■OIL
OPEC chief likes prices
Some US$75 to US$80 a barrel is a satisfactory price for oil, OPEC president Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos told reporters in Abu Dhabi yesterday. “US$75 to US$80 a barrel is a good price ... for the recovery of the world economy,” De Vasconcelos, who is also Angola’s oil minister, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on Gulf energy security. The rate of compliance by OPEC members with their production quotas “is around 65 percent,” he said, adding that this rate is satisfactory. OPEC members will review production quotas during a meeting in Luanda on Dec. 22.
■AVIATION
EADS posts big Q3 loss
The parent company of planemaker Airbus says it lost 87 million euros (US$130 million) in the third quarter as the weak dollar ate into revenues. European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co (EADS) warned yesterday that charges to its troubled A400M military transport airplane and its A380 superjumbo programs could hurt earnings in the fourth quarter. EADS said it is unable to give a full year forecast for earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) — the measure that analysts watch most closely — because of “ongoing uncertainties on the magnitude of the potential A400M and A380 charges.” The third quarter loss compares to a 679 million euro profit a year earlier. EBIT in the July to September period fell 77 percent to 201 million euros. Revenue was down 2 percent at 9.5 billion euros.
■AVIATION
Rolls-Royce wins orders
British plane engine maker Rolls-Royce said yesterday it had secured orders worth US$2 billion from Air China (中國國際航空) and Ethiopian Airlines. Air China is spending US$1.5 billion for Trent 700 engines for its 20 A330 long-haul jets. Ethiopian Airlines is spending US$480 million on Trent XWB for Airbus A350 planes on order, the company said.
■AVIATION
GE unit teams up with AVIC
General Electric’s GE Aviation Systems unit is teaming with China’s Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC, 中國航空工業) to develop and market electronic systems for commercial aircraft customers, including the C919 narrow-body aircraft that China hopes will compete with jets made by industry giants Boeing and Airbus. The goal is to launch the new China-based company by the middle of next year, subject to regulatory approvals. GE Aviation provides jet engines, parts and systems for current commercial and military aircraft, and the AVIC joint venture will offer electronics and services for future commercial aircraft programs. GE has more than 12,000 employees currently based in China. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed. The deal will create 200 jobs in the US, said Lorraine Bolsinger, president and CEO of GE Aviation Systems, in announcing the venture in Beijing on Sunday.
■ELECTRONICS
Hitachi to seek funding
Hitachi Ltd, reeling from massive losses, said yesterday that it planned to raise ¥415.7 billion (US$4.6 billion) from investors to shore up its shaky finances. Hitachi aims to drum up the cash by selling convertible bonds and new shares. It has been hit hard by the global economic downturn. It is restructuring with measures including 7,000 job cuts, after losing ¥787.3 billion in the year to March — the biggest ever loss for a Japanese manufacturer. Other cash-strapped Japanese firms are also going cap in hand to investors to bolster their capital, including electronics giant NEC.
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
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
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