■AUTOMOBILES
GM may go bankrupt: report
The US Treasury Department has told General Motors (GM) to make all necessary preparations for a possible bankruptcy filing by June 1, even though the troubled automaker insists it can restructure its business on its own, the New York Times reported late on Sunday. Citing unnamed people “with knowledge of the plans,” the newspaper said the instructions had been conveyed by members of President Barack Obama’s automotive task force, who spent last week in meetings and on conference calls with GM in Detroit and Washington. The talks are expected to continue this week, the report said, adding that the goal is to prepare GM for a fast “surgical” bankruptcy. The automaker already has been granted US$13.4 billion in federal aid, and its managers are insisting the company’s image should not be damaged.
■TELECOMS
BT to cut 10,000 jobs
British telecoms operator BT will cut 10,000 jobs when it reveals its preliminary results next month, reports said on Sunday. BT will also make a £1.5 billion (US$2.2 billion) writedown in its under-fire Global Services division and slash its dividend by about 60 percent, the Daily Telegraph’s Web site said. The job losses, which the report said will be in addition to the 10,000 job cuts BT made last year, are expected to be spread across the company’s 160,000-strong global work force.
■TELECOMS
SK in US$150m loan talks
SK Telecom Co, South Korea’s largest mobile-phone operator, is in talks with banks to raise up to US$150 million for working capital from a three-year loan, a person with direct knowledge of the transaction said. Lenders that committed about US$100 million to the so-called club loan include Calyon and DBS Group Holdings Ltd, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the talks are private. Seoul-based SK Telecom, which has investments in the US, China and Vietnam, said on Thursday it planned to enter overseas markets and roll out new services to offset slowing growth at home.
■PHARMACEUTICALS
Express to buy NextRx units
Express Scripts Inc has agreed to buy WellPoint Inc’s NextRx subsidiaries for US$4.68 billion, the companies said in a statement. NextRx subsidiaries provide pharmacy benefits management services to about 25 million Americans and manage more than 265 million adjusted prescriptions annually. The companies said the deal includes a 10-year contract for Express Scripts to provide services to WellPoint, the largest US health insurer by membership, which will retain control of medical policy, formulary and integrated disease management in the subsidiaries.
■OIL
Prices slide below US$52
Oil prices fell below US$52 a barrel yesterday in Asia after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said it expected global crude demand to drop this year amid the worst worldwide recession in decades. Benchmark crude for delivery next month fell US$0.40 to US$51.84 a barrel by midday in Singapore in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract on Thursday rose US$2.86 to settle at US$52.24 a barrel. Trading was closed on Friday for the Lenten holiday. The Paris-based IEA, an energy policy adviser comprising 28 countries, said on Friday that demand this year will likely fall by 1 million barrels a day to 83.4 million barrels, or 2.8 percent lower than last year.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from