■ METALS
Chalco confident in Guinea
Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco, 中國鋁業) chairman Xiong Weiping (熊維平) yesterday told reporters in Shanghai the company was confident Guinea’s government would approve its bid to jointly develop a huge African iron ore field with mining giant Rio Tinto. China’s biggest aluminum producer signed an agreement with Rio last month to establish a joint venture to develop the Simandou project in Guinea, with the Chinese company to invest US$1.35 billion in the project. Anglo-Australian giant Rio has been working on Simandou for about 12 years, but has run into trouble with Guinea’s military rulers.
■ RETAIL
Carrefour to sell business
French retail giant Carrefour plans to sell its business in Malaysia, a minister said, amid speculation the firm would also offload its Singapore and Thai stores and exit Southeast Asia altogether. “We heard that Carrefour is considering divesting. It is for the purpose of rationalization of their overseas business,” deputy trade minister Mukhriz Mahathir told reporters late on Monday. “They want to sell their business [in Malaysia],” he said, adding that “other hypermarkets are keen to take over” Carrefour’s 23 stores in the country.
■ SHIPBUILDING
Daewoo to build platform
South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering said yesterday it had signed a US$1.8 billion deal to build a floating oil production and storage platform for French energy giant Total. Daewoo, one of the world’s top shipbuilders, said it would build the platform by May 2013. The 110,000-tonne floating production, storage and offshore unit is designed to receive, process and store oil or natural gas, it said. It can be maneuvered to different locations.
■ TELEVISION
Toshiba plans 3D TV
Japanese electronics giant Toshiba plans to market the world’s first 3D television that does not need special glasses later this year, a report said yesterday. Toshiba will unveil three models of the television, which will cost several thousand dollars, before Christmas, the Yomiuri Shimbun said. The company has developed a new system that emits rays of light with various angles from the screen so that viewers can see stereoscopic images without glasses, the daily said.
■ BEERS
Foster’s earnings up
Earnings by Australia’s Foster’s beat expectations yesterday, but the drinks giant recorded a net A$464 million (US$413 million) loss after write-downs in its wine business. The result, which follows a net profit of A$438.3 million a year ago, comes after the group faced impairment charges on its wine assets of A$1.3 billion. Excluding these losses, Foster’s posted a net profit of A$698.3 million — higher than the underlying earnings of A$673.6 million predicted by analysts.
■ ENERGY
Origin Energy profits up
Australia’s Origin Energy yesterday said full-year underlying profits were up 10 percent to A$585 million, but missed expectations because of gas exploration costs. Origin, which had projected a 15 percent rise in underlying profits, has expanded offshore exploration in Australia and Southeast Asia, including the drilling of six “significant” wells, during the year. The company said it expected underlying profit for the next financial year to rise by about 15 percent as it benefited from a number of new projects and acquisitions.
The Taipei MRT is open all night tonight following New Year’s Eve festivities, and is offering free rides from nearby Green Line stations. Taipei’s 2025 New Year’s Eve celebrations kick off at Taipei City Hall Square tonight, with performances from the boy band Energy, the South Korean girl group Apink, and singers Gigi Leung (梁詠琪) and Faith Yang (楊乃文). Taipei 101’s annual New Year’s firework display follows at midnight, themed around Taiwan’s Premier12 baseball championship. Estimates say there will be about 200,000 people in attendance, which is more than usual as this year’s celebrations overlap with A-mei’s (張惠妹) concert at Taipei Dome. There are
NEW YEAR’S ADDRESS: ‘No matter what threats and challenges Taiwan faces, democracy is the only path,’ William Lai said, urging progress ‘without looking back’ President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday urged parties across the political divide to democratically resolve conflicts that have plagued domestic politics within Taiwan’s constitutional system. In his first New Year’s Day address since becoming president on May 20 last year, Lai touched on several issues, including economic and security challenges, but a key emphasis was on the partisan wrangling that has characterized his first seven months in office. Taiwan has transformed from authoritarianism into today’s democracy and that democracy is the future, Lai said. “No matter what threats and challenges Taiwan faces, democracy is the only path for Taiwan,” he said. “The only choice
ANNOUNCEMENT: People who do not comply with the ban after a spoken warning would be reported to the police, the airport company said on Friday Taoyuan International Airport Corp on Friday announced that riding on vehicles, including scooter-suitcases (also known as “scootcases”), bicycles, scooters and skateboards, is prohibited in the airport’s terminals. Those using such vehicles should manually pull them or place them on luggage trolleys, the company said in a Facebook post. The ban intends to maintain order and protect travelers’ safety, as the airport often sees large crowds of people, it said, adding that it has stepped up publicity for the regulation, and those who do not comply after a spoken warning would be reported to the police. The company yesterday said that
CORRUPTION: Twelve other people were convicted on charges related to giving illegal benefits, forgery and money laundering, with sentences ranging from one to five years The Yilan District Court yesterday found Yilan County Commissioner Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙) guilty of corruption, sentencing her to 12 years and six months in prison. The Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office in 2022 indicted 10 government officials and five private individuals, including Lin, her daughter and a landowner. Lin was accused of giving illegal favors estimated to be worth NT$2.4 million (US$73,213) in exchange for using a property to conduct activities linked to the 2020 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential and legislative election campaigns. Those favors included exempting some property and construction firms from land taxes and building code contraventions that would have required
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