■ 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.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
Thirty Taiwanese firms, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), yesterday launched a silicon photonics industry alliance, aiming to accelerate the medium’s development and address the energy efficiency of artificial intelligence (AI) devices like data centers. As the world is ushering in a new AI era with tremendous demand for computing power and algorithms, energy consumption is emerging as a critical issue, TSMC vice president of integrated interconnect and packaging business C.K. Hsu (徐國晉) told a media briefing in Taipei. To solve this issue, it is essential to introduce silicon photonics and copackaged optics (CPO)
The High Court yesterday overturned a Taipei District Court decision to release Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and sent the case back to the lower court. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday questioned Ko amid a probe into alleged corruption involving the Core Pacific City development project during his time as Taipei mayor. Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心), was a shopping mall in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) that has since been demolished. On Monday, the Taipei District Court granted a second motion by Ko’s attorney to release him without bail, a decision the prosecutors’ office appealed
RSS