■ Telecoms
Nortel plans to fire 3,500
Scandal-hit telecom giant Nortel Networks on Thursday announced job cuts of 10 percent of its workforce and a new purge of executives as it muscled through a scandal which has spawned two criminal probes. The firm, also the target of regulatory investigations in Canada and the US, said it had fired seven more executives after a previous shake-up in April and was still working to restate discredited past performance data. Pruning operations in search of bigger profits would "lead to an anticipated focused reduction in employees of approximately 3,500, or an estimated 10 percent of the workforce," North America's biggest telecoms concern said in a statement. Job cuts will mainly be complete by the end of the year and will reap estimated annual cost savings of US$500 million. Revenues for the first six months of 2004 were approximately US$5.1 billion, according to the firm, which is based near Toronto.
■ Energy
Dealer eyes share market
Major Japanese power generator and wholesaler Electric Power Development Co Ltd said Friday said it was watching local stock market conditions before offering a government-owned majority stake to investors. "The government obviously wants to unload its stake early as planned, but the timing is up to market conditions," said Sou Yoshinaga, a spokesman for the company which trades under the name J-Power.
As part of its privatization drive, the government plans to sell its 83 percent stake in the company, which has been providing electricity to private power firms since its inception in 1952. Nomura Securities and UBS Securities, lead managers for the planned initial public offering (IPO), declined to comment on the timing of the float.
■ Airlines
UAL may end pensions
UAL Corp, parent company of bankrupt United Airlines, said on Thursday that it will likely have to default on its employee pension funds. The company said that the "termination and replacement of all our defined benefit pension plans likely will be required," in a motion filed with the Chicago court overseeing the carrier's Chapter 11 bankruptcy. UAL said that given skyrocketing fuel costs and the government's refusal to provide it with a loan guarantee, it would likely have no choice but to cry off further payments to the plans, which the government says are underfunded by US$8.3 billion. The warning came in a motion in which United sought court approval for an amended US$1 billion loan agreement with its creditors.
■ Finance
Goh heads central bank
Ex-Prime Minister Goh Chok-tong took up his new post as head of Singapore's central bank yesterday -- replacing Lee Hsien-loong, the city-state's new premier. Lee, the son of Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan-yew, had led the bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, since 1998. He was sworn in as prime minister on Aug. 12. Goh started his duties at the central bank Friday, the MAS said in a statement. Goh has also been named senior minister.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from