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World Business Quick Take

■35,000 jobs in trouble
Some 35,000 additional jobs are threatened at German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom, on top of the tens of thousands already being lost, according to the weekly Der Spiegel. The report to be published this week cites "internal calculations" within the company, which employed some 249,000 people at the end of last year, 89,000 of them outside Germany. Deutsche Telekom boss Rene Obermann declined to comment on the figure, while stressing "the need to adapt and restructure" the group. Deutsche Telekom is Europe's biggest telecom group.

■ ENERGY
Green firm recruits Clooney
Hollywood star George Clooney will become an executive board member of a Swiss energy company being set up by Swatch Group chairman Nicolas Hayek, the Swiss billionaire said on Saturday. The company, which will develop environmentally friendly techniques for car motors, batteries and other devices, is aimed at reducing carbon-dioxide emissions in energy consumption, Hayek said in an interview with daily Berner Zeitung. Clooney will sit on the board alongside Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier and others, he said. The new enterprise will research and develop clean production of hydrogen, solar energy and fuel cells.

■ HOTELS
Emaar in longest hotel strip
Emaar Properties PJSC rose in Dubai trading after entering into a joint venture with the Dubai government to build part of the world's longest hotel strip. Emaar said yesterday it would build six hotels, a theme park and 1,200 apartments as part of the government's Bawadi project, a Las Vegas-styled development that aims to become the world's longest strip of hotels. "This may well be the trigger that brings Emaar back into a positive light," said Roy Cherry, a senior research analyst at Shuaa Capital PSC. "It will contribute to Emaar sustaining its business in Dubai by significantly expanding its land bank."

■ SECURITIES
Morgan Stanley sets up firm
Morgan Stanley, the world's second-biggest securities firm, will set up a company in Japan to oversee businesses including brokerage, asset-management and real-estate, a person familiar with the change said. The new umbrella company will be called Morgan Stanley Japan Holdings Co and start operations on Dec. 1, said the person at Morgan Stanley, who declined to be named. Jonathan Kindred, president of Morgan Stanley Japan Securities Co, will head the new company. The New York-based securities firm will reorganize its Japanese property business and rename it Morgan Stanley Capital K.K., the source said.

■ MORTGAGES
Countrywide CEO targeted
A large pension plan that owns shares of struggling Countrywide Financial Corp has asked the board of the US' largest mortgage lender to oust company chairman and CEO Angelo Mozilo. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which counts 1.4 million members, made the request in a letter sent to the company's board late on Thursday. The union-affiliated pension plan also asked the company to name two independent directors to the board and replace its executive compensation committee with people who have not played a role in the committee's actions, the Los Angeles Times reported.

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