■ Aviation
Oil price rise affecting fares
British Airways Plc may increase its airfares in response to a recent rise in world oil prices, the London-based Times said, citing unidentified "senior" people within the company. The carrier is seeking to recoup more than £1 billion (US$1.8 billion) after oil prices this week surged to US$40 a barrel for the first time since the 1991 Gulf War, the newspaper said. British Airways is moni-toring the rise in oil prices each day and may impose an emergency surcharge on holiday airfares soon, the Times said. Virgin Atlantic Airways, controlled by UK billionaire Richard Branson, said it would also raise ticket prices if oil prices keep going up, the news-paper said. Airlines face an extra US$8 billion on fuel bills this year, the Times said, citing the International Air Transport Association. American Airlines, has already imposed a US$4 surcharge on US domestic fares, the paper reported.
■ Construction
Blacklist for corruption
China plans to blacklist convicted bribe-givers and ban them from taking part in construction projects, in a move to combat the country's endemic corrup-tion, the government said yesterday. "Government-funded construction pro-jects have been a hotbed for corruption in China in recent years," the official Xinhua News Agency said in its report. It cited the conviction of three officials in Henan Province for taking bribes from firms seeking to build state-funded highways and other projects. Blacklisted firms would be banned from construction projects either temporarily or permanently depending on their offenses, the agency said. The black-list will initially cover five areas on a trial basis -- Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Chong-qing, Sichuan and Guangxi, the agency said.
■ Aviation
`Forbes' now in Arabic
The US-based Forbes magazine has launched an Arabic-language version to appeal to entrepreneurs, investors and managers across the Middle East. This month's launch follows an "arrangement" between the private media company and DIT Publish-ing, part of Saudi Arabia's Dabbagh Group, for a print run of 16,000 copies. "Our mission is to provide critical analyses on com-panies, industries and personalities shaping the global market-place, with a unique point of view not found in any other business publications," said president and chief executive officer Steve Forbes at a Saturday night launch party in the Gulf emirate of Dubai. Forbes Arabia is the fifth local-language publi-cation in the Forbes port-folio after Japanese, Portuguese, Korean and Russian, and boasts regional content with minimal editorial from other international editions.
■ Trade
War not hurting sales
US companies that sell products overseas say opposition to the war in Iraq and anti-Americanism hasn't led to a loss in sales, the New York Times said, citing executives and consumers. Many customers perceive US products as coming from their own countries, helping to prevent a possible back-lash, the paper said. Eco-nomic conditions are as likely as politics to sway consumers' buying habits, the paper said. "You have to remain vigilant about reminding people that politics is different from business," Fred Irwin, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Frankfurt, told the Times.
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