■ Aviation
Northwest orders Boeings
Boeing Co, the world's No. 2 commercial-airplane maker, won an order from Northwest Airlines Corp for 18 of its new 787 Dreamliners valued at about US$2.16 billion, beating Airbus SAS for the third time in two weeks. Northwest, the fourth-largest US airline, also took options on 50 additional planes. Deliveries of the aircraft, to be used on international routes to Europe and Asia, will begin in August 2008, the St. Paul, Minnesota-based carrier said in a statement yesterday. The order is a blow for Airbus, whose planes make up a bigger portion of Northwest's fleet than Boeing aircraft. Northwest partner Continental Airlines Inc ordered 10 787s in December, becoming the first operating US airline to buy the planes.
■ Economy
HK mulls interest-rate hikes
Hong Kong's central banker said yesterday he would like to see local interest rates rise to head off inflation. Assets denominated in Hong Kong dollars have been a major beneficiary of a recent wave of market speculation that China is preparing to let the yuan appreciate. Although Hong Kong's own peg to the US dollar usually means that its interest rates closely track those of the US, the surge in local liquidity in recent weeks has kept local rates unusually low. "If capital keeps coming in, our monetary environment will be more relaxed than in the US," Joseph Yam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, told lawmakers. "Personally, I don't want to see this relaxed monetary environment continue for too long." Yam said low interest rates have fueled rises in property prices and hence inflation, so keeping rates low could further accelerate those increases.
■ Power Plants
Allen invests in Bangladesh
A billionaire co-founder of Microsoft Corp plans to spend US$1.6 billion building Bangladesh power and fertilizer plants, marking the second-biggest investment into the poor but fast-growing nation behind a US$2.5 billion project by India's Tata group. Paul Allen, the world's seventh-richest person according to Forbes magazine, will make the investment through Global Vulcan Energy International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of his personal investment vehicle, Vulcan Capital. "We signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday with the US energy firm, which will invest US$1.6 billion in the next three years," said Mahmudur Rahman, executive chairman of Bangladesh's Board of Investment. Vulcan will spend US$900 million of Allen's US$21 billion fortune building a number of gas-run power plants with a total 1,800 megawatts (MW) of capacity -- equivalent to almost half of existing national capacity.
■ Energy
Underinvestment at 20%
Energy companies are underinvesting in new oil and gas production capacity by as much as 20 percent, the Financial Times said, citing an interview with International Energy Agency (IEA) chief economist Fatih Birol. Birol said investment in the oil sector was between 15 percent and 20 percent less last year than what was needed to meet IEA estimates for the next 25 years, the FT said. The underinvestment was the result of listed companies returning funds to shareholders and international companies' lack of access to countries with large reserves, the FT cited Birol as saying.
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
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
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