■Oil production
Venezuela to take action
Venezuela's defense ministry said it will act to restart the country's oil industry by enforcing a Supreme Court decision that ordered striking workers back to the job. Defense Minister Jose Luis Prieto said in a national address his ministry, together with the energy and mines, and infrastructure ministries, would take all necessary actions to enforce the ruling. The announcement came as the government retook control of the oil tanker that started a strike that spread to other vessels, and began moving it from Lake Maracaibo in the western part of the country, Union Radio reported. The crew of the Pilin Leon tanker, carrying 44 million liters of gasoline, was removed and replaced with a substitute crew, Union Radio reported. The tanker was headed to Bajo Grande, where the state oil company has a terminal, the radio said.
■ US Airways
Reorganization schedule set
US Airways Group Inc filed a bankruptcy reorganization that would allow the seventh-largest US airline to come out of Chapter 11 as early as March under new ownership. The plan, filed late yesterday in US Bankruptcy Court would give Alabama's state pension fund 37 percent of the company, the Air Line Pilots Association union 19 percent, other employees 11 percent, and management 7.8 percent, the company said in a statement. Unsecured creditors would own 11 percent, or 1.6 percent to 2 percent of their claims. US Airways, with more than US$10 billion of debt, filed for bankruptcy in August as losses widened after the Sept. 11 attacks, amid the US recession. The new common stock and warrants in the company would be valued at US$425 million to US$645 million. Old shares would be canceled, the company said.
Agencies
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2