■ china
FX reserves hit US$1.65tn
The nation's foreign exchange reserves rose by US$118.9 billion in the first two months of the year to US$1.65 trillion, the China Business News reported yesterday. The reserves increased US$61.6 billion and US$57.3 billion in January and last month respectively, it said, citing unnamed sources. China's foreign exchange reserve, the world's biggest, rose by 43.32 percent or US$461.9 billion last year to US$1.53 trillion, figures released by the central bank showed. A spokesman with the State Administration of Foreign Exchange declined to comment on the report.
■ leisure
GIC teams with Host Hotels
Singapore has teamed up with US-listed Host Hotels and Resorts in a US$600 million venture to explore investments in the hospitality trade in Asia and Australia, the partners said. Host Hotels and Resorts will hold a 25 percent stake in the venture, which will have a maximum equity of US$600 million, they said in a statement late on Tuesday. An affiliate of the real estate arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), which is partnering with the US hotelier in the venture, will own the remaining 75 percent, GIC said.
■ mining
Vale suspends Xstrata bid
Brazilian mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce SA said on Tuesday it had halted negotiations to acquire Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata PLC in a deal reportedly worth as much as US$90 billion. Vale said in a statement that talks were discontinued after Xstrata failed to agree to its latest offer of cash and stock. The company said it reserves the right to make a new offer within six months. The purchase would be the largest ever made by a Brazilian company. Two years ago, Vale paid US$17.6 billion for Canadian nickel miner Inco Ltd.
■ banking
Maybank to buy rival
Maybank, Malaysia's top lender, said yesterday it planned to acquire Indonesia's sixth-largest bank, Bank Internasional Indonesia, for US$2.7 billion as part of an aggressive regional expansion. In a statement to the stock exchange, Maybank said it had agreed to buy Sorak Financial Holdings Pte Ltd, which owns 56 percent of Bank Internasional, for US$1.5 billion. Maybank will then make a tender offer for the remaining 44 percent stake in Bank Internasional for US$1.2 billion, it said. Bank Internasional has a network of 230 branches and some 700 ATMs. Sorak is 75 percent held by Singapore's Temasek Holdings and 25 percent by South Korea's Kookmin Bank.
■ energy
Chevron reports find
Chevron Corp has found at least 142 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the Malay Basin offshore southwest Vietnam, it said yesterday. Chevron said in a statement that a three-month drilling program ended in the middle of this month confirmed a greater development potential than first believed. Chevron Vietnam operates exploration in several exploration blocks in the Malay Basin on behalf of partners PetroVietnam Exploration and Production Co, Japan's Mitsui Oil Exploration Co Ltd and Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production PCL. Timing of first production is contingent on further commercial negotiations with PetroVietnam, Chevron 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 —
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
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
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