■SEMICONDUCTORS
NXP BV wants to go public
Dutch computer chip maker NXP BV said it would seek an initial public offering of its shares. In a press statement on Saturday, NXP says it has registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to sell shares, a preliminary step toward an IPO. NXP is the former chipmaking arm of Philips Electronics. Philips sold an 80.1 percent stake in NXP to a consortium of private investors led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co for 4.3 billion euros (US$6.3 billion) in August 2006. Since then, the company has slashed jobs and sold operations. NXP says it had 27,000 employees and sales of US$3.8 billion last year. The company has not yet set a target for the size of the share issue. NXP says it will use proceeds from the offering to cut debt.
■PERU
Trade surplus shoots up
The Andean country posted a trade surplus of US$798 million in February, up from US$271 million in the same month a year earlier because of higher prices for its key metals exports, the central bank said on Saturday. Exports during the second month of the year totaled US$2.67 billion, up 47 percent from February last year, the monetary authority said. Imports rose by a slower 21 percent to US$1.87 billion. “This increase in the trade surplus is due to high international prices for the main commodities,” the bank said in a statement. Peru is a leading global metals producer.
■TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
Economy grows slightly
After four consecutive quarters of decline in the oil rich Caribbean nation’s economy, recent data from the country’s Central Bank point to slight growth in the country’s economy. The bank’s latest monetary policy report, which was published last week, suggests that “real GDP increased by 0.8 percent [year-on-year] in the last quarter of 2009.” The latest data showed “available indicators suggest that the small improvement in economic activity recorded in the last quarter of 2009 may have continued into the first quarter of 2010.” Growth for this year is projected at 2 percent. The recovery in the country’s economy is related almost entirely to the “improved output performance of the energy sector, particularly in petrochemicals and natural gas,” the report says.
■MINERALS
China could boost imports
China, the world’s largest zinc producer, could boost imports of the metal ore and concentrate as smelters expand, Li Xialin, vice president of Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet Co (深圳中金岭南公司), said in an interview in Beijing yesterday. China’s zinc producers could add 500,000 tonnes of smelting capacity this year and add 600,000 further next year, he said. The country’s total capacity was about 5 million tonnes at the end of last year.
■DUBAI
Market index declines
The Dubai Financial Market General Index declined 2.2 percent, the most since April 8, to 1,776.36 at 12:11pm in the emirate. Abu Dhabi’s measure lost 1.1 and Qatar’s gauge dropped 1 percent. Ahli Bank SAOG gained 1.5 percent, the most in almost a week, to 0.272 rial. The Omani provider of long-term loans for property construction and home purchases said first- quarter profit more than doubled to 3.15 million rials (US$8.2 million), the local bourse said in a statement yesterday.
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
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
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
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