■BANKING
Postbank future in balance
The German logistics group Deutsche Post could decide by the middle of this month on the future of its banking subsidiary Postbank, a press report said yesterday as sector consolidation shifted up a gear. Deutsche Post’s supervisory board is to meet on Sept. 12, the business daily Handelsblatt reported. The logistics company owns 50 percent plus one share of Postbank, but has made it known that it would like to sell the unit, which has 14.5 million clients. Commerzbank, the second biggest German bank, had said it was interested but has just announced it will buy the No. 3 Dresdner Bank in a deal worth 9.8 billion euros (US$14.2 billion).
■ENERGY
GDF Suez to buy First Light
New French energy giant GDF Suez was to announce yesterday the acquisition of US electricity producer First Light, the daily Le Figaro reported, publishing an interview with GDF Suez CEO Gerard Mestrallet. The takeover would cost 1.3 billion euros (US$1.88), or 835 euros per kilowatt, the paper said, adding that GDF Suez had won a contract for more than US$650 million for supplying energy to a number of US Defense Department sites. First Light manages 15 power stations in the US totaling 1,500 megawatts and plans an additional 500 megawatts, Mestrallet said in the interview, adding that the acquisition would give his company a “sufficient production capacity” on the other side of the Atlantic.
■BANKING
Bank welcomes convictions
The Bank of China (中國銀行), one of that nation’s top lenders, yesterday welcomed the conviction in the US of two former managers for record-setting fraud estimated at nearly US$500 million. The two, Xu Chaofan (許超凡) and Xu Guojun (許國俊), were convicted by a federal jury in Las Vegas on Friday of masterminding a plot to embezzle US$485 million, the China Daily reported, calling it the biggest case of its kind since 1949. “[The conviction] is good news,” said a Bank of China spokesman, Wang Zhaowen (王兆文). “It is still undergoing the legal process — it’s just conviction and a sentence is yet to come.”
■ELECTRONICS
Sony to sell new PSP
Sony Corp, the world’s largest maker of game consoles, will sell a new PlayStation Portable player in Japan from Oct. 16 in time for the year-end shopping season. The machine will be priced at ¥19,800 (US$183), Shawn Layden, head of the Japan business at Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, the game division, said yesterday. Tokyo-based Sony said last month it will start selling the handheld device in North America on Oct. 14 and in Europe on Oct. 15. Sony introduced a slimmer version of the PSP in September last year and is adding games for its newest PlayStation 3 machine to reduce market-share loss to Nintendo Co. “Sales of the PSP are healthy and on an upward trend,” Layden said at a briefing in Tokyo.
■TELECOMS
Alcatel appoints ex-BT man
Alcatel-Lucent said yesterday it has appointed former BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen to replace outgoing CEO Patricia Russo. The world’s largest manufacturer of fixed-line telecommunications gear also named former EADS co-CEO Philippe Camus as non-executive chairman, replacing longtime Alcatel chairman Serge Tchuruk. Verwaayen’s appointment is effective immediately, and Camus will take over as chairman on Oct. 1, Alcatel-Lucent said in a statement.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a