■ Steel
Cross-strait firms pen deal
Wuhan Iron & Steel Group (武鋼), China's third-largest steelmaker, and Taiwan's China Steel Corp (中鋼) have agreed to cooperate in technology development and staff training to compete with rivals such as Nippon Steel Corp. China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said on Thursday that Wuhan Steel and China Steel signed the accord on Monday. The partnership will cover marketing and company management. Japan's Nippon Steel and South Korea's Posco, Asia's two largest steelmakers, said on Sunday they will spend more than US$900 million to boost crossholdings.
■ Oil
Record profit reported
The world's largest company, ExxonMobil Corp, announced record profits for last quarter of US$10.49 billion on Thursday on the back of red-hot oil prices. ExxonMobil said its net profits spiked 26 percent from US$8.30 billion in the same period last year. Earnings per share of US$1.77 for the quarter, up from US$1.32 a year ago, were well above most Wall Street predictions of US$1.58 dollars.ExxonMobil's shares rose, but the political heat on the company mounted as top Democratic lawmakers including Senator Hillary Clinton accused it of squeezing consumers and demanded an end to industry tax breaks.
■ Automobiles
Ford reiterates priorities
Although it's fighting financial troubles, US automaker Ford reiterated its commitment to investing in new products and technology, a senior executive said yesterday. "Despite the difficult times at Ford, we think it's extremely important to invest in the product," said Susan Cischke, vice president overseeing environmental and safety engineering at Ford Motor Co. Cischke said in Tokyo that Ford sees ecological technology as crucial, including more efficient gas engines, hybrids that deliver better mileage, and the more futuristic fuel cell vehicles.
■ Aircraft
Airbus delays delivery
European aircraft manufacturer Airbus will deliver six A380 aircraft to Virgin Atlantic in 2013, a four-year delay, the British company said on Thursday. "Virgin Atlantic has reached an agreement in principle with Airbus to defer deliveries of its Airbus A380 aircraft until 2013," a spokeswoman for the airline told reporters, specifying this represented a delay of four years. "By then, we believe, the A380 will have proven its innovative design over several years in commercial service," she said. At the beginning of October, Airbus announced a third delay for delivery of the super-jumbo, because of persistent manufacturing problems.
■ Energy
Russia probes Sakhalin-2
The Russian Prosecutor General's Office said yesterday it may launch a criminal case over alleged environmental violations at a giant Shell-led energy project, as officials continue to crank up the pressure at the troubled multibillion-dollar development. "The Prosecutor General's Office plans to inspect materials provided by the Natural Resource Ministry on ecological violations during the Sakhalin-2 project," prosecution spokesman Konstantin Nikonov told reporters. "If there are sufficient grounds after this inspection a criminal case will be opened," he said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
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