■ENERGY
OPEC head warns on prices
Oil prices, which reached a new record last week, will keep rising if the dollar continues to fall and if oil producer Iran is attacked, the president of the OPEC said. “It’s not the supply and demand that is influencing oil prices now, prices go up with the falling dollar and the growing threat of war on Iran,” Chakib Khelil, who is also Algeria’s oil minister, told reporters on Saturday in Algiers. “If there is war and the dollar continues to slump, prices will go higher and higher.” Oil jumped as high as US$147.27 a barrel on Friday. Crude oil for delivery next month rose US$3.43 or 2.4 percent, to settle at US$145.08 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
■ENERGY
Minister calls for cuts
Japan must take steps to cut energy consumption and promote alternative resources to cope with rising oil prices, as it can’t regulate speculation in the oil market, Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Hiroko Ota said yesterday. “It’s hard to take measures that could alleviate the pain temporarily,” Ota said during a talk show on NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster. She gave no specific ideas on what Japan could do to combat the rise in oil prices. The climb in oil’s price is being sustained by growth in demand from emerging economies, Ota said. To curb the rise, it’s necessary to improve market fundamentals, such as investment in the infrastructure of oil-producing countries, she said.
■AGRICULTURE
Chinese trade deficit grows
China registered a US$7.57 billion trade deficit in agricultural products during the first five months of this year, up by more than 14-fold over the same period last year, Xinhua news agency said yesterday. China imported US$23.75 billion in agricultural products in that period, up 59 percent over last year, Xinhua said, citing the agriculture ministry. The nation exported US$16.18 billion in agricultural products during the period, up 12 percent over the first five months of last year, it said.
■TECHNOLOGY
Windows XP most common
Windows XP remains the most common computer operating system among Internet users, a survey conducted by a German marketing firm showed. The survey by Fittkau & Maass found that 75.8 percent of Internet surfers use Windows XP while only 13 percent use Vista Online, which has been on the market since early last year. Next in popularity come Windows 2000 (4.6 percent), Mac OS (3.8 percent) and Windows 98 and ME (both at 1.3 percent). Only 1.2 percent of surfers use Linux. The results were based on an Internet user survey of more than 100,000 German-speaking computer users.
■HOUSING
Broker urges rate hike end
Australia’s slowing home-lending market signals the central bank should avoid raising interest rates from a 12-year high, the nation’s largest mortgage broker said. Home-loan approvals fell 7.9 percent in May, the biggest drop in eight years, a report said yesterday. The decline suggests the Reserve Bank of Australia may not need to raise interest rates any further, said Paul Lahiff, managing director of Sydney-based Mortgage Choice Ltd. “Are we close to the top of the interest rate cycle? I think we are,” Lahiff told Sky News Australia yesterday. Traders have reduced bets on the Reserve Bank raising rates after the home-loan approvals report, and after a second measure showed consumer confidence fell to the lowest since 1992.
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