■ENERGY
BP, partners strike deal
BP agreed to a deal with the oligarch co-owners of TNK-BP yesterday that overhauls the Russian oil’s major management and sets a possible flotation of up to 20 percent of the company, ending months of increasingly hostile dispute. BP has agreed in principle to a number of its partners’ demands, including the removal of TNK-BP’s BP-nominated chief executive Bob Dudley and the appointment of independent directors. The British oil company said in a statement the two sides had signed a memorandum of understanding, which would be finalized in the coming months. “It will create a stable base from which to grow the joint venture to the benefit of everyone involved, including the Russian state for which strong capital investment and continued technical innovation to boost declining oil output are so important,” BP chairman Peter Sutherland said in the statement.
■FINANCE
MUFG denies news report
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (MUFG) yesterday denied a news report that the Japanese megabank was considering bidding for a stake in troubled US investment bank Lehman Brothers. “The report is not true,” MUFG spokesman Takashi Miwa said without elaborating further. The Times reported on Wednesday that MUFG would make a bid for a “substantial” stake in Lehman, which suffered billions of dollars in writedowns and credit losses in the crisis triggered by the meltdown in US subprime mortgages. It possibly even aims to take control of Lehman, the newspaper said. Citing senior sources close to Japan’s largest financial group, the daily said MUFG viewed the possible acquisition of Lehman as a “once in a lifetime” opportunity.
■FOOD
Nestle Americas chief quits
Swiss food and drinks giant Nestle SA said yesterday that its Americas chief Paul Polman resigned. Polman is leaving to become chief executive of rival company Unilever PLC, Nestle said in a separate statement. The 52-year-old Dutchman was tipped as a possible successor to Nestle CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, but lost out to Paul Bulcke last year. Nestle said its Europe chief Luis Cantarell would take over the Americas region from Polman.
■UNITED STATES
Economy slowing: Fed
The US economy is sputtering amid weak housing, difficult credit and “retrenchment” in consumer spending, while inflation pressures are high, the US Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book report on Wednesday. The report, to be used by its policymakers for their Sept. 16 meeting on interest rates, indicated little improvement from the sluggish pace of activity since July. Data from the 12 regional Fed banks “indicate that the pace of economic activity has been slow in most districts,” the Beige Book said. Some regions showed “weakening,” with others seeing modest improvement and others “stabilization,” the report said.
■GAMING
Xbox price to drop: report
Microsoft Corp plans to cut US prices of its Xbox 360 video game machine, lowering the price of its entry-level console to US$50 below Nintendo Co Ltd’s top-selling Wii, BusinessWeek reported on Wednesday. In an article on its Web site, the magazine said Microsoft would cut prices for its entry-level Xbox 360 Arcade to US$199 from its current price of US$279 and the prices of its mid-range and high end Xbox 360 consoles by US$50 each today, BusinessWeek said.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
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