■AUTOMOBILES
Chrysler mulls small cars
US automaker Chrysler, which has partnered with Italian Fiat as part of its bankruptcy plan, is considering producing Fiat 500 subcompact cars at its plant in Mexico, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Citing “people familiar with the matter,” the newspaper said Chrysler was considering what other Fiat models to introduce to the US market. Chrysler is looking at making a small Fiat engine for Fiat 500 at a Chrysler plant in Trenton, Michigan, the report said It is also considering building a Fiat-derived compact car slightly larger than the 500 in the US, it said.
■BANKING
US rich hiding in HK: ‘WSJ’
A US crackdown on wealthy Americans accused of ferreting their money overseas to avoid paying taxes at home has spread to Hong Kong, a report said yesterday. Court documents in the US detail how Swiss banking giant UBS helped clients set up enterprises in the territory to hide money , the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. John McCarthy, a UBS client in California, last week agreed to plead guilty to one count of failing to file an annual report to the US Treasury Department, the WSJ said. A document filed with the plea showed he directed the transfer of more than US$1 million to a Swiss UBS account held in the name of a Hong Kong entity named COGS Enterprises Ltd. The case follows that of Jeffrey Chernick, from New York, who pleaded guilty last month to filing a false tax return. He also used a Hong Kong corporation.
■FINANCE
Firm denies state charges
Charles Schwab Corp said the filing of any charges by the office of New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo against the company was “totally” unwarranted and the company would vigorously defend itself in court. “The Attorney General’s demand that Schwab act as an insurer against an unprecedented market collapse that it did not cause and could not predict is legally unsound,” a statement from the company’s lawyers released yesterday said. Cuomo is preparing to file a lawsuit against Schwab alleging civil fraud in the way auction-rate securities were marketed and sold, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier, citing people familiar with the situation.
■DENMARK
Wage increase slows
Wage growth in the second quarter slowed to 2.8 percent year-on-year, compared with 4.3 percent in the first quarter, the Confederation of Danish Employers said on its Web site yesterday. The lower wage rise was partly attributed to delayed negotiations with local trade unions compared with previous years, the confederation said. “Lower wage growth is of course not good for consumer demand, but it’s good for our competitiveness, which has been under tremendous pressure over the last few years,” said Steen Bocian, chief economist at Danske Bank A/S in an e-mail.
■INVESTMENT
FDI in China declines
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China dropped 35.7 percent year-on-year last month for the 10th straight monthly fall, the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday. China attracted a total of US$5.36 billion in foreign investment last month, ministry spokesman Yao Jian (姚堅) told reporters. The decline compared with a fall of 6.8 percent year-on-year in June. FDI in the first seven months was down 20.3 percent over the same period last year to US$48.3 billion, the spokesman said.
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
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
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