■ MINING
Ecuador axes concessions
Ecuador’s constitutional assembly on Friday approved a decree revoking most of the mining concessions in the country, following up on the leftist government’s pledge to take greater control over natural resources. The decision by the government-controlled assembly, which is writing a new constitution, suspended 3,100 of the 4,112 active concessions in Ecuador and 1,220 concession requests. Affected companies include Canada’s Aurelian Resources Inc, EcuaCorriente and Iamgold Corp. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, who is a close ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, said the decree would not “impede future concessions, but rather, the current ones, the majority of which are awful.” “The current dilemma is not whether to say yes to mining, but to seek economically, socially and environmentally responsible mining,” he said in a presidential statement.
■ INVESTMENT
US bank raises US$5.88bn
US investment bank JPMorgan Chase quietly raised US$5.88 billion on Wednesday, the same day it published first-quarter earnings, a filing with the US market regulator showed. The capital infusion was neither mentioned in the bank’s earnings statement nor discussed by executives in its ensuing conference call. The document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed JPMorgan Chase issued preferred stock, which enjoys priority over common stock in the distribution of dividends and other assets. The shares are to pay a fixed dividend of 7.9 percent for 10 years, after which the rate floats.
■ BANKING
RBS expecting fresh losses
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Britain’s second-largest bank, is to announce around £4 billion (US$8 billion) in fresh losses linked to the credit crunch, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The report came after media said on Friday that the bank was set to ask shareholders for a massive cash boost after being hit by subprime-linked losses and surging costs related to its takeover of the ABN Amro bank. It points to the pressures currently facing some of the world’s largest financial institutions.
■ FOOD PRICES
Malaysia to lift production
Malaysia’s government said yesterday it would spend 4 billion ringgit (US$1.3 billion) to increase food production and tackle price hikes as the country faces spiraling global oil and food costs. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he would also set up a high-level anti-inflation committee to tackle these issues, state news agency Bernama reported. However, he did not say how the money would be allocated.
■ FINANCE
Fannie Mae officials to pay
Former Fannie Mae chief Franklin Raines and two top executives have agreed to a US$31.4 million settlement with the government over their roles in a 2004 accounting scandal. Raines, the company’s former chief financial officer Timothy Howard and former controller Leanne Spencer were accused in a civil lawsuit of manipulating earnings over a six-year period at Fannie, the largest US financier and guarantor of home mortgages. None of the three acknowledged wrongdoing in the settlement announced on Friday. The amount agreed to under the settlement is far less than what the government was seeking when it sued the executives in December 2006, and it appeared little of the money would come out of their own pockets.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
OVERWHELMING SUPPORT: The bill with US$2 billion in Foreign Military Financing Program funds and US$1.9 billion to replenish defense articles passed the House 385-34 Taiwan is to continue working with the US to ensure peace in the Taiwan Strait, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday after the US House of Representatives approved a US$95 billion foreign aid package with funding for Taiwan. The bills were passed with bipartisan support in a rare Saturday session after votes had been delayed for months by House Republicans. After clearing the House, the bills — containing US$8 billion for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region, along with US$60.8 billion for Kyiv, and US$26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones — would be combined into a
The navy next month is expected to commission into service two more domestically built Tuo Chiang-class stealth missile corvettes, a source said yesterday. The Hsu Chiang (旭江, PGG-621) and the Wu Chiang (武江, PGG-623) would be officially commissioned in a ceremony early next month, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The corvettes, launched in February and June last year respectively, were delivered to the navy in February. They are the third and fourth Tuo Chiang-class stealth missile corvettes to be produced. The Tuo Chiang-class corvette is a domestically designed and manufactured class of fast and stealthy multipurpose corvette built for the