■STEEL
Union reaches agreement
ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, and the union representing steelworkers at the company’s US plants reached a tentative four-year agreement on Saturday after four months of talks. About 14,000 production, maintenance and clerical employees represented by United Steelworkers at 14 ArcelorMittal plants in eight states voted on Thursday to authorize a strike if a contract wasn’t reached by today, the union said in an e-mail. The workers make up 4.5 percent of the global workforce of ArcelorMittal, the company’s Web site said. The union declined to disclose provisions of the contract.
■ELECTRONICS
LG sets new sales target
LG Electronics Inc, the world’s third-largest television maker, said it aims to increase its display sales by 30 percent to US$20 billion by 2010. To achieve the goal, LG plans to invest US$500 million in marketing targeting the Americas, China, the Middle East, Africa and Russia, the company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. LG is betting more expensive models and sales in emerging markets will help sustain revenue growth at the display division. The loss from the division, which sells plasma screens and televisions, narrowed in the second quarter on higher sales of flat-panel TVs. Seoul-based LG will also invest US$1 billion on research and development for displays by 2010, the statement said.
■ECONOMY
US economy ‘improves’
The US economy is “beginning to improve” US President George W Bush said on Saturday, and he was confident the US$152 billion stimulus package signed earlier this year would ward off a recession. The housing market was still facing tough times, but the decline in home sales had leveled off, Bush said in his weekly radio address, and the economy grew 3.3 percent in the second quarter, beyond analysts’ expectations. “These welcome signs indicate that the economic stimulus package that I signed earlier this year is having its intended effect,” Bush said.
■CONSTRUCTION
Taiwanese to bid in Dubai
Taiwanese glass manufacturers are teaming up to bid for the contract to supply glass to the world’s tallest building, Burj Dubai, it was reported yesterday. An estimated 110 Taiwanese glass manufacturers plan to form a consortium to bid for the contract for the Dubai Tower, which will stand at more than 800m when it is unveiled next year, and replace the 508m Taipei 101 as the world’s tallest building. Burj Dubai will require US$386 million in glass, including US$225 million for glass plates for its facade and US$612 million in glass for the interiors, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported.
■GERMANY
Siemens clearance in doubt
Revelations that a Siemens turbine salesman paid kickbacks to Italian electricity company Enel triggered military concern in Germany four years ago, corporate sources said on Saturday. The bribe to secure orders from Enel was part of a 1.3 billion euro (US$1.9 billion) web of corruption that has plunged the German conglomerate into legal tangles, but it was not previously known that it threatened Siemens’ defense secrecy clearance. The sources confirmed a report to appear in today’s issue of the news magazine Der Spiegel that the German military demanded an explanation. Der Spiegel quoted minutes of the November 2004 meeting.
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
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
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