■ Banking
Sumitomo to sue UFJ
Japan's Sumitomo Trust and Banking Co plans to file a damages suit worth US$913 million against UFJ Hold-ings over its abrupt switch of merger partners, news reports said yesterday. As a first step, Sumitomo Trust is considering filing a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court next month, seeking a court order to halt merger talks between UFJ Holdings and Mitsubishi Tokyo Finan-cial Group Inc, news reports said. Mitsubishi Tokyo and UFJ announced in mid-July plans to merge all of their operations but UFJ had previously agreed in prin-ciple to combine its trust bank unit with Sumitomo Trust. The Supreme Court in late August rejected Sumi-tomo Trust's request for a provisional injunction against the UFJ-Mitsubishi Tokyo merger talks, saying Sumitomo Trust will not "suffer from considerable damage" in the case. But the court also acknowledged Sumitomo Trust's exclusive negotiating rights to bid for UFJ's trust arm.
■ Aviation
Northwest pilots OK pay cut
Leaders of the union for Northwest Airlines pilots voted unanimously to endorse a tentative agree-ment that will cut pilot compensation by US$265 million annually. The Master Executive Council of the Northwest branch of the Air Line Pilots Association voted 10-0 ON Saturday to submit the two-year deal to union members for their ratification. ``We believe this agreement is in the best interest of Northwest pilots and our company,'' council chairman Mark McClain said in a statement. North-west has said it needs US$950 million a year in worker concessions to avoid bankruptcy. The pilots were the first bargaining unit at the carrier to agree.
■ Automobiles
Opel workers want promise
Workers at an Opel car plant in Germany demanded assurances that there would be no compulsory layoffs as a condition for ending a stoppage prompted by parent company General Motors' announcement of sweeping job cuts. The stoppage at the plant in Bochum started on Thurs-day after GM said it likely would cut 12,000 jobs in Europe by the end of 2006 under a cost-cutting pro-gram for its money-losing Opel, Vauxhall and Saab operations. The majority of the job cuts would be in Germany. GM Europe presi-dent Carl-Peter Forster singled out the aging factory in Bochum as having a "competitiveness issue." GM Europe's program is aimed at saving US$620 million in annual costs by 2006.
■ Market research
JD Power explores options
JD Power & Associates, the research firm best known for its surveys of cars and other consumer products, has hired a firm to explore options that could include selling the privately held company, according to newspaper reports. The company hired Evercore Partners Inc, an investment firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles, according to The Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times. ``We're in the early stage and every option is on the table,'' said Tom Shaver, a senior partner at JD Power. He said the company was mulling whether to raise additional funding for "ambitious growth opportunities" that were identified in a recent in-house study. JD Power, which has more than 600 employees worldwide, built its reputation researching consumers' opinions and preferences toward automobiles, surveys frequently quoted by auto makers.
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