■ Auto Industry
Mitsubishi recalls vehicles
Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp, Japan's third-largest truckmaker, said it will recall about 136,000 vehicles to fix faulty front and rear wheel hubs.
The recall, which will start mid-December, will affect trucks, buses and coaches made between July 1983 and November last year, the company said in filings to Japan's transport ministry. No accidents related to the recall have been reported, the company said. Fuso, 65 percent owned by Daimler-Chrysler AG, in June began recalls of more than 848,000 vehicles in Japan, or about 60 percent of the Fuso vehicles that are in use. Fuso covered up defects and repaired some vehicles without notifying the transport ministry about the problems.
■ Auto Industry
DaimlerChrysler must pay
A jury ordered DaimlerChrysler AG to pay US$98 million in damages to a couple whose baby died when a Dodge Caravan seatback failed in a crash, according to the family's lawyer. The jury awarded US$98 million in punitive damages to punish the company today after saying earlier that the family was entitled to US$7.5 million to compensate for injuries suffered in the crash, said Jim Butler, a lawyer for the family. There have been more than 500 deaths and injuries in cases involving allegations about seat-latches in Chryslers, according to Clarence Ditlow, president of the Center for Auto Safety in Washington.
■ Communications
Cingular Wireless cuts jobs
Cingular Wireless LLC, the largest US cellphone company, plans to cut 7,000 jobs, or nearly 10 per cent of its workforce, a news report said yesterday. The move was made to take advantage of cost-cutting oppor-tunities brought by Cingular's US$41 billion takeover of AT&T Wireless Services Inc last month. Company spokesman Mark Siegel told Bloomberg that the cuts would come next year. The layoffs are part of Cingular's aim to cut costs by US$2 billion by 2007.
■ Computers
Server market grows
The global market for computer servers grew to US$11.5 billion in factory revenue in the third quarter, a 5.5 percent increase from a year earlier, market researcher IDC said. International Business Machines Corp, the world's largest computer maker, increased its lead over Hewlett-Packard Co and Sun Microsystems Inc in the worldwide server market, IDC said in a statement distributed by Business Wire. IBM's share of the US$11.5 billion market for servers, machines that run company databases and Internet sites, increased to 32 percent from 31 percent a year earlier.
■ Computers
Kirin buys into Dalian Daxue
Kirin Brewery Co, Japan's biggest beverage maker by sales, said it will spend 3.9 billion yen (US$37.6 million) for a 25 percent stake in China's Dalian Daxue Brewery Co. Tokyo-based Kirin plans to double the Chinese brewer's yearly beer production capacity to 400,000 kiloliters by December 2008, the company said yesterday. "China's beer consumption is rising," Vice President Naomichi Asano said during a Tokyo news conference. "Our purchase will help us expand our Chinese market share." Japanese breweries such as Kirin and Asahi Breweries Ltd, Japan's second biggest, are expanding overseas and diversifying their alcoholic products.
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
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
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