Australia blocks China’s Huawei from tender

CANBERRA – Australia has blocked China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from tendering for contracts in the country’s US$38 billion National Broadband Network (NBN) due to cyber security concerns, Huawei said yesterday.

‘We were informed by the government that there is no role for Huawei in Australia’s NBN,’ said Jeremy Mitchell, a spokesman in Australia for Huawei, the world’s No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker.NBN is a huge project that aims to connect 93 per cent of Australian homes and workplaces with optical fibre, providing broadband services in urban and regional areas. RBS halts India tanker payment due to Iran sanctionsNEW DELHI/SINGAPORE – The Royal Bank of Scotland has halted payments to a Greek ship owner which transported Iranian oil for an Indian shipping company, in line with Western sanctions aimed at hindering Iranian crude exports, shipping sources told Reuters.The European Union in January placed an immediate ban on new contracts to import, purchase or transport Iranian crude and petroleum products. EU members with existing contracts, however, can honour them until July 1.India’s Great Eastern Shipping Co Ltd has not been able to pay Greek firm Eurotankers, which holds an account with RBS, for using one of its supertankers to ship Iranian crude because the UK-based bank would not clear the payment, the sources said. HSBC in talks to sell Mauritius retail bank LONDON – HSBC , Europe’s biggest bank, said it was in talks over a possible sale of its Mauritius retail banking and wealth management division, as it sells non-core assets to boost investor returns. The British bank said it remained committed to the Mauritius market, where it would still invest in its commercial banking division.HSBC has embarked upon a widespread asset-selling programme over the last year, as part of Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver’s plans to cut annual costs by US$3,5 billion, focus more on fast-growing Asian markets and boost its overall profitability. No BRICS candidate for the World BankNEW DELHI – The BRICS bloc of emerging countries have no plans to unite behind a common candidate to head the World Bank, an Indian foreign ministry official said yesterday.Briefing journalists on the agenda of an upcoming meeting of the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), the official said the grouping simply wanted an ‘open and merit-based’ process.’I have not heard anything so far (about a common candidate),’ Sudhir Vyas, the secretary for economic affairs at the foreign ministry, told a media briefing ahead of the BRICS summit on Thursday.