■ Minerals
NunaMinerals strikes gold
Greenland's largest mineral explorer, NunaMinerals A/S, found gold at its Storoe deposit and called the field a "promising" concession. Engineers found visible gold in six out of 12 drilling holes in the deposit, located 40km northeast of capital Nuuk, the company said yesterday in a statement. The Nuuk-based company said it will present yield estimates early next year. "The drilling tests confirm our expectations and we believe the gold project at Storoe is one of our most promising concessions," chief executive officer Ole Christiansen said in the statement.
■ Finance
Merkel wants transparency
German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated her call for increased transparency in global finance in an interview to be published yesterday. "At the end of the day we all risk paying the price of the opaqueness often associated with the selling on of loans," Merkel told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. The market turbulence this week showed "to what extent it is necessary to have greater transparency in international financial markets," Merkel said. On Saturday German bank SachsenLB said it has had to be bailed out to the tune of 17.3 billion euros (US$23.3 billion) by the country's savings banks because of exposure to the US subprime loan crisis.
■ Architecture
Stop caring, politician says
Campaigners who launch court actions to save parts of Hong Kong's architectural heritage are damaging the city's international competitiveness, a leading politician said yesterday. Earlier this month, protesters failed in a last-ditch High Court application to prevent the demolition of Queen's Pier, the traditional landing point for British royals, in order to make way for a new by-pass. "If major projects are left open to legal challenge in the way that we have seen with the Queen's Pier ... I am afraid that local and international investors' confidence on contract rights and obligations in Hong Kong will be badly dented," James Tien (田北俊), chairman of the Liberal Party told local broadcaster RTHK.
■ Automobiles
Grube to represent DC
Rudiger Grube, a member of DaimlerChrysler AG's Board of Management, will represent the automaker on the board of a holding company overseeing Chrysler, a source familiar with the plan said. Grube will be a member of the Chrysler Holding LLC board, overseeing automaker Chrysler LLC and Chrysler's financial services operations, according to the company source, who declined to be identified on Saturday because an announcement has not been made.
■ Currency
Yen makes good ground
The yen advanced the most against the euro since March 2000 as the subprime mortgage crisis spread through global credit markets, pushing investors to sell riskier assets funded by loans made in Japan. The yen rose 5.2 percent to 154.10 per euro from 162.13 a week ago, the most since a 6.4 percent gain in the period ended March 31, 2000. The Japanese currency also gained 3.5 percent to 114.36 per US dollar over the same period. Currencies in New Zealand and Australia led the decline last week among major currencies against the yen, losing 9.6 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively. The Australian and New Zealand currencies are carry-trade favorites.
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