- IV.
International
. CHIP
producer Intel Malaysia
is positioning itself to tap on the increasing opportunities in
the Asia-Pacific region,
which is its biggest region. Key to the strategy is to place
emphasis on innovation in manufacturing, process technology
development and design.
.
A brothel ring was broken up in Australia. Brothel sources say
sex slaves in “contract girls” are most often Thai, Chinese,
Filipino, Korean or Indonesian. Most are aged 18 to their early
20’s. Some are as young as 12.
. United Airlines will resume international flights to Asia,
previously suspended because of SARS, August 1.
. China’s
advertising market, worth $10 billion in 2002, is set for double
digit growth annually in coming years and should overtake Japan to
become the world’s 2nd largest by 2010, according to
Nielsen Media Research.
. The
results of a June 9 poll suggest the Chinese
people were irked by what they view as US interventionism in world
affairs as decidedly more hawkish than their own govt. on North
Korea.
.
There is a growing pressure worldwide to see the rise of the yuan
which has been
set at about 8.3 yuan to
the US dollar since 1994 as artificially low.
. Hongkong’s
securities watchdog said it had publicly reprimanded a research
analyst at Goldman Sachs (Asia) for selective disclosure on
price-sensitive information.
. Bonso Electronics Intl. (Hongkong) knows no reason for the jump in its stock
price. Shares of the HK-based maker of telecom gear and weighing
instruments shot up 56% on the Nasdaq stock market.
. NTT
DoCoMo
is promoting its new 3G phones that will run for up to 240 hours.
The handsets are made by Fujitsu and NEC. DoCoMo said that it is
expanding its 3G service and will cover more than 30% of the Japanese
population by the end of June.
. Nintendo
won
compensation from Lik Sang
International of Hongkong in its first successful anti-piracy
case against a distribution of software company devices, a company
spokesman said.
.
Mitsui and other
animal-feed additive producers were held liable for participating
in a worldwide price-fixing conspiracy and told to pay $49
million.
. The
Govt. of South Korea has
unfairly subsidized computer memory chip manufacturers and should
face penalty tariffs as high as 44.71%, the U.S. DOC said.
.
The Chairman of South Korean
conglomerate SK was sentenced to 3 years in prison for accounting
irregularities that inflated the 2001 profits of its trading arm
(SK Global) by $1.25 billion.
. American
businesses are bullish on the resurgence of the Philippine economy, saying security issues have not cropped up
anymore in their list of concerns this year.
. Major
problems of Filipinos to
obtain a US visa: if a significant number of family members are
already in US as immigrants, or if they don’t have a job, or if
they are young and are not steadily employed.
.
The Secretary of Trade & Industry, rather than the Tariff
Commission, has the final say on imposition of safeguard measures
to protect domestic industries against surges in competing
imports, the Court of Appeals has ruled.
.
Directors of schools wanting to be free of state
control should declare their assets and liabilities to ensure
transparency in management, P.M. Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand
said.
. Police will step up security at all sites of
the Thai-Malaysian gas pipeline and refinery project in Songkhla where construction work is expected to start soon.
. Thai
Airways International, Plc. Will rack up operating losses
totaling 7 billion baht from April to August due to the SARS outbreak.
. P.M. Mahathir of Malaysia accused the West of airing the 9/11 attacks in the US as an
excuse to return to “violent old ways” and attack Muslim
nations.
. US
is Malaysia’s single largest source of foreign investment, with most
of the money going to the electronics, oil and gas sectors.
.
Celcom
will be delisted as Telekom
Malaysia received enough shareholder acceptance to acquire all
the remaining shares of Celcom.
. Indonesia
is ready to increase imports from Bangladesh to bridge the growing
trade gap which is currently in favor on Indonesia. With its vast
experience in the oil and gas sector, Indonesia will support
Bangladesh in developing gas-based chemical industries.
. Freelance journalist William Nessen on the run with
rebels in Aceh Province
fears that Indonesia’s military
wants to detain him on trumped-up charges and possibly shoot him.
. WTO
overturned a complaint from India
that US rules on the origin of imported bed linen and other
textiles favor domestic producers and imports from EU.
. Shasun
Chemicals scrip spurted following the signing of a Letter of
Intent (LOI) with Eli Lilly for manufacture & marketing of an
anti-tuberculosis drug.
. A rumor going around concerns the global
restructuring of Unilever,
and that Colgate is
likely to buy its Indian
operations.
. Participants
at a seminar organized by the Center
for Policy Dialogue (CPD), criticized the proposed budget for
2003-2004 for not having clear guidelines to address corruption,
law and order and overall impediments to growth.
. Colin Powell visits Dhaka; US considers Bangladesh
a valued friend and partner; lauds support in its war against
terror; urges political leaders to make peace.
. The leader of the opposition in Parliament asked the
Govt. to disclose “the secret conditions” in which the IMF-WB
granted loans to Bangladesh.
. Thai
officials seized a stash of radioactive cession-137 (to make a
“dirty bomb”) from a suspect from neighboring Laos,
who confessed that more was being kept there. It was believed to
have originated from Russia.
. Three Thai men were arrested and charged with
trafficking 1,155 lbs. of marijuana with a local retail value of
$6.3 million from Laos
to Bangkok.
. US State Dept. issued a public announcement to alert
Americans on increased security concerns in Laos.
It will expire August 13, 2003.
. EU
increased its sanctions against Burma’s military leaders for
detaining Suu Kyi. The union’s foreign ministers suspended more
trade privileges and agreed to freeze the assets of additional
officials, their relatives and friends.
. “Asia Diplomatic Skills” (12 weeks) course was
attended by 160 trainees interested in international affairs,
businesses dealing with foreign firms, management officials of
companies and other senior personnel.
. The Minister
of Commerce met with entrepreneurs exporting peppers, coffee
and mangoes.
