■ AUTOMOBILES
SUV factory to be closed
Sagging demand for large sport utility vehicles has forced Ford Motor Co to close a Michigan factory for nine weeks starting on Monday. The Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, west of Detroit, makes the Lincoln Navigator and Ford Expedition. It will be idled until Aug. 25, Ford spokeswoman Angie Kozleski said on Monday. The factory employs about 1,400 hourly workers. They will be laid off but get roughly 95 percent of their pay under their contract with the United Auto Workers. Responding to the same market conditions, General Motors Corp said on Monday that it is moving up the start of a third shift at its small-car plant in Lordstown, Ohio, that makes the Chevy Cobalt and Pontiac G5.
■ PHARMACEUTICALS
Roche to invest in research
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche announced yesterday an investment of 1.3 billion Swiss francs (US$1.25 billion) in its production and research units in Switzerland. Of the total, SF800 million has been earmarked for the company’s main factory in Basel, northern Switzerland. Roche reported a net profit of SF11.4 billion last year, a 25 percent increase on the previous year that was largely attributed to sales of the company’s cancer medication.
■ BANKING
Bank sues over investments
A US bank part-owned by billionaire Warren Buffett is suing Deutsche Bank over risky financial investments of the kind that caused the subprime crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. A Deutsche Bank spokesman contacted by the newspaper declined to comment. M&T Bank is suing Deutsche over a US$82 million investment in mortgage securities known as collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) that went sour, the paper said. M&T, in which Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway company owns 6 percent, accuses Germany’s biggest bank of fraud, it said. Money manager HBK Investments is also named in the suit. It alleges that Deutsche Bank “withheld from the ratings agencies material information about the quality and default problems” that Deutsche was experiencing with CDOs that the bank had manufactured from risky consumer loans.
■ SHIPPING
Protests interrupt exports
Export-dependent South Korea said yesterday that a strike by container truck drivers in protest at soaring fuel prices has disrupted international trade worth almost US$5 billion. The stoppage by more than 13,000 drivers, in its fifth day yesterday, has crippled major ports and inland cargo terminals where containers are stacking up. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said the strike had affected exports worth US$2.31 billion and imports worth US$2.43 billion as of late on Monday.
■ COMMUNICATIONS
Watchdog warns of charges
Mobile phone users in Hong Kong who go online are being hit with hidden charges of up to US$1,800 a month, a consumer watchdog warned yesterday. High-tech phones that can receive e-mails and data-switch between networks sometimes lock onto paid-for wireless services without the phone owner’s knowledge, the Hong Kong Consumer Council warned. The watchdog said it had received 143 complaints about unexpected charges for Internet services between January and May and 270 last year. Bills can be particularly high in cases in which people use their mobile phones to download large data files, which phone companies charge for in terms of volume, the Consumer Council said.
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
RESILIENCE: Deepening bilateral cooperation would extend the peace sustained over the 45 years since the Taiwan Relations Act, Greene said Taiwan-US relations are built on deep economic ties and shared values, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday, adding that strengthening supply chain security in critical industries, enhancing societal resilience through cooperation and deepening partnerships are key to ensuring peace and stability for Taiwan in the years ahead. Greene made the remarks at the National Security Youth Forum, organized by National Taiwan University’s National Security and Strategy Studies Institution in Taipei. In his address in Mandarin Chinese, Greene said the Taiwan-US relationship is built on deep economic ties and shared interests, and grows stronger through the enduring friendship between
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
‘COMING MENACINGLY’: The CDC advised wearing a mask when visiting hospitals or long-term care centers, on public transportation and in crowded indoor venues Hospital visits for COVID-19 last week increased by 113 percent to 41,402, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, as it encouraged people to wear a mask in three public settings to prevent infection. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said weekly hospital visits for COVID-19 have been increasing for seven consecutive weeks, and 102 severe COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths were confirmed last week, both the highest weekly numbers this year. CDC physician Lee Tsung-han (李宗翰) said the youngest person hospitalized due to the disease this year was reported last week, a one-month-old baby, who does not
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