■BANKING
DSB declared bankrupt
A Dutch judge yesterday declared ailing bank DSB bankrupt after it failed to find a new buyer in the face of client withdrawals this month totaling 600 million euros (US$900 million), a court statement said. “The court comes to the conclusion that everything possible was done to save the bank, but that there are no prospects of that being achieved,” said a statement from the district court in Amsterdam. On Thursday, the court gave DSB until noon on Friday to find a buyer, but bank boss Dirk Scheringa convinced it to give him until yesterday morning — reportedly for an interested American firm to scrutinise his books. DSB was placed under administration at the behest of the Dutch central bank last Monday, freezing all its activities and client accounts.
■SHIPPING
CMA-CGM to delay delivery
France’s CMA-CGM container shipping company wants to delay the delivery of 49 ships it has ordered and is due to receive within the next three years, the company said yesterday. CMA-CGM, the world’s No. 3 container shipper, which employs 17,000 worldwide, saw its revenues drop by about 30 percent with a net loss of US$515 million in the first half of this year as shipping volumes and tariff fell during the global economic crisis. The heavily indebted French company, which now owes US$5.6 billion, announced last month a steering committee including banks and financial institutions that is supposed to draft a plan to return the company to profitability next year and secure its long-term future.
■ENGINEERING
Sulzer orders down 29.1%
Swiss industrial engineering and manufacturing company Sulzer yesterday reported a 29.1 percent drop in its order intake for the first nine months of the year, when adjusted for currency fluctuations. “The activity levels in most of Sulzer’s key markets were clearly below the level of the previous year’s period,” the Zurich-based company said in a statement, adding, however, that the order intake level had started to show some stabilization in recent months. Sulzer said it did not expect a “quick recovery,” as the economic downturn would continue to affect its key markets.
■OIL
Chevron unveils LNG project
Energy group Chevron announced yesterday a new natural gas discovery off Western Australia that will help support the massive Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil last month agreed to develop the Gorgon field, spending some A$43 billion (US39.25 billion) in the initial construction phase of the country’s largest-ever resources development. The energy giant said gas was found in about 100m of the 4,500m drilled in the Achilles-1 exploration well which lies about 160km offshore. The Gorgon project, expected to begin production in 2014, is designed to be an important source of energy for Asia’s burgeoning economies.
■OIL
Refinery project revived
The Kuwaiti government said on Sunday it will revive the US$14 billion project to build its fourth oil refinery, which was scrapped in March on corruption allegations. The Cabinet’s plan of action will be submitted to parliament includes building the refinery south of Kuwait City. Lawmakers originally accused officials of profiteering from the project because the contracts to build it did not go through a central bidding committee. The government denied the charges.
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