■ 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-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2