■FINANCE
Roth calls for cooperation
Central banks around the world should coordinate more in times of crises to prevent financial groups from looking outside national boundaries for assistance, the head of Switzerland’s central bank said in an interview published yesterday. Speaking to the Financial Times, Jean-Pierre Roth said that while such cooperation was not currently underway, it was “important to be aware of the question.” “We have to think about eliminating differences and coordinating more,” the chairman of the Swiss National Bank told the business daily. “It would be very delicate for us to have a Swiss bank that required a massive credit not knocking on our door, but knocking on the door somewhere else,” he said.
■ENERGY
Oil prices fall to US$112.39
World oil prices fell further yesterday, dragged down by worries that weaker US oil demand could spread to Europe and Japan, analysts said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery next month, dropped US$0.48 to US$112.39 a barrel. That came on top of a US$0.90 drop in New York trade on Monday, when the price closed at US$112.87 at the end of floor trading. Brent North Sea crude for October delivery fell US$0.58 to US$111.36 after settling US$0.61 lower at US$111.94 a barrel on Monday in London.
■ECONOMY
UBS forecasts US recession
The US is likely to slip into recession in the coming months as the cushioning impact of sharp interest rate cuts and tax rebates wears out, UBS bank economists said yesterday. “Sharp cuts in interest rates and tax rebates have prevented the US economy from sliding into recession until now,” UBS said in a statement. “But the economists of UBS Wealth Management now expect the effects of fiscal concessions to peter out in the second half of the year, leaving the US economy facing the inevitable prospect of recession.” Real economic growth in the US is expected to reach 1.3 percent this year, but just 1.0 percent next year.
■TECHNOLOGY
Softbank to buy from Casio
Softbank Corp, Japan’s third-largest mobile-phone operator, said yesterday it will buy handsets from Casio Computer Co. Softbank, based in Tokyo, will start selling the phones by the end of this year, the two companies said in a statement yesterday. A joint venture between Casio and Hitachi Ltd will make the handsets, they said. Casio, the maker of mobile phones equipped with Exilim camera technology, already supplies KDDI Corp, the second-ranked wireless operator in Japan.
■HONG KONG
Tom Group falls to HK$0.36
Tom Group Ltd, the media company controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), fell to a record in Hong Kong trading after saying its first-half loss widened. Tom Group declined 6.4 percent to HK$0.36 (US$0.046) at 10:12am on the Hong Kong stock exchange, the lowest since the company moved its listing to the main board from the Growth Enterprise Market in August 2004. The net loss expanded to HK$547 million (US$70 million), from a restated HK$85 million a year earlier, the company said. Sales fell to HK$1.33 billion from HK$1.35 billion. Tom Group shares have declined 42 percent this year, compared with a drop of 25 percent in the city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index.
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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