■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.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
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