■ Labor relations
IBM settles out of court
Information technology giant IBM on Wednesday said it had agreed to pay US$65 million to settle a class action lawsuit concerning overtime pay. IBM said that litigation "would have been lengthy, burdensome and expensive, and IBM chose to resolve it." The case, filed in January in the federal district court in San Francisco, focused on current and former IBM employees in the "Technical Services Professional" and "Information Technology Specialist" categories. The dispute centered on whether those employees, who sometimes worked nights and weekends, were skilled professionals and therefore exempt from extra payment.
■ Mobile phones
NEC trims China presence
Troubled Japanese electronics giant NEC Corp has significantly reduced its presence in China's mobile phone market, the world's largest, due to continued heavy losses, state press said yesterday. Japan third largest electronics company has stopped manufacturing operations in Wuhan city in central China and will not offer new models of second generation handsets on the mainland, the China Daily said. The company will now turn its attention to third generation, or 3G, technology services, it said. NEC's partial exit from China follows in the wake of other big name Japanese brands, including Mitsubishi, Panasonic and Toshiba.
■ Finance
Lone Star terminates deal
US private equity group Lone Star Funds said yesterday it was terminating its contract to sell its controlling stake in Korea Exchange Bank to Kookmin Bank. "We have concluded that we cannot move forward with the sale of KEB to Kookmin Bank due to the continuing investigations surrounding Lone Star's investment in KEB and KEB's subsequent rescue of its credit card subsidiary, which have been extended several times and now have no firm completion date," John Grayken, chairman of Lone Star Funds, said in a statement.
■ Internet
Podcast use rising, slowly
A growing number of US citizens are listening to podcasts, but very few do so every day. The Pew Internet and American Life Project said on Wednesday that 12 percent of Internet users have downloaded a podcast, an increase from 7 percent earlier in the year. However, only about 1 percent said they download a podcast on a typical day -- unchanged from the survey earlier this year. "While podcast downloading is still an emerging activity primarily enjoyed by early adopters, the range of content now available speaks to both mainstream and niche audiences," said Mary Madden, senior research specialist at Pew.
■ Automobiles
Magnate cuts GM stake
Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian announced on Wednesday that he had cut his stake in General Motors after failing to engineer a global alliance of the US auto giant with the Renault-Nissan group. Kerkorian's personal holding company, Tracinda Corp announced that it had reduced its stake in GM to 7.4 percent from 9.9 percent. Tracinda, of which Kerkorian is the only shareholder, sold 14 million GM shares at a price of US$33 in a "private transaction," according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The sale provided Kerkorian with some US$462 million. Kerkorian, 89, was once Chrysler Corp's largest shareholder, began boosting his GM holdings last year.
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