■ ENERGY
Firms investing in Turrum
An ExxonMobil Corp subsidiary and BHP Billiton announced plans yesterday to spend US$1.25 billion to tap oil and gas reserves in the Bass Strait off southern Australia. The joint venture will build an offshore platform off Victoria state at a site called the Turrum field and aims to extract about 28.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 110 million barrels of oil and gas liquids, the companies said. The Turrum project is expected to start producing from 2011, with gas sales from 2015. ExxonMobil Australia chairman Mark Nolan said the Turrum project had enough resources to supply the energy needs of a city of 1 million people for more than 20 years.
■ INTERNET
High court finds Horie guilty
The Tokyo High Court yesterday upheld a lower court ruling that found Japanese Internet tycoon Takafumi Horie guilty of breaking a securities law and sentenced him to two years and six months in prison without suspension, media reports said. The 35-year-old former president of Livedoor Co had pleaded not guilty to charges of forging the company’s financial records and falsifying information about the acquisition of a Japanese publisher to raise his company’s stock price. Horie’s lawyer appealed the high court’s ruling at the Supreme Court yesterday. The Tokyo District Court in March last year found Horie guilty of initiating the accounting fraud, which also involved other Livedoor executives.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Honda posts record profits
Japan’s Honda Motor Co reported record fiscal first-quarter profits as sales growth in new markets offset damage from a stronger yen and soaring material costs. Honda said it earned ¥179.6 billion (US$1.7 billion) in the second quarter, up 8.1 percent from the same period the previous year. Sales for the quarter dipped 2.2 percent to ¥2.87 trillion, largely because a rising yen eroded the value of the automaker’s overseas earnings. The Tokyo-based manufacturer of the Civic and Accord compacts said it still sold more vehicles worldwide than in any other fiscal first quarter. Demand for Honda products is booming in Asia, Brazil and other new markets, it said.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Economic growth slows
Economic growth slowed sharply in the second quarter, official figures showed yesterday, amid warnings of a slump that could further test President Lee Myung-bak’s sagging popularity. Growth slowed below forecast to an annual rate of 4.8 percent in the last quarter from 5.8 percent in the first quarter, the Bank of Korea said, as soaring oil prices pushed up inflation and weakened domestic demand. “Because of high prices and the jobless rate, domestic consumption weakened in the second quarter, weighing down on the growth momentum,” Choi Chun-sin, a director of the bank, told reporters. The latest growth figure is the lowest since early last year.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Ford plans restructuring
Ford Motor Co announced plans to accelerate its vast restructuring plan on Thursday after the sputtering auto giant posted its worst quarterly loss in history. The US$8.7 billion loss in the second quarter was largely caused by hefty charges as Ford wrote down the value of its assets and recognized losses from auto leasing. The automaker has now lost nearly US$24 billion since 2006 and recently backed off plans to return to profitability by next year amid a weak US economy.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
CHINA’s BULLYING: The former British prime minister said that he believes ‘Taiwan can and will’ protect its freedom and democracy, as its people are lovers of liberty Former British prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday said Western nations should have the courage to stand with and deepen their economic partnerships with Taiwan in the face of China’s intensified pressure. He made the remarks at the ninth Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. Johnson, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said he had seen Taiwan’s coastline on a screen on his indoor bicycle, but wanted to learn more about the nation, including its artificial intelligence (AI) development, the key technology of the 21st century. Calling himself an
South Korea yesterday said that it was removing loudspeakers used to blare K-pop and news reports to North Korea, as the new administration in Seoul tries to ease tensions with its bellicose neighbor. The nations, still technically at war, had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. It said in June that Pyongyang stopped transmitting bizarre, unsettling noises along the border that had become a major nuisance for South Korean residents, a day after South Korea’s loudspeakers fell silent. “Starting today, the military has begun removing the loudspeakers,”
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