■ECONOMY
Shrinking trade crimps Asia
The global economy may shrink for the first time in at least 60 years this year, hurting world trade and crimping Asian growth, Credit Suisse Group AG said. The world economy may contract 0.3 percent this year, compared with an estimate last month of 0.7 percent growth, Credit Suisse economists Neal Soss and Henry Mo said in a report dated on Wednesday. “The severe and synchronized global recession has led to a freezing of trade,” the Zurich-based bank said. That will hurt Asian exporters including Japan, where GDP may contract 5.2 percent this year, it said. Growth in the rest of Asia may slow to 4.4 percent, it forecast. A recovery in global growth next year would depend on monetary, credit and fiscal policies in the US, Europe and elsewhere, Credit Suisse said. Government efforts to stimulate their economies may help world GDP growth rebound to 3.7 percent next year, the bank said.
■FRAUD
Madoff accountant arrested
Bernard Madoff’s longtime accountant was arrested on fraud charges on Wednesday as US authorities blamed him for failing to make the most basic auditing checks that would have exposed an epic fraud that cost investors billions of dollars. David Friehling is the first person to be arrested in the scandal since Madoff turned himself in, and his prosecution signals that the government is intent on bringing Madoff’s associates to justice as they try to figure out who helped him carry out the fraud. Prosecutors say the 49-year-old Friehling essentially rubber-stamped Madoff’s books for 17 years, serving as Madoff’s auditor from 1991 through last year. Authorities said that if Friehling had done his job, Madoff’s financial statements would have shown his company was insolvent.
■ENTERTAINMENT
Offer made for USJ Co
A Goldman Sachs Group Inc-led group offered ¥111.2 billion (US$1.2 billion) to take over USJ Co, the operator of the Universal Studios Japan theme park that’s losing customers as the economy contracts. Goldman, which aims to boost its stake in Osaka-based USJ to 61.2 percent, and investors including MBK Partners bid ¥50,000 a share, they said in a statement yesterday. That’s 23 percent more than the stock’s closing price on Wednesday in Tokyo. New York-based Goldman, the world’s biggest and most profitable securities firm until it converted to a bank holding company, invested ¥20 billion in Universal Studios Japan in 2005. “The key to success of the bid depends on whether Osaka city, a major shareholder, accepts the bid,” said Hirotoshi Murakami, a senior analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co in Tokyo.
■AVIATION
BAA must sell airports
BAA Ltd, the owner of the UK’s five busiest airports, faces being broken up after the country’s top antitrust regulator ruled that the company must sell two hubs serving London and one in Scotland. The Competition Commission ordered BAA, a unit of Spanish builder Grupo Ferrovial SA, to dispose of London’s Gatwick and Stansted airports and terminals in either Edinburgh or Glasgow. All three disposals must be made within two years, the watchdog said today in a Regulatory News Service statement.
■FINLAND
Two-year recession forecast
The economy is likely to be in recession for at least two years, shrinking 4 percent this year and 1.1 percent next year, Espoo-based Tapiola Bank forecast yesterday.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2