■AUTOMOBILES
Saab to seek protection
General Motors’ loss-making carmaker Saab Automobile announced yesterday it would seek legal protection from creditors to allow it to restructure and seek new funding. Saab made an operating loss of 2.19 billion Swedish crowns (US$251 million) in 2007, regulatory filings show. “We explored and will continue to explore all available options for funding and/or selling Saab, and it was determined a formal reorganization would be the best way to create a truly independent entity that is ready for investment,” Saab managing director Jan-Ake Jonsson said in a statement.
■MINING
Anglo American cutting jobs
British mining group Anglo American said yesterday it intended to cut 19,000 jobs by the end of the year after reporting a 29 percent fall in net earnings last year to US$5.2 billion. The cuts are part of an economy drive that the group hopes will result in a savings of US$2 billion a year between now and 2011. Anglo American is a diversified enterprise, producing platinum, coal and base metals such as copper, zinc and nickel. It also has a 45-percent stake in De Beers, the world’s largest diamond company.
■BEVERAGES
Kirin buys San Miguel stake
Japan’s Kirin Holdings said yesterday that it had struck a deal to pay about US$1.2 billion for a 43.25 percent stake in San Miguel Corp’s brewing business in the Philippines. Kirin also plans a tender offer to boost its stake in San Miguel Brewery Inc to 49 percent, leaving the Philippine conglomerate with the remaining 51 percent. “This investment will significantly contribute to Kirin’s further growth in its alcohol business in Asia and Oceania,” a Kirin statement said.
■CHINA
Multinationals cutting back
Multinational companies are hiring less or cutting existing staff as they struggle through the global economic crisis, the China Daily reported yesterday. Nearly 70 percent of firms polled in a survey by FESCO, a Beijing-based, state-run recruitment agency targeting foreign companies, said they were scaling back their recruitment plans this year, the newspaper reported. In addition, 27 percent of multinationals said they had already started laying off employees, the survey found after polling 356 of its clients in different industries across the country, the paper said.
■COMPUTERS
Macintosh sales fall 6%
Apple Inc’s sales of Macintosh computers declined 6 percent last month from a year ago as consumers pulled back purchases amid the recession, Piper Jaffray & Co analyst Gene Munster said. The sales figures suggest Apple may sell as many as 2.2 million Macs in the first quarter, Munster said in a note to clients. Sales of the iPod digital media player fell 14 percent last month, he said, citing data from Washington-based market research firm NPD Group Inc.
■BANKING
Norinchukin seeks cash call
Norinchukin Bank said yesterday it planned to raise funds of US$14.7 billion to shore up its finances, the biggest cash call yet by a Japanese bank during the current financial crisis. Norinchukin, the de facto central bank for Japan’s farm and fishery cooperatives, expects to raise ¥1.38 trillion from its members by the end of the fiscal year to next month, it said in a statement.
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