■ FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Australian dollar sets record
The Australian dollar hit a fresh 24-year high yesterday after official documents showed the central bank was more hawkish on interest rates than previously thought. The currency hit US$0.959 after the release of minutes from this month’s Reserve Bank of Australia monetary policy meeting, when rates were left on hold at a 12-year high of 7.25 percent. Markets had taken the lack of action as a sign that rates were likely to remain on hold for the rest of the year. But the minutes stated: “Members spent considerable time discussing the case for a further rise in the cash rate.” Economists said the minutes showed the central bank was poised to pull the interest rate trigger at the first indication that inflationary pressures were increasing. The Australian currency eased to US$0.9586 in late afternoon trading yesterday.
■ ECONOMY
Japan keeps rates steady
Japan’s central bank kept interest rates steady yesterday as widely expected amid lingering worries about a global slowdown. The seven-member policy board was unanimous in keeping the benchmark overnight call rate unchanged at 0.5 percent at the end of a two-day meeting, the Bank of Japan said. Soaring gas prices, rising material costs and signs of slower global growth are weighing on the world’s second-largest economy, which depends heavily on exports. Economists predict that the Bank of Japan is likely to do nothing for about a year unless economic signs change dramatically. The Japanese economy has proved remarkably solid recently. Last week, the government said the economy grew at a stronger-than-expected 3.3 percent annual pace in the first quarter, racking up its third consecutive quarter of growth. Still, economists warn that export growth could stumble if overseas economies falter, and domestic spending will probably stay weak if paychecks aren’t growing.
■ MEDIA
Studios hire Greenberg
A new pay TV channel being set up by Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate has hired former Showtime executive Mark Greenberg to become its new chief executive. Plans for the channel were announced last month after the studios could not reach a deal to continue to supply their movies to Showtime, the pay TV channel that belongs to CBS Corp. Greenberg, whose hiring was announced on Monday, spent 25 years in the cable business, including seven years at Time Warner Inc’s HBO. The channel and video-on-demand service is to launch late next year with original shows and movies from Viacom Inc’s Paramount and Paramount Vantage units, MGM, United Artists and Lionsgate.
■ TOBACCO
Imperial profit down 45%
Imperial Tobacco Group PLC, the world’s fourth-largest tobacco company, reported yesterday that profit in the first half was down 45 percent as it absorbed the Spanish company Altadis. The company reported a profit of £233 million (US$455 million) in the six months ending March 31, compared with £421 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenue was up 38 percent to £8.056 billion. Imperial Tobacco completed its acquisition of Altadis on Jan. 25. The company said it expected savings of 300 million euros (US$470 million) a year by 2010 from the Altadis takeover, rising to 400 million euros by 2012. However, it said those savings would be offset by one-off cash costs of 600 million euros.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from