IN BRIEF

Rio exes' China trial to start today

SHANGHAI: Four executives from global miner Rio Tinto will stand before a judge in Shanghai today, in a trial that will also subject China's judicial system to international scrutiny. The four from Rio's iron ore team, including Australian citizen Stern Hu, were detained last summer at the height of fraught negotiations over 2009 iron ore prices, creating a furore over China's opaque state secrets laws. They were ultimately charged with lesser charges. "It is critical that this case is carried out transparently," said Michael Barbalas, president of the American Chamber of Commerce, which releases a survey today detailing member concerns about incentives that could disadvantage foreign companies.

Dubai regulator tells Damas board to quit

DUBAI: Dubai's regulator ordered jeweller Damas International to dismiss its board and pay penalties after an enquiry found irregularities involving cash and gold, in a move aimed at boosting transparency. The Dubai Financial Services Authority yesterday said an investigation revealed that the company's board did not exercise appropriate governance after key executives drew down reserves without approval. The regulator said that the "Abdullah Brothers", who it named as Tawhid, Tawfique and Tamjid Abdullah, owed the company US$99.4 million cash plus the value of 1,940kg, which would be worth around US$71 million at market prices.

Ecuador may seek financing from Taiwan

QUITO: Ecuador will not forget the "mistreatment" by China in failed talks to finance a hydroelectric station, President Rafael Correa said Saturday, threatening to seek financing from Taiwan. Correa said that he "unilaterally ended" talks on Wednesday with the Chinese bank Eximbank "due to the mistreatment and the rudeness" that the Ecuadoran negotiator endured. "We will not forget this," Correa said in his weekly broadcast presentation. Correa said that there were "many alternatives" to obtaining financing for the hydroelectric project, including from Taiwan.

Japan's fertiliser loans to Turkmenistan

ASHGABAT: Japan's state-run Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has loaned Turkmenistan US$500 million to build a fertiliser plant, a state newspaper said Saturday. The credit is for an ammonia and urea plant to be built by Japanese firms Kawasaki Plant Systems and Sojitz Corporation in the city of Mari in the south of the Central Asian state where its vast cotton industry is based, the Neutral Turkmenistan daily reported. Ex-Soviet Turkmenistan harvests about one million tonnes of cotton yearly, according to official sources, and is among the world's top 10 largest cotton producers.

Australian minister on budget surplus

SYDNEY: Australian Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner yesterday downplayed the prospect of the country's out-performing economy pushing the budget into surplus within a year, saying the situation remained fragile. The Australian economy has been dubbed the "wonder from Down Under" for its resilience during the global financial crisis, which drove major advanced economies into recession. But Tanner said speculation that the economy, which posted growth of 2.7 per cent last year, would power the budget back into surplus within 12 months "totally over the top". "That would be really nice if that were going to happen but I think you can virtually discount any of those very rosy projections," he told Channel Nine. "The economy's still fragile; growth is still pretty bumpy and ... even though we've managed to keep unemployment low, underneath that there has been a substantial reduction in average hours worked so people have still got their jobs, but a lot of them are actually working fewer hours."

S Korea trade surplus outlook for March

SEOUL: South Korea's March trade surplus is expected to exceed that of February, led by stronger overseas shipments of chips and cars, the customs agency said yesterday, providing fresh evidence of a sustained recovery in the economy. Growth in exports to the US during the first 20 days of March topped an annual increase for the whole of February, preliminary data showed. Overseas sales from South Korea between March 1 and March 20 rose 33.8 per cent from a year earlier to US$22.13 billion while imports during the 20 days gained 35.5 per cent to US$23.07 billion, the Korea Customs Service said in a statement. That produced a US$941 million trade deficit, according to the data, which maybe subject to change later. "Given a trade deficit of some US$2 billion during the first 20 days of February, a trade surplus in March is expected to be bigger than last month," the agency said. Agencies