■RETAIL
Tesco profits jump 11%
Britain’s biggest retailer, Tesco, said yesterday its net profit jumped by almost 11 percent during the group’s first half to more than £1 billion (US$1.8 billion) as it beat off economic woes. Tesco said in an earnings statement that profit after tax increased 10.9 percent to £1.038 billion in the six months to Aug. 23, compared with the same period last year. The supermarket giant also said it was on track to create 30,000 jobs this year.
■INSURANCE
Alico gets fund boost
A Japanese insurer that is a unit of troubled American International Group Inc (AIG) has received ¥90.7 billion (US$872 million) in additional funds to bolster its financial strength, the company said yesterday. Alico Japan said it received the money on Monday from its US parent, American Life Insurance Co, which is part of the AIG group, after the plunge in the price of AIG shares. As a result, Alico Japan’s capital base stands at ¥328.2 billion, it said in a statement. Alico Japan has been reassuring its clients that there will be no problems with their insurance policies.
■AUTOMOBILES
Toyota adds rear airbag
Toyota has developed a rear window air bag to upgrade protection for back-seat passengers, the company said yesterday. In the event of a rear-end collision, the air bag is ejected from the roof lining above the rear window and spreads like a curtain to protect the heads of the rear passengers, Toyota Motor Corp said in a statement. Toyota said the rear window curtain-shield air bag is the world’s first. The new safety gear will debut in the “iQ” compact four-seater vehicle, to be introduced later this year, Toyota said.
■TOYS
Bratz dolls annoy Mattel
Barbie-maker Mattel Inc filed court papers asking a federal judge to block MGA Entertainment Inc from making or selling Bratz dolls. Attorneys for Mattel filed the papers on Monday in Riverside, California, just over a month after a jury awarded the company US$100 million in damages in the fight over the pouty-lipped dolls. Judge Stephen Larson will hear arguments on the injunction request on Nov. 10.
■AVIATION
Boeing deliveries delayed
Boeing Co said yesterday it would reassess its 787 Dreamliner delivery schedule for the Japanese market once an ongoing strike ends, raising concern that a prolonged production halt could further push back deliveries. Japan’s two biggest airlines — Japan Airlines Corp and All Nippon Airways — have already announced expected delays in receiving the 787 jets because of a strike by Boeing machinists that came on top of an 18-month delay in the shipment of the planes. “Frankly, we do not know when the strike will end,” Randy Tinseth, vice president of Boeing’s Commercial Airplanes division, said in Tokyo.
■AUTOMOBILES
Volvo cuts 1,400 jobs
Volvo, one of the world’s top heavy duty truck makers, said yesterday it would cut 1,400 jobs in Belgium and Sweden because of declining demand for its trucks in Europe. “The company will initiate negotiations with the unions regarding staffing level cutbacks of approximately 1,400 employees at the company’s plant in Ghent in Belgium and Gothenburg and Umeaa in Sweden,” Volvo Trucks said in a statement.
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
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