VILNIUS (AFX) – French energy giant Electricite de France (EDF) would consider investing in a new nuclear power plant in Lithuania if offered, a senior executive said.

‘The decision to build a new, modern atomic power plant is very important and forward-looking,’ Bruno Lescoeur, EDF senior executive vice president for international businesses, said during a meeting with Lithuanian economy minister Vytas Navickas yesterday.

Navickas said that the ministry is currently starting the drafting of a law on the construction of a new atomic power plant and intends to submit the bill to the parliament in March.

He added Lithuania would appreciate if the French company shared its experience in preparing such legislation.

newsdesk@afxnews.com

tw

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OSLO (AFX) – Yara International ASA has confirmed it is to take legal action against Acron, the Russian chemicals group, over a dispute regarding the two companies’ joint venture, Nordic Rus Holdings.
The Norwegian fertiliser-to-chemicals group said it is to take legal action in the Stockholm Arbitrary Court to resolve a lengthy dispute about its stake in Nordic Rus, which was set up in 1997 as a 49-51 pct joint venture between Yara and Acron.

Nordic Rus was established to enable Yara and Acron to pool their stakes in Apatit, a Russian chemicals firm.

However Yara now claims its Russian partner has illegitimately taken control of the joint venture, and is treating it ‘as a wholly-owned subsidiary’.

The Norwegian firm says Acron exercises its influence over Apatit ‘with no regard to Yara’s requests or interests’.
As a result, Yara says it wants the joint-venture dissolved and its 8.2 pct stake in Apatit returned.

alastair.reed@thomson.com

ar/cmr

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HONG KONG (XFN-ASIA) – An agricultural official said a dead bird found in Hong Kong was infected with the fatal H5N1 strain of bird flu, the second bird in the territory to test positive for the virus this year.

The crested goshawk was discovered on January 9 and a spokesman for the agricultural department urged the public to remain vigilant about the dangers posed by avian flu.

Earlier this month, authorities confirmed that a wild bird found in a busy downtown shopping area of the southern Chinese territory was also carrying the virus.

The city has been on high alert, with authorities stepping up checks at the border with China, where flu-infected birds were smuggled in last year, sparking the first outbreak of H5N1 among local birds in years.

afp

TAIPEI (XFN-ASIA) – Six Taiwan airlines and six counterparts from mainland China are slated to provide a total of 96 cross-strait passenger charter flights during Feb 13-26 for the Lunar New Year holiday period, an official said.

‘These flights will be non-stop but need to fly over Hong Kong air space,’ said an official from Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications.

Each flight refers to one round trip.

Under the plan, Taiwan’s China Airlines (2610.TW), EVA Airways Corp (2618.TW), Far Eastern Transport Corp, Mandarin
Airlines Ltd, Transasia Airways Corp and UNI Airways Corp will operate a total of 48 flights during the Lunar New Year holidays.

Another 48 flights will be provided by six airlines from the mainland, namely Air China Ltd, Hainan Airlines Co Ltd, China Eastern Airlines, Shanghai Airlines Co, China Southern Airlines Co Ltd and Xiamen Airlines Co Ltd.

Destinations permitted for such passenger charter flights include Taoyuan and Kaohsiung in Taiwan, while mainland destinations include Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Xiamen, the official added.

Taipei and Beijing had in June last year agreed on more cross-strait charter passenger flights during major holidays, while also opening special cargo flights and charter flights for emergency healthcare and special humanitarian purposes.

The 12 Taiwan and mainland carriers are allowed to operate a combined 168 flights a year for passenger charter services during the Lunar New Year, Tomb Sweeping Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival periods.

At 11.42 am, China Airlines was up 0.20 twd at 15.95 while EVA Airways was down 0.10 at 14.00.

(1 usd = 32.80 twd)

adela.lin@afxasia.com

BERLIN (AFX) – The German justice ministry is preparing a draft law to reinforce anti-corruption legislation after scandals in businesses such as Volkswagen AG and Siemens AG, Der Spiegel said in a reported to be published tomorrow.

The draft law, which needs to be adopted by ministers before the end of the first quarter, would allow German authorities to pursue employees of foreign and international organisations and administrations under certain conditions, Der Spiegel said.

For example, European public sector employees could be pursued if they were involved in corrupt activity in Germany or if they had German nationality when the corruption took place, the weekly magazine reported.

The government also wants to increase public prosecutors’ powers to pursue corrupt behaviour, the report said, adding that the draft law would enable Germany to conform to several international treaties.

newsdesk@afxnews.com

afp/jfb/cml

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BUDAPEST (AFX) – Minister of Economics and Transportation Janos Koka ordered the release of Hungary’s strategic crude oil reserves late yesterday after deliveries from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline, which were halted on Monday, did not restart, said MTI-ECONEWS.
The order is for the release of 15,000 tonnes of crude oil per day for the next seven days.
Hungarian oil and gas company Mol can use this oil from the reserves, which must be replenished within six months after deliveries on the pipeline restart.
Mol said Hungary has 90 days of reserves it can draw on.
Both Mr Koka and a spokesman for the Hungarian Foreign Ministry said that they hoped an agreement could be reached on the restart of deliveries from Russia within the next few days.
The Ministry started diplomatic efforts to end the disruption of deliveries — which was sparked by a row over export duties between Belarus and Russia — late on Monday.
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jsa/tw
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LONDON: New car registrations in the U.K. slumped 14.7 per cent in December compared with December of 2005, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

The trade body said the registrations during the month stood at 133,810 units. For the whole year, the figure was 2.34 million units, which again is a slump of 3.9 per cent, it added.

The registrations fell 19.3 per cent and 17.9 per cent in fleet and business sectors respectively during the month, mainly on account of changes in company car tax rules at the end of 2005 which encouraged diesel cars.

Registrations of diesel vehicles were up 0.1 per cent to a record 898,521 vehicles, accounting for more than 38 per cent of the British new car market.

The society said private car registrations fell 6.5 per cent and all the months except March had seen falls in this sector. On a yearly basis, the fall had been 4 per cent.

The society’s chief executive Christopher Macgowan said uncertainty caused by factors like interest rate rises, political instability and fuel price variations fluctuations created a difficult market place.

The society expects a further weakening of the car market in 2007 because of the curbs on consumer and government spending. Registrations may come down 1.3 per cent to around 2,315,000 vehicles, it said.

Macgowan, however, sounded optimistic when he said a host of new models are due in 2007 and there could be attractive offers to tempt buyers during the year.

During 2006, Ford Focus was the top selling model for the eighth year in a row.

LONDON: The U.K. travel company First Choice Holidays Plc. posted a 2.7 per cent increase in its net income to 72 million pounds, compared with 70.1 million pounds in 2005. Sales rose 11 per cent to 2.7 billion pounds.

The company, headquartered in Crawley, is in talks with a number of parties including rival MyTravel to sell its package holiday business. Chairman Michael Hodgkinson said a transaction may not happen but the company is sure that its strategy and flexible business model will ensure that it is well placed to continue to outperform the market and deliver sustainable growth in 2007 and beyond.

The company said its mainstream holiday revenue rose 15 per cent in the current trading for winter 2006-2007, against the market’s 9 per cent fall. This has been possible because long-haul revenues and bookings rose 40 per cent and 26 per cent respectively. However, for the summer 2007, the company’s mainstream revenue fell 5 per cent, compared to an 11 per cent drop in the market.

The company’s package holiday business is estimated to be worth 500 million pounds. Besides MyTravel, Germany’s TUI and Thomas Cook and Switzerland’s Kuoni are also understood to have made offers for the unit.

First Choice plans to develop its adventure and short-breaks businesses. It has already changed its focus to profitable adventure holidays than on flight sales and cheaper no-frills holidays and this actually helped the company to improve its financial performance. It has package holidays as well as independent accommodation and flights. It also undertakes yacht charters in the Caribbean and organizes vacation trips for adventure tourists to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

The company revealed it has ordered two more Boeing 787 aircraft to meet long-haul demand.

The company’s shares rose 3.8 per cent to 274 pence, valuing it at around 1.45 billion pounds. The company is paying a final dividend of 5.4 pence a share, an increase of 16 per cent.