■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.
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
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
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
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
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