■ STEEL
Hyundai may build furnace
Hyundai Steel Co, South Korea's second-largest steelmaker, may spend 2.3 trillion won (US$2.4 billion) to build a third blast furnace by 2015 as demand for steel used in cars and ships soars. The plant, which burns iron ore and coal, may produce 4 million tonnes of steel a year, Kim Soo-min, executive vice president of the Incheon-based company, said on Friday. Output from its first two blast furnaces under construction will start from 2010.
■ OIL
Exxon reports flaring
Exxon Mobil Corp, the world's largest oil company, reported a jet vent gas compressor tripped and caused flaring yesterday at its refinery in Baytown, Texas. The incident at unit C901 didn't affect production and all customer needs are being met, Exxon Mobil said in a filing to the Texas Commission on the Environmental Quality Web site. The event began yesterday at 3:03am and was expected to continue until 9:03pm, the report said. The Baytown refinery, the largest in the US, has an oil-processing capacity of 586,000 barrels a day and accounts for about 3.3 percent of the US' total refining capacity.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Honda to build new plant
Honda Motor Co will spend US$485 million to build a new factory complex in Japan to produce small vehicles as consumers are shifting to less fuel-hungry models, a report said yesterday. The carmaker will build the complex in the western city of Yokkaichi at a cost of some ?50 billion (US$485 million), the Nikkei Shimbun said without naming sources. Honda plans to start operating an engine factory next year and assembly lines around 2010 with an annual output capacity of 240,000 vehicles, it said. The group aims to cut its production and distribution costs by at least 30 percent at the new complex, it said.
■ GOLD
Mine tax reviewed
Chile's government said Argentina has yet to agree to all the terms of a tax treaty that will allow Barrick Gold Corp to develop a gold project that straddles the border of both countries. The Argentine government is "still studying" a clause agreed to in a 2004 cross-border mining accord that it won't tax mineral Barrick smelts on its side of the border, the Chilean Internal Tax Service known as SII said in an e-mailed statement on Saturday. Argentine Mining Minister Jorge Mayoral said on Wednesday that Barrick would start construction of the mine-site in September. Barrick will spend 7.44 billion pesos (US$2.36 billion) developing the Pascua Lama project, which contains both gold and silver.
■ BANKING
Trader to undergo tests
The French trader charged in a 4.9 billion euro (US$7.1 billion) scandal at Societe Generale has been ordered to undergo psychiatric tests by investigating judges, a legal source said on Saturday. Jerome Kerviel, 31, has been in custody for the last month suspected of what Societe Generale says were unauthorized trades worth at least 50 billion euros -- more than the bank's own capital. He is charged with breach of trust, fabricating documents and illegally accessing computers, but escaped the more serious charge of fraud. His examination by a psychiatrist is aimed at determining if Kerviel's judgement was affected during his actions.
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 —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
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
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