Dr Chalise in RBB

KATHMANDU: Dr Bhola Nath Chalise, former government secretary and MD of Nepal Electricity Authority has been appointed chairman of Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB), a state-owned commercial bank, as per the cabinet decision. Dr Chalise, a pro-liberalisation thinker and campaigner, has done his doctorate degree in Industrial Policy Reform from the University of Vienna. — HNS

Stop extortion: HAN

KATHMANDU: HAN has expressed serious concern over Maoists’ extortion drive. “It is not wise to create ‘donation terror’ in the hotel industry, which is reeling under financial crisis in recent times,” states a release. — HNS

Taiwan’s jobless rate

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s jobless rate fell to 3.78 per cent in April from 3.87 per cent in March on a fall in the number of people who became unemployed due to dissatisfaction with their work. The government added that the numbers first-time job seekers and people losing temporary work on seasonal factors had also fallen. The April figure was down from 4.04 per cent a year earlier. — AFP

Inflation rises in HK

HONG KONG: Hong Kong inflation reached 1.9 per cent in April, up from 1.6 per cent in March, due partly to increased prices for fresh vegetables. A government spokesman said increased charges for package tours and in private housing rentals continued to feed through to consumer price indices. However, prices of many other goods and services showed only mild increases or even declines, suggesting that the pressure is still well contained. — AFP

Toyota to boost output

TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp plans to build new factories in Asia, North America and Europe to boost its annual output to 10 million vehicles by 2010 and probably overtake GM. Japan’s top automaker is looking at new factories in Texas in the US and Guangzhou in China as well as in France and India, in addition to six new plants already announced. — AFP

Mitsubishi UFJ profits

TOKYO: Japanese banking giant Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group said on Monday it had swung to an annual net profit of $10.48 billion from a big loss a year earlier as bad debts shrank. In the previous financial year Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group and UFJ, which merged last year to become the world’s largest bank. — AFP