■ ENERGY
China mum on Iran deal
China's CNOOC kept silent yesterday on reports it had clinched a US$16 billion agreement to develop Iran's North Pars gas field, a deal the US said it would scrutinize for possible violations of UN sanctions. The Iranian oil ministry's official Shana Web site said the the agreement calls for CNOOC to invest US$5 billion in upstream gas field projects and US$11 billion in downstream liquefied natural gas plants. The deal was first announced in 2006. If the deal goes through, it will be the second big oil and gas deal with Iran for China in just a few months, following a US$2 billion agreement by Sinopec to develop the Yadavaran oil field.
■ FINANCE
EU suggests ethics pledge
The European Commission urged state-run investment funds to sign up to a voluntary code of conduct, stopping short of proposing to regulate the emerging financial powerhouses in Europe. "The establishment of a code of conduct for sovereign wealth funds [SWF] is a good thing to increase confidence among recipients on how sovereign wealth funds adopt decisions," EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told reporters in Brussels. The commission said SWFs now hold US$1.5 trillion to US$2.5 trillion in assets worldwide, with one estimate suggesting that could rise to US$12 trillion by 2015.
■ BANKING
UBS approves capital hike
Embattled UBS chairman Marcel Ospel breathed a sigh of relief on Wednesday after the bank's shareholders approved a controversial capital hike aimed at making good billions of dollars in US subprime home loan losses. Under the deal, Singapore's state investment arm GIC will inject 11 billion Swiss francs (US$10.13 billion), giving it a stake of approximately 9 percent and making it the largest single shareholder, and SF2 billion will come from an unnamed Middle East investor.
■ SOFTWARE
Fine for Microsoft upheld
The European antitrust regulator imposed a record US$1.35 billion fine against Microsoft on Wednesday in a ruling intended to send a clear message to the world's largest software maker of the dangers of flouting Europe's competition rulings. The commission in 2004 ruled that the market dominance of Microsoft's Windows software was abusive. The ruling was upheld in September by one of the highest European courts. "Microsoft was the first company in 50 years of EU competition policy that the commission has had to fine for failure to comply with an antitrust decision," the commission's antitrust regulator Neelie Kroes said in a statement.
■ ENERGY
Germany warns of blackouts
Germany and the rest of Europe could suffer power cuts lasting several days this summer owing to a lack of power stations, the head of one of Europe's biggest generating firms was quoted as saying on Wednesday. "Power is growing short all over Europe because there are not enough power stations," Juergen Grossmann, head of German power giant RWE, told the Bild daily in comments following a massive blackout that caused chaos in Florida. "Right now, all we need is the combination of a hot, dry summer and the shutdown of more power stations for maintenance for power security to be endangered," he said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2