■ AVIATION
Mandarin Air leases jets
Taiwan’s Mandarin Airlines (華信航空) has leased eight large aircraft from Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer to operate tourist charter flights across the Taiwan Strait, a newspaper said yesterday. The China Times quoted Mandarin Airlines President Harris Wang (王華宇) as saying that Mandarin Airlines has leased eight E-190/195 jets from Embraer to replace its outdated Fokker-50 and Fokker-100s. E-190 and E-195 can seat 108 and 120 passengers respectively. Mandarin Airlines chose them because they are spacious and can be flown by pilots licensed to fly Boeing jets, Wang said.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Ssangyong denies illegality
Ssangyong Motor Co, controlled by China’s SAIC Motor Corp (上海汽車), denied allegations it illegally leaked technology to the Chinese automaker. Ssangyong Motor confirmed that its head office in Pyeongtaek, 70km south of Seoul, was raided on Friday. MoneyToday reported on Friday that prosecutors raided Ssangyong Motor as part of an investigation into whether SAIC Motor obtained hybrid technology from Ssangyong using unlawful means. “The report is not true,” Ssangyong Motor said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. SAIC Motor’s hybrid technology is more developed than that of Ssangyong Motor and it is even considering seeking a technology transfer from SAIC Motor, the Korean company said.
■ FINANCE
Goldman forecasts drops
The US investment bank Goldman Sachs has lowered its forecasts for this year to 2010 for more than 40 European banks, warning on Friday that some of them may have to raise between 60 billion euros (US$94 billion) and 90 billion euros to shore up finances in the face of a nearly year-long credit crisis. Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note that European banks under their scrutiny had sustained asset write-downs of US$134 billion, offset by capital increases of about US$115 billion. “We believe that regulatory pressures and a sharp turn in the European credit cycle are the two main causes for concern for bank investors,” Goldman analysts said.
■ ENERGY
Efficient building underway
Renovations to a research institute will turn the facility into Singapore’s first zero-energy building, news reports said yesterday. Officials plan to cover the government-run BCA Academy with half a football field’s worth of solar panels. “Hopefully, with a little help from heaven, there won’t be too many rainy days,” the Straits Times quoted National University of Singapore Professor Lee Siew Eang (李修賢) as saying. The ultra-efficient institute is scheduled for completion next year, at the forefront of a drive to reduce power consumption and cut greenhouse gas emissions in the city-state.
■ RESEARCH
ITRI marks 35th year
The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) held a ceremony yesterday to mark the 35th anniversary of its founding, with Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) attending the event. Speaking at the gathering, Yiin lauded the ITRI for its contribution to Taiwan’s economic development over the past several decades and expressed the hope that the institute would work to “blend humanity and technology” in the future to become an “institute of wisdom” focusing its concerns on citizens, society and the environment, as well as industry.
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Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary
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