■Banking
Japanese banks to merge
Hokuriku Bank Ltd and Hokkaido Bank Ltd said they may merge to create what would be Japan's second-biggest regional lender with combined assets of Japanese Yen 9.5 trillion (US$80 billion). Hokuriku Bank, which is based in north--western Japan's Toyama prefecture, has a market value more than three times Hokkaido Bank's capital-ization of Japanese Yen 42.7 billion. The banks said in separate statements they are considering a merger. Nikkei English News reported they will merge in the year beginning April of next year. The merger would be the second since the Financial Services Agency this year set aside Japanese Yen 1 trillion (US$8.5 billion) to boost the capital of banks which seek to merge. "Not only major banks, but regional banks also are groping around the way to the revitalization," Minister for Financial Services Heizo Takenaka said.
■ US economy
Association is optimistic
The US economy will expand in the second half of this year and next year at the fastest rate since 2000, leading to more business investment and lower unemployment, a survey by the nation's largest association of business economists found. GDP will increase at a 3.6 percent pace in the second half and for all of next year, according to the National Association for Business Economics, which surveyed 37 fore-casters earlier this month. That would be more than twice the 1.6 percent pace during the first three months this year and the fastest since 3.8 percent in 2000. US unemployment will hold at 6 percent for the rest of this year and fall to 5.7 percent by the end of next year, according to the survey. Business fixed investment will increase 1.4 percent this year before surging 8.1 percent next, the group found, and corporate profits will rise 9.6 percent this year and 15 percent next year.
■ Monetary policy
UK not ready for euro
Britain will not be ready to join the euro until after the country's next general election, due mid-2006 at the latest, Treasury chief Gordon Brown will announce next month, a British newspaper reported yesterday. "He will say the conditions [for joining] are not perfect now, but he expects the economics to be right by early in the next parliament," The Daily Mirror quoted a senior government source as saying. The source said Chancellor of the Exchequer Brown was all for Britain joining but that he believed now was not the right time. "Gordon Brown is preparing to get pro-active and he will make the case for Britain's membership as you've never heard it before. He will basically tell the country that we have to make `one more push,'" the source said.
■ Petroleum
Oil prices gain slightly
Oil prices were slightly firmer in Asian trading yesterday after dropping overnight following the lifting of UN Security Council sanctions on Iraq, allowing Baghdad's crude oil exports to resume. New York's benchmark light sweet crude contract for July delivery was trading at US$28.89 per barrel at 11:25 am after closing overnight at US$28.85 dollars. "I think oil prices are supported by the low stocks in the US and the strength in the natural gas market. Plus, the driving season in the US has already begun," a local trader said. He said oil prices had stopped reacting to the UN Security Council resolution, which came as no surprise. The Security Council ended 13 years of UN sanctions on Iraq with immediate effect.
Agencies
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source