 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Russia has entered its 10th consecutive year of economic growth, helping to boost wages and spending on food, clothes and other consumer goods. Average wages have increased sixfold since 2000. Wages increased an annual 11.7 percent last month, reaching 17,808 rubles (US$766.94), the Statistics Service said.
■AVIATION
SkyEurope to cut routes
Slovak low-cost airline SkyEurope plans to cut its routes this winter in the face of spiraling oil prices, the idnes.cz news Web site reported on Sunday, citing company officials. The airline is to cut flights from Prague to Sofia and Lisbon and from Slovakia’s Bratislava and Kosice to Irish and British destinations Dublin, Cork and Birmingham, the report said. The company, which flies to 41 European destinations, will also slash a planned route from the Czech capital to Larnaca, Cyprus. “We are canceling our longest flights that are understandably the most burdened by oil prices,” idnes.cz cited CEO Jason Bitter as saying. The company also plans to ground at least two from its 15 planes this winter, Bitter said. SkyEurope has been in the red since transporting its first passenger in 2002.
■ENERGY
Vopak obtains financing
Royal Vopak NV, the world’s largest oil and chemical storage company, said it got 745 million euros (US$1.2 billion) in financing for its Rotterdam liquefied natural gas terminal. Vopak got the financing from the European Investment Bank and a group of banks, the Rotterdam-based company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The company is building the 800 million euro terminal with Dutch gas distribution company Gasunie NV.
■AUTOMOBILES
Ssangyong to freeze facility
South Korea’s smallest automaker, Ssangyong Motor, will shut down its plant for almost three weeks this summer because of sluggish demand for its gas-guzzling SUVs, union officials said yesterday. The management and union at the Chinese-owned carmaker had agreed to the shutdown from July 31 through Aug. 17 at the plant in Pyeongtaek, union officials said. Workers will get 70 percent of their regular pay during the shutdown. The paint shop will be refurbished during this period. Ssangyong, owned by China’s Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (上海汽車工業), was the only automaker among the country’s five players to report a fall in vehicle sales last month, with sales plunging 67 percent from a year earlier.
■FASHION
Esprit deputy chair quits
Esprit Holdings Ltd, the Hong Kong-based worldwide retailer of its own-brand clothes, said John Poon (潘祖明) resigned as deputy chairman and chief financial officer on Sunday to “pursue other interests.” Paul Cheng (鄭明訓), a 71-year-old independent non-executive director, was to take over as deputy chairman immediately, Esprit said in a statement to Hong Kong’s stock exchange yesterday. Ernst-Peter Vogel, senior vice president for finance in Europe at the firm, was named deputy chief financial officer.
ANNOUNCEMENT: People who do not comply with the ban after a spoken warning would be reported to the police, the airport company said on Friday Taoyuan International Airport Corp on Friday announced that riding on vehicles, including scooter-suitcases (also known as “scootcases”), bicycles, scooters and skateboards, is prohibited in the airport’s terminals. Those using such vehicles should manually pull them or place them on luggage trolleys, the company said in a Facebook post. The ban intends to maintain order and protect travelers’ safety, as the airport often sees large crowds of people, it said, adding that it has stepped up publicity for the regulation, and those who do not comply after a spoken warning would be reported to the police. The company yesterday said that
QUIET START: Nearly a week after applications opened, agencies did not announce or promote the program, nor did they explain how it differed from other visitor visas Taiwan has launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program for foreign nationals from its list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts. To apply, foreign nationals must either provide proof that they have obtained a digital nomad visa issued by another country or demonstrate earnings based on age brackets, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. Applicants aged 20 to 29 must show they earned an annual salary of at least US$20,000 or its equivalent in one of the past two years, while those aged 30 or older must provide proof they earned US$40,000 in
UNITY MESSAGE: Rather than focusing on what Trump said on the campaign trail about Taiwan, Taipei should be willing to engage with the US, Pompeo said Taiwan plays a key role in Washington’s model of deterrence against China, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said in a speech in Taipei yesterday. During US president-elect Donald Trump’s first term, “we had developed what we believe was a pretty effective model of deterrence against adversaries who wanted to undermine the set of rules and values that the people of Taiwan and the people of the US hold dear,” Pompeo said at a forum organized by the Formosa Republican Association. “Succeeding in continuing to build this model will not solely rest at the feet of president Trump and his team,
TECH CORRIDOR: Technology centers and science parks in the south would be linked, bolstering the AI, semiconductor, biotech, drone, space and smart agriculture industries The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a “Southern Silicon Valley” project to promote the development of an artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor industry in Chiayi County, Tainan, Pingtung County and Kaohsiung. The plan would build an integrated “S-shaped semiconductor industry corridor” that links technology centers and science parks in the south, Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said yesterday after a Cabinet meeting. The project would bolster the AI, semiconductor, biotech, drone, space and smart agriculture industries, she said. The proposed tech corridor would be supported by government efforts to furnish computing power, workforce, supply chains and policy measures that encourage application and integration
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