■ MANUFACTURING
Steel plant halts work
Steelmaking is on hold at the ArcelorMittal plant in Cleveland, Ohio, because of a drop in business. Both blast furnaces were idled last week, and the company plans to offer voluntary layoffs with partial pay starting this week. About 1,450 union members work at the plant. Mark Granakis, president of the United Steelworkers local in Cleveland said there could be as many as 400 job reductions. ArcelorMittal spokeswoman Katie Patterson says updated information could come on Wednesday when the company announces third quarter earnings.
■MINING
Vale slashes output
Brazilian mining giant Vale, the world’s largest producer of iron ore, said it was to slash output at mines in Brazil and elsewhere by up to 10 percent from Saturday to adjust to shrinking demand caused by the global financial crisis. Vale will cut production at facilities in Brazil, China, France, Indonesia and Norway, and some 2,300 workers — nearly four percent of the company’s workforce of 62,600 — will be put on temporary leave, it said in a statement. The company decided to reduce “the mineral production of iron by the equivalent of 30 million metric tons per year,” Rio-based Vale said in its statement on Friday.
■GERMANY
Merkel touts rescue plan
Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday called on banks struggling to cope with the fallout from the global financial crisis to take advantage of a state rescue package. The help was available to the banks and financial institutions to ensure they could continue with their primary functions of “lending and managing savings,” Merkel said in a video message on her Web site. Weekly news magazine Der Spiegel said on Saturday that the government was considering new measures based on the British government’s bank rescue plan, to be applied in the coming days. On Friday troubled German property lender Hypo Real Estate became the first private financial institution to take advantage of the government package.
■SOUTH KOREA
Bank of Korea confident
The nation is unlikely to fall into a financial crisis because of unstable financial market conditions stemming from the global credit turmoil, the Bank of Korea said. “Households, companies and banks’ ability to endure a crisis is maintained at a good level in general,” the central bank said in its semiannual Financial Stability Report. “Chances aren’t high it will lead to an overall crisis of our financial system.” The bank cut interest rates by a record in an emergency move last week after the won plunged to a 10-year low and the Kospi stock index fell the most in two decades.
■ELECTRONICS
Sanyo eyes Panasonic shares
Sanyo Electric Co is largely in agreement with a bid by Panasonic Corp to take a majority stake in the company and thereby become Japan’s largest electronics manufacturer, a press report said yesterday. Panasonic president Fumio Otsubo and Sanyo president Seiichiro Sano reached the “broad agreement” last month, public broadcaster NHK without naming its sources. Panasonic would make the bid public, possibly this week, if it managed to reach agreement with Sanyo’s top shareholders, the network said. The major shareholders — Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, the Daiwa Securities SMBC group and the Goldman Sachs group — hold a total of nearly 430 million preferred shares in Sanyo.
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