World’s post offices look to reinvent selves

World’s post offices look to reinvent selves

AFP-JIJI

JUL 29, 2013

PARIS – There was a time when your local post office would mainly sell stamps and deliver letters. No longer. To counteract the turmoil brought on by email and text messages, postal services worldwide have reinvented themselves, taking on the technological revolution that once looked to cripple them. Traditional mail service has dropped sharply in recent years, though emerging countries are a notable exception. According to the Universal Postal Union, global letter and light parcel delivery dropped 3.7 percent in 2011 from a year earlier, and by 5.1 percent when just counting Europe and the former Soviet Union. Read more of this post

Essilor, the world’s biggest producer of eyeglass lenses by sales is buying a 51 per cent stake in Transitions Optical from partner PPG Industries for $1.73bn

July 29, 2013 4:39 pm

Essilor buys majority stake in Transitions Optical for $1.73bn

By Adam Thomson in Paris

Essilor International, the world’s biggest producer of eyeglass lenses by sales is buying a 51 per cent stake in Transitions Optical from partner PPG Industries for $1.73bn.

The acquisition will hand Essilor full ownership of Transitions Optical, the inventor of plastic lenses that darken in ultraviolet light, and increase the French company’s exposure to a segment that is growing twice as fast as the overall optics industry. Read more of this post

BMW Launches Its First Mass-Production Electric Car

Updated July 29, 2013, 10:18 p.m. ET

BMW Launches Its First Mass-Production Electric Car

Auto Maker Needs to Boost Sales of Electric Cars to Meet Regulatory Requirements

JOSEPH B. WHITE

BMW unveiled Monday its first mass-production electric car, the i3. The German car maker says the car can accelerate from 0-60 miles an hour in just over seven seconds and says the basic model has a range of 100 miles. The new i3 is expected to be priced at $41,350 before incentives.

BMW AG BMW.XE -0.26% Chief Executive Norbert Reithofer unveiled on Monday the auto maker’s first mass-production electric car, saying his company would need to boost sales of plug-in and battery electric vehicles dramatically by 2025 to meet regulatory requirements. The BMW i3 is expected to go on sale in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2014 where it is expected to be priced at $41,350 before federal tax and other incentives. An optional “range extender”—a small gasoline motor—will likely boost the price tag to $45,000. Mr. Reithofer said he is taking a long view on the potential of electric vehicles. “If you build such a car…you have to look into the future, 10, 15, 20 years,” Mr. Reithofer said. “If you look around the world, [at] the emissions regulations, in the United States, in the European Union, even in China…cars like the BMW i3 are a must.” Read more of this post

China, whose airline market is dominated by state-owned carriers noted for inefficiency and poor service, will study policies to encourage the budget-carrier model that is sweeping Asia

Updated July 29, 2013, 8:30 a.m. ET

China’s Air Regulator Will Consider Ways to Boost Budget-Carrier Market

Having Lifted Ban on New Independent Airlines, Government Pushes Low-Cost Model

JOANNE CHIU

SHANGHAI—China is taking steps to jump-start the budget-airline business, say people familiar with the situation, a sign of further liberalization in one of the nation’s most tightly regulated sectors. Li Jiaxiang, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told a semiannual CAAC working meeting this month that the regulator plans to study new policies to promote low-cost carriers in the second half of the year, according to people there, who included airline executives. Mr. Li also urged the nation’s smaller airlines to look into the budget model, and established airlines to learn from successful low-cost airlines to improve management standards and operating efficiency, the people said. Read more of this post

China’s top stock-market regulator Xiao Gang Turns Gray as China IPO Freeze Precedes New Rules

Xiao Turns Gray as China IPO Freeze Precedes New Rules

Four months after taking over as China’s top stock-market regulator, Xiao Gang showed up at a government meeting in July with gray hair at his temples.

The salt-and-pepper look provoked debate, even poetry, on China’s Weibo microblog service. Commentators argued whether the challenges of overseeing Asia’s worst-performing major stock market had aged him or if he had stopped dyeing his hair.

Xiao, 54, is stuck between more than 700 companies waiting to raise funds and Chinese leaders led by Xi Jinping who have pledged to clean up corruption. The China Securities Regulatory Commission, under pressure from investors to avoid exacerbating a 25 percent slump in the Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) since July 2010, is drafting rules to curb misconduct that would establish stiff penalties for investment banks before ending an almost 10-month freeze on initial public offerings. Read more of this post

Myanmar’s Yangon More Expensive Than NYC Sparking Boom

Yangon More Expensive Than NYC Sparking Boom: Real Estate

Sean Danley has spent the past six months scouting office space in Yangon after being sent to establish the Myanmar branch of his U.S.-based employer.

He looked in the city’s three sole 1990s-era towers, where annual rents have climbed to more than $100 a square foot, compared with less than $75 in downtown Manhattan, according to broker CBRE Group Inc. Too expensive, he said.

The villas he considered either didn’t have safety exits, weren’t clean, required sharing space with other companies or were in odd locations — all unsuitable to the image of his $29 billion in revenue engineering and construction company, which he said he wasn’t authorized to identify. After seeing 10 places and losing one possibility to someone faster with his “bag of money,” Danley is still looking. Read more of this post

U.S. says JP Morgan manipulated market; settlement seen

U.S. says JP Morgan manipulated market; settlement seen

7:47pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. power regulator outlined its case of market manipulation against JPMorgan Chase & Co on Monday as industry sources said a final settlement on the issue should come on Tuesday. Traders used improper bidding tactics in California and the Midwest to boost profits, officials said in a statement that brought to light some details of an extensive investigation. Reports of that probe have circulated for months and a deal with the regulator could put an end to a distraction for JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon. The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) staff has found “eight manipulative bidding strategies” used by a JPM affiliate in 2010 and 2011, the regulator said. Read more of this post

Taiwan says may tighten tax rule on property trading

Taiwan says may tighten tax rule on property trading

Monday, Jul 29, 2013

Reuters

TAIPEI – Taiwan does not rule out the possibility of tightening a tax rule on trading properties and luxury goods, as it aims to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. Speculation has helped drive up property prices on the island, especially in the capital Taipei and some other northern cities, and worsened affordability at a time when growth is slowing. Taiwan’s Finance Minister Chang Sheng-ford told reporters over the weekend that studies show the tax has received positive feedback as it has helped curb property turnover and narrowed the gap between rich and poor. The government introduced the so-called luxury tax almost two years ago. Properties that are sold in less than two years after being bought are taxed. A 15 per cent tax applies to properties sold within a year of purchase and 10 ppercent to those sold within two years. A 10 per cent tax applies on sales of luxury goods worth at least T$3 million (S$126,405). One possibility is to collect the tax from buyers, which is what Hong Kong and Singapore have done, Chang said. Another option is to extend the tax-free period to three or four years from the current two years, the minister added.