■AUTOMOBILES
Porsche head avoids crisis
Porsche boss Wendelin Wiedeking has managed to steer clear of the immediate fallout of the global financial crisis, telling a German newspaper yesterday he has avoided investing in shares. “I’ve never had any shares” the CEO of the iconic German sports car manufacturer was quoted as saying in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Instead Wiedeking said he preferred to invest into real estate, start-up companies, and even restaurants. He said he had just realized one of his dreams by buying a cafe in the North-Rhine Westphalia region. “The cafe is doing very well, I can recommend it to everyone: good food, good beer and reasonable prices,” Wiedeking said.
■REAL ESTATE
Amlak, Tamweel to merge
The two largest property financiers in the booming Gulf emirate of Dubai — Amlak Finance PJSC and Tamweel PJSC — announced on Saturday that they have opened merger talks. The two firms said they had the blessing of Dubai emir Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is also vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in a statement carried by the official WAM news agency. Tamweel chairman Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed bin Saqer al-Nahayan said that the major shareholders — Emaar Properties for Amlak Finance, and Dubai Islamic Bank and Dubai World for Tamweel — were “fully supportive of the merger discussions.” Amlak Finance chairman Nasser bin Hassan al-Sheikh, who is also director general of the Dubai finance department, said the merged firm would have a combined balance sheet of more than 27 billion UAE dirhams (US$7.35 billion).
■SEMICONDUCTORS
Chip exports plunge
South Korea, the world’s top memory chip producer, suffered a drop in semiconductor exports for a third straight month last month amid a market glut and a slow US economy, data showed yesterday. Statistics from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, disclosed by Yonhap news agency, showed semiconductor exports plunged 9.9 percent year-on-year to US$2.96 billion last month, a consecutive fall since July. Semiconductors account for a quarter of the country’s exports of information technology goods, such as mobile handsets and flat TV or computer display screens, the ministry says. Market research firm iSuppli Corp warned in a statement online on Saturday that memory chip makers, reeling from a major downturn in business conditions, face difficulty in securing capital due to the US credit crunch. It said some memory chip suppliers could face serious liquidity issues in the near future.
■ECONOMICS
Japan mulls stimulus plans
Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said the government might form economic packages in addition to the current stimulus plan being suggested. Liberal Democratic Party officials are urging lawmakers to approve ¥1.8 trillion (US$17 billion) of additional spending to help small companies cope with high oil and food prices before parliament is dissolved. Opposition and ruling party lawmakers haven’t agreed on a timetable to debate the legislation. Nakagawa hasn’t forgotten a promise of balancing the budget by fiscal 2011, he said yesterday on Asahi Television’s Sunday Project. Former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi set a goal in 2006 of balancing the primary budget, which excludes interest payments, so Japan could start to cut debt that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates is about 180 percent of the economy.
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said