■AUTOMOBILES
Group lobbies for subsidy
Carmakers need a government subsidy to roll out the vehicles that Australians want to buy, an industry lobby group said yesterday. Federal Chamber of Automotive Industry spokesman Andrew McKellar said the government should help pay for the shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles from gas-thirsty cars as part of its response to the challenge of climate change. “We have to ensure those new technologies that will support achieving these objectives that they are coming into the marketplace, they are being taken up in terms of new vehicles being manufactured in Australia as well as being made available more broadly across the market,” he said. The government has already promised US$450 million in subsidies for the production of a “green car.”
■TELECOMS
Qatar firm wins court case
Qatar Telecom QSC, which paid US$1.8 billion in June to buy a 40.8 percent stake in Indonesia’s PT Indosat, said the Indonesian Supreme Court had thrown out the legal challenge to its ownership of the stake. “The Supreme Court’s decision today removes the District Court’s order and allows us to keep the shares we acquired in June” in Indonesia’s second-biggest mobile phone operator, Qtel chairman Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed Bin Saud al-Thani said in a statement posted on the Doha bourse Web site yesterday. Qatar Telecom is in the process of starting a tender to buy more Indosat shares, the statement said.
■HONG KONG
New slogan being sought
The government is spending hundreds of thousands of US dollars looking for a new slogan to replace the boast of “Asia’s World City,” a news report said yesterday. The territory has spent US$160,000 hiring multi-national communications company Fleishmann- Hillard to supervise the task, the Sunday Morning Post reported. Another US$64,000 is being spent on setting up a Web site for people to offer their ideas on a new slogan and image for the territory of 6.9 million people. The new slogan is expected to compete against regional slogans such as “Malaysia Truly Asia.”
■LIVESTOCK
China open to trotters
The German pork industry, Europe’s largest, is turning its attention to China, not only a vast market, but one with a taste for pigs’ ears, feet and other delicacies that are shunned at home. After two years of negotiations, Berlin sealed a deal last week in Beijing opening the door to China for German pork. “It is extremely positive,” said Michael Stab, in charge of the meat sector for the German Farmers Association. “There is demand for products that are not worth much here, such as trotters and ears, and we are going to try to get quite a good price for them.” The US, Denmark, France and Canada are the biggest meat suppliers to China.
■INDIA
Inflation slowing down
Indian prices of primary articles including food and oil seeds increased at a slower pace in the past 12 months than in the previous year, the government said. Prices of food and non-food articles such as oil seeds and minerals rose by 7.86 percent on average as of Aug. 30, slower than the 9.49 percent annual rate a year earlier, the finance ministry said in an e-mailed statement. Annual inflation remains at a 16-year high, rising three times since the beginning of the year.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
The Philippines yesterday criticized a “high-risk” maneuver by a Chinese vessel near the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in a rare incident involving warships from the two navies. The Scarborough Shoal — a triangular chain of reefs and rocks in the contested South China Sea — has been a flash point between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. Taiwan also claims the shoal. Monday’s encounter took place approximately 11.8 nautical miles (22km) southeast” of the Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine military said, during ongoing US-Philippine military exercises that Beijing has criticized as destabilizing. “The Chinese frigate BN 554 was
LEISURE: The new law adds Confucius’ birthday, the anniversary of the Battle of Guningtou, Constitution Day and Little New Year as national holidays The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed new legislation adding four national holidays and making Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party used their combined majority in the legislature to push the jointly proposed draft through its third and final reading. This new law supersedes the existing regulations for the implementation of memorial days and state holidays, which are administered by the Ministry of the Interior. The new law recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the anniversary of the Battle of Guningtou on Oct. 25, Constitution Day on Dec. 25 and “Little New Year,”
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