An advertising campaign by French drug company Sanofi-Synethelabo lauding its hostile takeover bid for French-German pharmaceutical group Aventis on "health grounds" has come under fire in Germany over the controversial use of a picture of an ailing child.
The advertisements published in the French, German, British and Spanish press carry a picture showing the sad face of a child lying on a hospital bed with the caption: "Who will tell Louis that the medicine which can cure him will be available only in 20 years. You? No."
Aventis rejected Sanofi's 46-billion-euro (US$457 billion) hostile bid earlier this week, with Aventis chief executive Igor Landau saying the offer would only be interesting if it were raised 40 percent to 50 percent.
The campaign touched off a furor in Germany.
The Deutsche Werberat association, which groups several advertising agencies, blasting it as "disloyal and immoral" and considering suing Sanofi-Synthelabo.
The hostile bid launched by Sanofi-Synthelabo for Aventis could also possibly become a source of political friction between France and Germany.
The German government has already entered the fray in a bid to defend Aventis' German roots and labor unions and some political figures are claiming the move has been orchestrated by Paris.
The issue has indeed gone to the very top and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said last week he did not rule out the matter being brought up when he meets French President Jacques Chirac on Feb. 9.
Schroeder's Economy Minister Wolfgang Clement has warned that Germany should not have to bear the brunt of any job cuts that might arise as part of the takeover.
The issue had already been discussed by the Cabinet and the government would defend the interests of Germany and German employees "at all possible levels," Clement said, underlining the importance of Aventis' research activities for Germany.
Aventis, born in 1999 as a result of a merger between German chemicals giant Hoechst and French pharmaceuticals specialist Rhone-Poulenc, employs around 9,000 people in Germany, most of them in and around Frankfurt in the central state of Hesse.
Germany is particularly concerned with the fate of around 1,500 top-level German researchers.
"I fear a catastrophe" at a social level, said the head of the employees council of Aventis Germany, Friedhelm Conradi.
A takeover could result in up to 12,000 job losses worldwide, said a source close to Aventis.
Comments by Sanofi chief Jean-Frangois Dehecq, who promises "to be a good boss in Ger-many" or by French government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope, who said he would "keep in mind" the employment issue, are anything but reassuring.
The regional parliament inHesse unanimously voted a resolution asking Berlin to intervene with the French government to halt the bid.
Hesse state premier Roland Koch said the takeover was "obviously a coordinated project [with] the French government."
And the head of the chemicals sector labor union IG BCE, Hubertus Schmoldt, an ally of Chancellor Schroeder, suggested French politicians were involved in preparing the way to set up a French global pharmaceuticals player.
Schroeder may not remain deaf to such pleas for help. During his time in office, he has several times come to the defense of failing companies or potential takeover targets.
He was severely critical for example of the takeover of German telecommunications group Mannesmann by British mobile phone operator Vodafone in 1999.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique