■ ENERGY
Jamaica sells sugar firm
Jamaica’s agricultural minister said a Brazilian renewable energy company expects to buy the struggling Sugar Co of Jamaica to boost its ethanol production. Minister Christopher Tufton said Infinity Bio-Energy will take over in September. Jamaica will retain a 25 percent share in the company for three years. Officials did not cite a sale amount. Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding said on Friday that the company’s six factories have lost a total of US$283 million since Jamaica bought them in 1998. Almost 13,000 workers will be let go. It is the second major investment that Infinity Bio-Energy has made in the Caribbean. It agreed last year to spend more than US$200 million to produce ethanol by next year with Dominican Republic’s Bioetanol Boca Chica SA.
■ POWER
SIEPAC nears completion
Central America plans to complete by early 2010 an electric transmission line spanning from Guatemala to Panama that would also connect into Mexico and Colombia, project director Teofilo de la Torre said. “Today we are in the final stretch to complete this beautiful project,” he said on Saturday in Villahermosa, Mexico, at a summit of regional leaders. The system will help lower energy costs for the region, he said. The Electrica de los Paises America Central project, known as SIEPAC, has been in the works for more than a decade. The electric lines will be 1,800km long and require an investment of US$400 million. Mexico will connect to the grid through Guatemala, while Colombia will be connected through Panama, de la Torre said.
■ BANKING
US$35m raised for housing
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC and Finance House PJSC helped Sawaeed Investment LLC and Mountain Gate Property Investment LLC raise 127.8 million dirhams (US$35 million) to build a residential camp for workers. The eight-and-a-half-year project financing uses a combination of Islamic and conventional debt and equity transactions, Finance House said in a statement posted on Dubai-based business Web site Ame Info on Friday, without being more specific. The borrowers’ camp at Mafraq in the United Arab Emirates is expected to provide homes for about 7,000 workers when completed next March, the statement said.
■ EMPLOYMENT
Women 'dislike' tech fields
Women continue to lack enthusiasm for technical fields, whether in academia or the workforce, a new German study showed. The survey by Bitkom, an industrial association, said that half of new university students last fall were female. But women only make up 16 percent of students in fields such as computer science, engineering and electrical engineering. A higher percentage of female students enrolled in civil engineering — 25 percent. Additionally, mathematics courses enjoyed nearly 50 percent female enrollment. The number of women seeking apprenticeships in technological fields actually declined, from 14 percent in 2002 to 9.1 percent last year.
■ MERGERS
Indian companies merge
Subhiksha Trading Services, a food and grocery discount chain, said it bought a majority stake in Blue Green Constructions and Investment. The boards of the two companies planned to meet today to complete the merger, Subhiksha said in a statement. The merged company will be called Subhiksha Ltd and be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
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