■FINANCE
Hong Kong investors protest
Investors in Lehman Brothers in Hong Kong held their second protest in a week yesterday, accusing local banks of misleading them about investment products backed by the failed US investment bank. Holding signs that said “Return my blood money” and “Crafty salesmanship, sugarcoated poison,” about 400 people marched through Hong Kong’s central financial district to nearby government headquarters. The protesters said the banks that sold them Lehman-backed bonds didn’t properly explain the products to them and urged the Hong Kong government to better regulate investment products. Hong Kong’s Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau said yesterday that regulators would investigate the allegations of misleading salesmanship.
■STEEL
Sinosteel plans not final
Sinosteel Corp (中國中鋼), China’s second-biggest iron-ore trading company, said its decision to buy a stake in Australia’s Murchison Metals Ltd would depend on “market conditions.” Sinosteel this month won approval to buy up to 49.9 percent of Perth-based Murchison. But Sinosteel president Huang Tianwen (黃天文) said whether to proceed would depend on the price and the terms of the contract. Sinosteel controls Midwest Corp, an iron ore producer that neighbors Murchison in the midwest region of Western Australia.
■FINANCE
IMF ready to fight ‘anarchy’
The IMF needs to tighten its control over financial markets following the global economic crisis, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in an interview published yesterday. He said the IMF was “ready to do what is required if we are given the mandate,” saying the world faced “financial anarchy” now, just as it did in 1944 when the organization was set up in the aftermath of World War II. “We can have national or regional authorities, such as the European Union for example, but we need a global guarantor. An institution which monitors standards,” Strauss-Kahn told France’s Journal du Dimanche.
■SOUTH KOREA
Government to create jobs
The government plans to create at least 30,000 jobs in the public sector by the end of this year to support lower-income households struggling with the slowing economy. The government and state agencies will increase spending on projects such as roads, bridges and ports and expand job programs, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said in a statement yesterday. The number of people with jobs rose by 183,000 on average each month during the first eight months of this year, down from 282,000 in the same period last year, the statement said.
■COMPUTERS
Don’t forget to look at RAM
Laptop buyers should pay special attention to the amount of RAM installed in a computer. Two gigabytes (GB) should be the rock-bottom threshold, Germany’s Computerbild magazine said, as that is enough to work with Windows Vista. Those who must satisfy “memory hungry” applications like photo editors are best advised to go for a model with 3GB of RAM. The magazine tested eight laptop models costing around US$500 each. The portable computers were powerful enough to handle office applications. Once the tasks moved into photo and video editing tasks, however, the desktop PCs in the same price class were often faster.
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