■ 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.
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