World Business Quick Take

■ Oil
OPEC prefers lower prices
OPEC would prefer to see the price of its reference crude basket stabilize at between US$35 to US$40 per barrel and will maintain its existing output in the short-term, Iran's oil minister said yesterday. "The most that OPEC is able to do is ruling over the production for the short term. We prefer long-term stable prices, sustainable prices without fluctuation," Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told reporters. "We now have high prices in the market, and any decrease in oil production would send the wrong signal to the market," he added. "We are not looking for high prices but the market is not in our hands."

■ Mobile phones
Cellphone TV launched
Nokia Corp yesterday launched a pilot project enabling cellphone users to watch television broadcasts on their handsets in the Helsinki region. In the first venture of its kind in Finland, Nokia is working with the country's largest broadcaster, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, YLE, and leading commercial TV channels and major mobile service providers, including TeliaSonera and Elisa, the world's largest cellphone maker said. Besides Finnish TV programming, 500 test users in the capital region can also watch international television broadcasts, such as BBC World and CNN, and tune into radio programs.

■ Trade
Japan rules against Intel
Japan's anti-monopoly watchdog ruled against US chipmaker Intel Corp on Tuesday, saying it used unfair business practices to sell its microprocessor chips. The Fair Trade Commission's decision follows an investigation into allegations the semiconductor maker broke antitrust laws to urge clients not to use microprocessor chips manufactured by its rivals, like Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Such chips are the silicon brain of all computers. Intel has provided marketing money to Japanese PC makers that use Intel chips and brand their products with "Intel Inside" and "Centrino" labels. Centrino is Intel's wireless networking chipset.

■ Airlines
Last year safest on record
Airlines recorded their safest year last year, with 428 people killed out of the 1.8 billion passengers who flew, the International Air Transport Association said on Monday. "2004 was the safest year ever for air transport," said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA director-general and CEO. He said the number of accidents rose to 103 from 99 in 2003, while global traffic increased 15 percent. But the number of fatalities has been declining steadily from a peak of 1,418 deaths in 1996, said IATA spokesman Anthony Concil. That number -- compiled only from Western-built aircraft -- was from 1.3 billion passengers flown.

■ Global economy
Europe's bankers optimistic
The president of the European Central Bank said on Monday that top bankers are cautiously optimistic about the global economy. Jean-Claude Trichet said the economy has absorbed the effect of high oil prices more easily than during previous increases, and that prospects are "reasonably steady." Trichet spoke following a meeting with counterparts from the Group of 10 association of top central bankers at the Swiss-based Bank for International Settlements. Trichet said. Trichet also said the price of oil could soon drop, as global weather conditions improve.