■AUTOMOBILES
Volvo reaches pay accord
Volvo AB, the world's second-largest truckmaker, reached a three-year pay agreement with US workers, ending a strike that began on Feb. 1. Employees represented by the United Auto Workers have ratified a new contract covering about 2,600 members of UAW Local 2069 at the New River Valley, Virginia, plant, the Gothenburg, Sweden-based company said yesterday in a statement.
■ COMMUNICATION
Post offices for sale
Deutsche Post AG says it will sell off 700 of its 800 nationwide branches to private partners that will then continue to offer its postal services to customers. Dirk Klasen, a spokesman for Deutsche Post, said on Sunday it planned to sell the branches to bakeries, supermarkets or stationery stores. He declined to give further details. An estimated 3,000 people are employed at the affected branches, but Klasen said they would remain employed by the Bonn-based company. The selloffs are aimed at cutting costs.
■ VIETNAM
New chain to open
Thailand's leading technology and trading company Loxley and consumer product giant Saha Group plan to open a chain of convenience stores in Vietnam, officials said yesterday. The first store was expected to open by the end of the year in Ho Chi Minh City, Loxley's executive director Jingjai Hanchalash said. He said the budget for the project was still being studied, but added new stores would sell a variety of goods, including clothes and sports shoes made by Saha. "Vietnam's economy is open and booming. This is a good opportunity to look at the market there and Vietnamese shoppers love Thai products," he said.
■ TELECOM
India mobile users double
India, the world's fastest-growing major mobile-phone market, will double its number of subscribers to 500 million by 2010, said Telecommunications Secretary Siddhartha Behura. The government plans to allow subscribers to retain their phone numbers when changing service providers from this year, Behura said at the India-Asia Investment Forum in Singapore yesterday. Record subscriber additions are crowding the airwaves, prompting companies including Bharti Airtel Ltd, India's largest mobile-phone operator, to seek more spectrum. The nation gained 8.77 million customers in January, taking the total to 242.4 million.
■ TELECOM
Hellenic sells stake
Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe's biggest telephone company, agreed to buy a 20 percent stake in Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA for 2.5 billion euros (US$4 billion), extending its reach to Greece and southeast Europe. Deutsche Telekom will pay 26 euros a share for the stake in Hellenic Telecom, an e-mailed statement from the Bonn-based company said. Deutsche Telekom is buying the stake from Marfin Investment Group SA, and the transaction is conditional on the getting approval from the Greek government. The acquisition will make Deutsche Telekom the biggest shareholder in the Greek operator after the Greek state. Hellenic Telecom is Greece's biggest phone company. Hellenic Telecom's closing share price was 19.14 euros on Friday
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from