■ENERGY
Shell ups Chinese LNG deal
Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to sell 2 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to PetroChina under a 20-year contract, state media reported yesterday. The gas will come in part from the proposed Gorgon gas project off the coast of Western Australia, the Shanghai Securities News said, citing unnamed Shell officials. The Anglo-Dutch company has a 25 percent stake in the development. Shell signed an agreement in September last year to supply 1 million tonnes of LNG to PetroChina over 20 years. But the final LNG amount doubled in size from the previous announcement, the report said.
■TELECOMS
Phone sales likely to fall
Worldwide mobile-phone sales will decline next year as economic growth slows, researcher Gartner Inc said. Shipments will decline by a “low single-digit” percentage next year, the Connecticut-based market research firm said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. Sales will rise 8 percent this year after rising 6 percent in the third quarter, Gartner said. Nokia Oyj raised its third-quarter market share by unit sales to 38.2 percent from 37.8 percent a year earlier, while Samsung Electronics Co increased its share to 17.1 percent from 14.4 percent. Motorola Inc fell to 8 percent from 13 percent, slipping to a fourth place. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd moved to third spot even as its market share fell to 8.1 percent from 8.7 percent.
■SINGAPORE
PM to take salary cut
President SR Nathan and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) will take a 19 percent salary cut next year, leading a civil-service-wide downward salary adjustment to offset the impact of the global financial crisis, media reports said yesterday. Nathan and Lee would earn S$3.14 million (US$2.07 million) and S$3.04 million respectively with the cuts next year. Salaries of ministers and senior permanent secretaries would be reduced by 18 percent and allowances for members of parliament would be reduced by 16 percent.
■AVIATION
Indochina Airlines launched
Vietnam’s first privately owned airline began flights yesterday, aiming to tap rising demand for air travel in the country. Indochina Airlines, owned by a group of Vietnamese businessmen, is operating four daily flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, company spokeswoman Nguyen Thi Thanh Quyen said. The company, chaired by Ha Hung Dung, a well-known Vietnamese pop music composer and businessman, also offers two flights daily between Ho Chi Minh City and Danang.
■TRAVEL
HK residents still want trips
The people of Hong Kong are cutting travel costs but not abandoning their holidays as they economize on luxuries during the global economic slump, a survey released yesterday found. A survey found people were looking at making their winter breaks cheaper rather than staying at home. Forty-eight percent of people interviewed said they would be more flexible on travel dates, 40 percent said they would consider taking shorter trips and 35 percent said they would cut holiday budgets. A surprisingly large 78 percent of respondents in the survey by the online travel firm Zuji said they still planned to go on holiday early next year despite the economic downturn.
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
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