■ Housing too costly for most
Housing has become so expensive in China that seven out of 10 urban families cannot afford their own homes, in yet another warning the property sector may be overheating, state media said yesterday. A new study from Beijing Normal University found 70 percent of China's city dwellers do not have enough money to buy a new apartment, based on average housing prices in the east of the country, Xinhua news agency reported. What is pushing up prices to levels out of reach to most of the nation's citizens is what looks dangerously like a speculative boom, according to the agency. During the first quarter of this year, the amount of unsold real estate in China rose 23.8 percent over the same period last year to 123 million square meters, the National Bureau of Statistics reported recently.
■ Finance
Bank mulls acquisitions
Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest bank, is mulling major acquisitions, above all in the area of retail banking, chairman Josef Ackermann said in a newspaper interview published yesterday. "Retail [banking] is primarily where I see opportunities for acquisitions," Ackermann told the Financial Times. "A deal could be anywhere between 1 billion and 5 billion euros [US$1.26 billion and US$6.3 billion], but I also would not exclude something bigger if it makes strategic sense," Ackermann said.
■ Energy
Liquefying plant planned
A Japanese consortium hopes to capture carbon dioxide emissions at an Australian power plant by 2009 in a world first that would be a major step towards battling greenhouse gases responsible for global warming, a report said yesterday. Under the plan, about 20 percent of the carbon dioxide released by the plant in the northeastern state of Queensland would be trapped, liquefied then stored underground rather than released into the atmosphere. The Nihon Keizai business daily said J Power and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries would lead the project alongside the Japanese industry ministry and Australian, US and European firms. Construction of the carbon dioxide liquefying facility, estimated to cost about US$124 million, is expected to begin next year and be ready two years later, the report said. The companies are also hoping to use the technology in developing Asian nations, particularly China, where demand for energy has increased rapidly.
■ Internet
Microsoft, Yahoo in talks
Software giant Microsoft and Internet media company Yahoo have been holding talks for more than a year about how to combat the rising threat of Google, including a proposal for Microsoft to buy a stake in Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Among other options on the table is the sale of Microsoft's MSN online network to Yahoo in return for a minority stake in the Internet portal, the report said. The report came after a disappointing earnings report last week sent Microsoft shares tumbling more than 10 percent. The company's stock has languished for over a year on investor concerns about a challenge from Google. Last October Yahoo and Microsoft announced that their instant messaging services would be able to interconnect starting in the second quarter of this year.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a