■CONFECTIONERY
Kraft bid undervalued: Carr
The chairman of candy maker Cadbury PLC said on Saturday that Kraft Foods Inc undervalued his company in a takeover offer last week, and he dismissed the suitor as a “low growth conglomerate.” Roger Carr laid out his opposition to Kraft’s US$16.7 billion bid in an open letter to Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld. Cadbury’s board told Kraft of its opposition to a bid on Aug. 31. Carr said that under Kraft’s offer, “Cadbury would be absorbed into Kraft’s low growth, conglomerate business model, an unappealing prospect” that contrasts with Cadbury’s strategy to focus on making and selling sweets.
■AUTOMOBILES
Magna plans to cut jobs
Canadian auto parts maker Magna and its Russian finance partner plan to cut 10,500 jobs in Europe when taking over car makers Opel and Vauxhall, 4,500 of them in Germany, a German newspaper reported. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, in its weekly edition due to appear yesterday, reported the number of anticipated job cuts citing a spokesman for Magna. The weekly Der Spiegel put the job losses at Opel in Germany at 4,100, with the buyers of a controlling stake in GM’s European units planning “to eliminate 3,000 jobs in production and 1,100 in administration,” Der Spiegel reported without citing any sources, in its edition to appear today.
■GERMANY
People want data protection
Thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Berlin, police said, to demand better protection of personal data after a number of scandals. Police put the number of demonstrators at 10,000 while unions and political parties which organized the protest said there were around 20,000. “We must say a clear ‘no’ to the folly of government surveillance,” said co-president of the Greens Claudia Roth. Data protection activist Thilo Weichert said “surveillance and censorship” were undermining rights.
■INTERNET
Plan for ‘Cyber sheriffs’
South Korea plans to train 3,000 “cyber sheriffs” by next year to protect businesses after a spate of attacks on state and private Web sites, a report said yesterday. The “cyber sheriffs” would be tasked with “protecting corporate information and preventing the leaks of industrial secrets,” Yonhap news agency said. In the event of cyber attacks, the National Intelligence Service, the country’s main spy agency, would set up a taskforce including civilian and government experts to counter the online threats, it added. South Korea, where 95 percent of homes have broadband, is among the top countries in terms of access to the high-speed Internet, according to a survey by Strategy Analytics in June.
■OIL
Caracas signs deal
Venezuela says it has signed a deal with five mainly Russian energy companies to exploit its deposits of heavy crude oil. State-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA says its agreement is with a consortium of Russian oil and gas companies Rosneft, Lukoil, Gazprom and Surgutneftegaz. TNK-BP, a British-Russian joint venture, is also participating. The joint enterprise will exploit an area of Venezuela’s heavy-oil producing Orinoco Oil Belt, where they expect to pump 400,000 to 450,000 barrels a day. Venezuela will have a 60 percent stake in the venture and its partners will share the remaining 40 percent. In a statement on Saturday, Petroleos de Venezuela says the partners will also invest in a facility to turn the heavy crude into lighter oil.
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
SHOT IN THE ARM: The new system can be integrated with Avenger and Stinger missiles to bolster regional air defense capabilities, a defense ministry report said Domestically developed Land Sword II (陸射劍二) missiles were successfully launched and hit target drones during a live-fire exercise at the Jiupeng Military Base in Pingtung County yesterday. The missiles, developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), were originally scheduled to launch on Tuesday last week, after the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday long weekend, but were postponed to yesterday due to weather conditions. Local residents and military enthusiasts gathered outside the base to watch the missile tests, with the first one launching at 9:10am. The Land Sword II system, which is derived from the Sky Sword II (天劍二) series, was turned