■ENERGY
Shell ups Chinese LNG deal
Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to sell 2 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to PetroChina under a 20-year contract, state media reported yesterday. The gas will come in part from the proposed Gorgon gas project off the coast of Western Australia, the Shanghai Securities News said, citing unnamed Shell officials. The Anglo-Dutch company has a 25 percent stake in the development. Shell signed an agreement in September last year to supply 1 million tonnes of LNG to PetroChina over 20 years. But the final LNG amount doubled in size from the previous announcement, the report said.
■TELECOMS
Phone sales likely to fall
Worldwide mobile-phone sales will decline next year as economic growth slows, researcher Gartner Inc said. Shipments will decline by a “low single-digit” percentage next year, the Connecticut-based market research firm said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. Sales will rise 8 percent this year after rising 6 percent in the third quarter, Gartner said. Nokia Oyj raised its third-quarter market share by unit sales to 38.2 percent from 37.8 percent a year earlier, while Samsung Electronics Co increased its share to 17.1 percent from 14.4 percent. Motorola Inc fell to 8 percent from 13 percent, slipping to a fourth place. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd moved to third spot even as its market share fell to 8.1 percent from 8.7 percent.
■SINGAPORE
PM to take salary cut
President SR Nathan and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) will take a 19 percent salary cut next year, leading a civil-service-wide downward salary adjustment to offset the impact of the global financial crisis, media reports said yesterday. Nathan and Lee would earn S$3.14 million (US$2.07 million) and S$3.04 million respectively with the cuts next year. Salaries of ministers and senior permanent secretaries would be reduced by 18 percent and allowances for members of parliament would be reduced by 16 percent.
■AVIATION
Indochina Airlines launched
Vietnam’s first privately owned airline began flights yesterday, aiming to tap rising demand for air travel in the country. Indochina Airlines, owned by a group of Vietnamese businessmen, is operating four daily flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, company spokeswoman Nguyen Thi Thanh Quyen said. The company, chaired by Ha Hung Dung, a well-known Vietnamese pop music composer and businessman, also offers two flights daily between Ho Chi Minh City and Danang.
■TRAVEL
HK residents still want trips
The people of Hong Kong are cutting travel costs but not abandoning their holidays as they economize on luxuries during the global economic slump, a survey released yesterday found. A survey found people were looking at making their winter breaks cheaper rather than staying at home. Forty-eight percent of people interviewed said they would be more flexible on travel dates, 40 percent said they would consider taking shorter trips and 35 percent said they would cut holiday budgets. A surprisingly large 78 percent of respondents in the survey by the online travel firm Zuji said they still planned to go on holiday early next year despite the economic downturn.
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