■ Motoring
Fiat, GM delay agreement
Fiat SpA and General Motors Corp agreed on Sunday to delay by a year the start of agreement that would allow the Italian carmaker to sell its struggling auto unit to the US giant. GM currently owns 20 percent of Fiat Auto, and Fiat SpA had the right to sell the remaining 80 percent to GM starting next year. However, under the new agreement, the exercise of the "put" option will be delayed until Jan. 24, 2005, and will last until 2010. The move came as Fiat flails with major losses in its auto unit, and tries desperately to rebuild the company. Despite these problems, top Fiat officials have said repeatedly that they do not want to use the put option. Fiat reported a US$4.7 billion net loss last year.
■ Soft drinks
Cadbury plans job cuts
Cadbury Schweppes PLC, the world's third largest soft-drink producer and a leading confectionery maker, said yesterday it plans to cut 10 percent of its 55,000-strong global work force. The company also said it plans to close some 20 percent of the 133 factories it operates worldwide. Cadbury said it expected the moves to yield savings of US$640 million a year by 2007. The company did not specify in which countries the job cuts would be made, and a spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment. But chief executive Todd Stitzer said that "as and when we take action, people will be spoken to sensitively and thoughtfully." Confectionery sales suffered during the European heat wave in August, and the company has also complained of tough market conditions in the US beverages market and the Asia-Pacific region.
■ Television
Sharp focusing on LCDs
Japan's Sharp Corp announced yesterday that it will double capacity for liquid-crystal display (LCD) televisions to 40,000 units a month at its factory in Barcelona, Spain, next April. "The European LCD TV market has been expanding faster than we expected. We are increasing our production capacity [in Europe] to deal with the growing demand," said Masaaki Takeda, Sharp spokesman. The Barcelona plant will stop making cathode-ray tube TVs by the end of the year, he said. Sharp will eventually make similar changes at factories in Mexico and China, although the exact timing for the move is not set yet, he said. The company plans to only make LCD TVs in Japan by 2005, he said.
■ Telecoms
China buys networks
China Telecom Corp Ltd, China's largest fixed-line telephone operator, has agreed to buy six provincial networks from its parent for 46 billion yuan (US$5.5 billion) to boost revenue and expansion, the firm said yesterday. China Telecom said in a statement that it will take over networks in Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi and Sichuan provinces, as well as in Chongqing, from China Telecommuniations Corp, which owns 77.78 percent of China Telecom. The Hong Kong-listed firm said the total acquisition price includes a cash consideration of 11 billion yuan paid upon the closure of the deal and another 35 billion yuan, due in 10 years. China Telecom expects its telecom assets to generate net profit of 6.352 billion yuan this year. The deal will also boost China Telecom's user base by about 74 percent.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source