■AUTOMOBILES
Saab verdict due soon
The final decision on whether the Saab brand will live or die is likely to come later this month or next, General Motors Co’s Europe president Nick Reilly said on Tuesday. His statement came as the Swedish government took another step toward ending Saab’s life, appointing two men who will replace its board and CEO while supervising Saab’s closure. The men, Stephen Taylor and Peter Torngren, will meet with management, unions and other Saab stakeholders and start working on a plan to close the troubled brand, GM said in a statement.
PHOTO: EPA
■SOUTH KOREA
Unemployment rises
The unemployment rate rose last month despite growing signs of an economic recovery, official figures showed yesterday. The rate stood at 3.5 percent last month, up from 3.3 percent in November, Statistics Korea said. It was the second consecutive monthly rise after the rate hit an 11-month low of 3.2 percent in October. The number of employed people totaled 23.23 million last month, down 16,000 from a year earlier. The year-on-year jobs decline compared with a 10,000 fall in November. The finance ministry says job creation is its top priority for this year.
■INVESTMENT
Carlyle inks China-fund deal
US investment giant Carlyle forged a deal on Tuesday with Beijing for establishing a yuan-denominated fund that will invest in companies in China. Carlyle Asia Partners, a regional unit of the world’s second-largest private-equity firm, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Financial Work for the new fund, a company statement said. The value of the fund was not revealed.
■TELECOMS
LG wants to be No. 2
South Korea’s LG Electronics said yesterday it plans to sell 140 million mobile phones worldwide this year, up 20 percent from last year The company, currently the world No. 3 for mobile phones after Nokia and Samsung Electronics, said it intends to become No. 2 by 2012 by exploiting the rising popularity of smartphones. LG said it plans a new lineup of 20 models this year, based on the operating systems of Google’s Android, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Linux to help achieve the business goal.
■BREWING
Heineken to take on debt
Dutch brewer Heineken is to assume the total debt of Mexican drinks group Fomento Economico Mexicano (FEMSA), some US$2.1 billion, after agreeing to buy its beer unit, chief executive Jean-Francois Van Boxmeer said in Mexico on Tuesday. Heineken announced on Monday it would buy FEMSA’s beer division in a share deal that values the company at about US$7.7 billion.
■BANKING
BofA shuffles management
Bank of America Corp (BofA) is shuffling its senior management team, moving its chief financial officer over to lead consumer and small business banking and naming a new chief risk officer. The bank said CFO Joe Price would lead the consumer and small business unit. The bank lost more than US$2.2 billion in the third quarter of last year.
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
BULLY TACTICS: Beijing has continued its incursions into Taiwan’s airspace even as Xi Jinping talked about Taiwan being part of the Chinese family and nation China should stop its coercion of Taiwan and respect mainstream public opinion in Taiwan about sovereignty if its expression of goodwill is genuine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) made the comment in response to media queries about a meeting between former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) the previous day. Ma voiced support for the so-called “1992 consensus,” while Xi said that although the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have “different systems,” this does not change the fact that they are “part of the same country,” and that “external
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