■FINANCE
Roth calls for cooperation
Central banks around the world should coordinate more in times of crises to prevent financial groups from looking outside national boundaries for assistance, the head of Switzerland’s central bank said in an interview published yesterday. Speaking to the Financial Times, Jean-Pierre Roth said that while such cooperation was not currently underway, it was “important to be aware of the question.” “We have to think about eliminating differences and coordinating more,” the chairman of the Swiss National Bank told the business daily. “It would be very delicate for us to have a Swiss bank that required a massive credit not knocking on our door, but knocking on the door somewhere else,” he said.
■ENERGY
Oil prices fall to US$112.39
World oil prices fell further yesterday, dragged down by worries that weaker US oil demand could spread to Europe and Japan, analysts said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery next month, dropped US$0.48 to US$112.39 a barrel. That came on top of a US$0.90 drop in New York trade on Monday, when the price closed at US$112.87 at the end of floor trading. Brent North Sea crude for October delivery fell US$0.58 to US$111.36 after settling US$0.61 lower at US$111.94 a barrel on Monday in London.
■ECONOMY
UBS forecasts US recession
The US is likely to slip into recession in the coming months as the cushioning impact of sharp interest rate cuts and tax rebates wears out, UBS bank economists said yesterday. “Sharp cuts in interest rates and tax rebates have prevented the US economy from sliding into recession until now,” UBS said in a statement. “But the economists of UBS Wealth Management now expect the effects of fiscal concessions to peter out in the second half of the year, leaving the US economy facing the inevitable prospect of recession.” Real economic growth in the US is expected to reach 1.3 percent this year, but just 1.0 percent next year.
■TECHNOLOGY
Softbank to buy from Casio
Softbank Corp, Japan’s third-largest mobile-phone operator, said yesterday it will buy handsets from Casio Computer Co. Softbank, based in Tokyo, will start selling the phones by the end of this year, the two companies said in a statement yesterday. A joint venture between Casio and Hitachi Ltd will make the handsets, they said. Casio, the maker of mobile phones equipped with Exilim camera technology, already supplies KDDI Corp, the second-ranked wireless operator in Japan.
■HONG KONG
Tom Group falls to HK$0.36
Tom Group Ltd, the media company controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), fell to a record in Hong Kong trading after saying its first-half loss widened. Tom Group declined 6.4 percent to HK$0.36 (US$0.046) at 10:12am on the Hong Kong stock exchange, the lowest since the company moved its listing to the main board from the Growth Enterprise Market in August 2004. The net loss expanded to HK$547 million (US$70 million), from a restated HK$85 million a year earlier, the company said. Sales fell to HK$1.33 billion from HK$1.35 billion. Tom Group shares have declined 42 percent this year, compared with a drop of 25 percent in the city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
A bipartisan group of US representatives have introduced a draft US-Taiwan Defense Innovation Partnership bill, aimed at accelerating defense technology collaboration between Taiwan and the US in response to ongoing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The bill was introduced by US representatives Zach Nunn and Jill Tokuda, with US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar and US Representative Ashley Hinson joining as original cosponsors, a news release issued by Tokuda’s office on Thursday said. The draft bill “directs the US Department of Defense to work directly with Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense through their respective
CHINA’s BULLYING: The former British prime minister said that he believes ‘Taiwan can and will’ protect its freedom and democracy, as its people are lovers of liberty Former British prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday said Western nations should have the courage to stand with and deepen their economic partnerships with Taiwan in the face of China’s intensified pressure. He made the remarks at the ninth Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. Johnson, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said he had seen Taiwan’s coastline on a screen on his indoor bicycle, but wanted to learn more about the nation, including its artificial intelligence (AI) development, the key technology of the 21st century. Calling himself an
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