■ENERGY
Alaska approves pipeline
Alaska lawmakers have approved a state license for TransCanada Corp to pursue a natural gas pipeline. The approval ends a decades-long battle to open up North Slope natural gas for use on the North American market. The state Senate approved the bill on Friday; the House gave its approval last week. It only awaits the signature of Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, who has backed the Canadian proposal from the start. The license does not guarantee construction, but TransCanada must move forward on federal permitting applications for the 2,735km pipeline, which is estimated to cost between US$26 billion and US$30 billion.
■AUTOMOBILES
Car sales drop in US
The lowest auto demand in the US since 1993, soaring fuel prices and a weak economy have impacted General Motors, Toyota and Chrysler, which on Friday reported a drop in sales last month. Troubled US car giant General Motors reported a 27 percent decline in US sales last month, as well as a massive second-quarter loss of US$15.5 billion, or US$27.33 per share. GM and its US competitors Ford and Chrysler have been hit by a fall-off in the sales of sports utility vehicles because of high gas prices and are now trying to switch production to smaller, more economical cars. Chrysler’s sales last month were 98,109 units, 29 percent below the same period last year.
■AVIATION
Airbus sells German plant
European aircraft maker Airbus said on Friday it had sold its plant at Laupheim in Germany to German armaments company Diehl and its partner Thales. No details were provided on the financial details of the sale, which is effective from Oct. 1 and is subject to competition authority approval. Diehl, based in Nuremberg in the southern German state of Bavaria, is to hold 51 percent of the company, while French defense concern Thales holds the rest. Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said the sale was a significant element in the implementation of the Power8 program aimed at cutting costs at Airbus.
■MARKET
Managua market destroyed
A huge fire destroyed Managua’s landmark Oriental Market, wiping out 1,500 vendor stalls and causing an estimated US$100 million in damage, local media reported early yesterday. The conflagration raged on Friday for 11 hours, destroying most of the sprawling Mercado Oriental, reputedly Central America’s largest market hall. No injuries were reported. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega promised merchants that the market hall would be rebuilt. The building had been the only one of Managua’s three main markets to survive the capital’s devastating 1972 earthquake.
■TELECOMS
India to auction airwaves
India said on Friday it plans a global auction for airwaves to offer high-speed third generation or 3G mobile phone services, a move seen reaping the government up to US$10 billion. The long-awaited announcement is expected to improve service and spur even greater growth in the world’s fastest-expanding mobile market, which has been adding 8 million new subscribers monthly. Communications Minister Andimuthu Raja said the license auction would be held by December. The government imposed a floor reserve price of 20.2 billion rupees or US$480 million for licenses, but bidding could go much higher, based on 3G auctions held elsewhere, for the 60 megahertz of spectrum up for grabs.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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