■ Banking
Banks eye Chinese market
US-based Carlyle Group and Hong Kong's Dah Sing Bank(大新銀行) will join the fast-expanding club of foreigners in China's banking sector with stakes in Chongqing Commercial Bank (重慶商銀), state press said yesterday. Carlyle has wrapped up a deal with Chongqing Commercial Bank for a stake, the 21st Century Business Herald quoted Chongqing Vice Mayor Huang Qifan (黃奇帆) as saying. Huang said the agreement would be signed next week but declined to provide further details. The newspaper said Carlyle would buy a 14-percent stake from Chongqing Yufu Asset Management Corp, the bank's largest shareholder. Hong Kong's Dah Sing Bank will take an 11-percent stake, the report said.
■ Energy
Firms sell Sakhalin stakes
Two Japanese companies have decided to sell roughly half of their stakes in the Sakhalin-2 project to Russia's state-run natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, a press report said yesterday. Mitsui Co and Mitsubishi Corp own 25 percent and 20 percent stakes respectively in Sakhalin Energy, the business entity driving the natural gas development project. The other 55 percent belongs to Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Mitsui and Mitsubishi decided at board meetings on Wednesday to accept Gazprom's request that the three firms sell it at least 50 percent of Sakhalin Energy, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper said.
■ Automobiles
Nissan in battery talks
Nissan Motor Co said yesterday it is talking with Japanese electronics company NEC Corp about establishing a joint venture that would make lithium ion batteries for use in hybrid and fuel cell cars. The move would be a key part of the automaker's strategy to develop hybrid technology in an effort to catch up with larger rival Toyota Motor Corp, which has taken the lead in the business. The proposed partnership would involve development, manufacturing and sales of batteries, the company said. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported yesterday that Nissan and NEC plan to build a lithium ion battery factory by 2010.
■ Catering
Hooters coming to Seoul
US restaurant chain Hooters will make its debut in South Korea next month but its trademark sexy waitresses will dress less revealingly, the company said. The country's first Hooters will open in Seoul. "The [Hooters] girls here will wear the same uniform as in the United States. But in light of the different attitude toward bare skin, their way of wearing the uniform will be different," Hooters of Korea spokeswoman Rose Hong said on Wednesday. Translation: they will show less cleavage than their US counterparts.
■ Aviation
Airbus committed to targets
Airbus' chief said yesterday the European aircraft maker is "fully committed" to the revised delivery schedule of its A380 superjumbo, with the first plane due in October, and was hopeful of securing more orders next year. "We are fully committed to deliver the airplane ... by October 2007, and I am fully committed personally,'' said Airbus president and chief executive Louis Gallois at a press conference after signing the official order to supply Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd with eight more superjumbos and four additional A330-200 aircraft.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
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