■ Auto Industry
Hyundai plans new venture
Hyundai Motor Co, South Korea's largest carmaker, plans to set up an auto-parts venture with Siemens AG, Yonhap News reported, citing a company official it didn't name. The venture will be formed in mid-July, the report said. Hyundai Motor and Siemens will initially produce electronic control systems for cars, the report said. The venture will be expanded to include multimedia components, such as navigation equipment, Yonhap News said.
■ Oil business
Shell wants von Pierer
Siemens AG's former chief executive and current supervisory board head Heinrich von Pierer is a leading candidate to take over as chairman of Royal Dutch/Shell Group, the Sunday Telegraph said, citing no one. Von Pierer, 64, is "rated by many as the most influential European business leader of the past decade" and his appointment would be "welcomed by investors," the Telegraph said. The oil company has hired recruiting company Egon Zehnder to find a new chairman, the newspaper said.
■ Aviation
Dragonair pampers less
Hong Kong airline Dragonair has scaled back its in-flight service after at least 100 flight attendants called in sick in recent days to protest their workload. Cabin crew have been ordered not to serve pre-meal drinks, wet towels and second helpings of coffee or tea on flights that are inadequately staffed until the end of September, the South China Morning Post reported. They also won't be required to offer duty-free shopping, the report said. The flight attendants who called in sick on Friday and Saturday are upset about their low pay and increased working hours, according to the Post.
■ Retail
Daiei to sell properties
Struggling Japanese retailer Daiei will sell over 100 properties in a bid to halve its debt to about ?500 billion (US$4.5 billion) by early next year. Through the sell-off, Daiei expects to secure ?20 billion and hopes to speed up its debt-reduction efforts and improve its financial base, the business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said yesterday. The total amount of Daiei's interest-bearing debt stood at ?1.03 trillion at the end of February. In December last year, the retailer said it would close 53 money-losing outlets. The retailer is currently undergoing business rehabilitation under the government-backed corporate bailout body, Industrial Revitalization Corp of Japan.
■ Semiconductors
Matsushita cuts back
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, the world's biggest consumer-electronics maker, is offering early retirement to some of its 15,000 semiconductor-division employees to cut costs and raise profitability, a spokesman said. Matsushita, Japan's fifth-biggest chipmaker, will take requests until mid-July for early retirement from employees in Japan with the company for at least 10 years, said Akira Kadota, a spokesman in Tokyo, confirming an earlier report in the Nihon Keizai newspaper. The Osaka-based company expects to eliminate about 1,000 employees, or 6 percent of the chip-business jobs, the Nikkei reported. Kadota said the numbers are "speculative."
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