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World Business Quick Take

■ AUTOMOBILES

Ford to recall vehicles

Ford Motor Co said on Saturday it was recalling about 225,000 vehicles that were already repaired as part of an earlier recall to address concerns about a cruise control deactivation switch. Ford said the affected vehicles represent a small portion of the about 10 million vehicles that have been recalled since 1999 related to the cruise control switch problem. Ford spokesman Wesley Sherwood said the automaker would notify the US National Highway Traffic Safety Admini-stration this week about the latest recall, which was reported on Saturday by the Detroit News.



■ BANKING

French bank issues letter

Societe Generale SA, the French bank where a trader's unauthorized bets led to a record 4.9 billion euros (US$7.2 billion) loss, published an open letter to clients saying the future of the bank isn't threatened. "This accident, however serious it may be, doesn't endanger the good health of the company," Societe Generale said in a full-page advertisement published in Le Parisien and Le Monde newspapers on Saturday. Societe Generale said on Jan. 24 that errant trades on European stock index futures by 31-year-old Jerome Kerviel had led to a 4.9 billion euro loss, depleting the bank's capital and spurring talk of a takeover.



■ FINANCE

China to curb credit growth

China will curb credit growth further this year and make its currency more flexible as it tries to cool economic growth and stave off inflation, former Central Bank deputy governor Wu Xiaoling (吳曉靈) said. "The US rate cuts have limited the room for the central bank to use interest rate as a leverage tool to adjust domestic demand," Wu said on Saturday at an economic conference in Beijing. The central bank has been raising banks' reserve requirements and selling sterilization bills in the open market since last year, which was "effective" in "absorbing the excess part" of money in the system, Wu said.



■ COMPUTERS

Hackers target Mac

Apple users should be prepared for a spike in attacks from hackers looking to pick their pockets. Last year saw the first release of malicious programs written by criminals specifically targeting the Apple platform in an attempt to steal money through ploys like phishing attacks, the IT software firm Sophos reported. A growing number of these attempts can be expected this year as well. "Users of Apple computers are no longer secure from cyber criminality any more," said Matthias Gaertner of the German Federal Agency for Security in Information Technology in Bonn.



■ OIL

OPEC allays fears

Libya's oil chief Shukri Ghanem downplayed fears on Saturday that oil cartel OPEC could decide to lower production at its March 5 meeting in Vienna. "I don't think much will happen [at the meeting]. I think prices will stay between US$85 and US$90," Ghanem said after an extraordinary OPEC meeting in Vienna. He said he was happy with a price range between US$82 and US$90 per barrel. Light sweet crude for delivery in March closed on Friday in New York at US$88.96 per barrel. Industry analysts have said OPEC could lower production next month to prevent a drop in oil prices in the event of a recession in the US.
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