■BANKING
Commerzbank asks for cash
Commerzbank, the second-biggest German bank, took the plunge and said yesterday that it would ask the government for 8.2 billion euros (US$10.5 billion) in cash and 15 billion euros more in debt guarantees. Commerzbank also posted a third-quarter net loss of 285 million euros and an operating loss of 475 million euros. The international financial crisis cost the bank 1.1 billion euros in losses from market operations, the statement said. Commerzbank said it had increased loan loss provisions to 628 million euros from 414 million euros, a sign the bank expects more turbulence in the future.
■BANKING
BPN to be nationalized
Portugal is planning to nationalize the troubled Banco Portugues de Negocios (BPN) in yet another rescue of a financial institution, Portuguese Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos announced on Sunday at the end of a special Cabinet session. The government of Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates is to propose the nationalization before parliament, the finance minister said. BPN recently reported loses of 700 million euros and finds itself on the edge of bankruptcy, dos Santos said, adding that there were no prospects of the bank acquiring new reserves of liquidity any time soon.
■TECHNOLOGY
Hynix debt rating cut
Hynix Semiconductor Inc, the world’s second-largest memory chip maker, had its debt rating cut to three levels below investment grade at Moody’s Investors Service, which cited the company’s weaker credit profile and earnings. Hynix’s corporate family and senior unsecured bond ratings were cut to Ba3 from Ba2, affecting about US$500 million in debt securities, Moody’s said in a statement yesterday. Moody’s has a negative outlook on the ratings. The downgrade brings Hynix’s ratings at Moody’s in line with those assigned at Standard & Poor’s, which last week changed the outlook on the South Korean chip maker’s debt to negative. Hynix on Oct. 30 reported its biggest loss in at least seven years after a glut drove down prices of computer memory chips.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Economy to shrink next year
The economy will shrink for the first time since 1991 next year and debt will surge to more than 60 percent of GDP as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown ramps up spending, European Commission forecasts showed. The economy will contract 1 percent after expanding 0.9 percent this year, the EU’s executive arm said in a report published in Brussels yesterday. It will grow 0.4 percent in 2010. Debt will be 50.1 percent of GDP this year, 55.1 percent next year and 60.3 percent in 2010, the commission said. Brown and Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) Alistair Darling signaled last week they would abandon a decade-old pledge to limit debt to 40 percent of GDP as they try to ease the effects of a likely recession on consumers and companies.
■METALS
Demand outstrips supply
China, the world’s largest consumer of aluminum, may need four times as much scrap aluminum as can be produced domestically, the China National Resources Recycling Association said. Scrap aluminum consumption may grow 25 percent to 11.8 million tonnes next year, whereas domestic output may rise by a similar rate to 3.3 million tonnes, the association said yesterday at a conference in Shanghai.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
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