■PHARMACEUTICALS
Top firms in veterinary tie-up
Two major drug companies are uniting their animal health businesses in a deal to become the top dog in the veterinary industry. Merck & Co and France’s Sanofi-Aventis SA say they’ll jointly own the combined business, and it will have a market share of about 29 percent. That’s well ahead of the current leader, Pfizer Inc’s Fort Dodge unit, which has about 20 percent of the market. The joint venture will combine Sanofi’s Merial animal health business, the maker of the Frontline tick fighter, with Merck’s Intervet/Schering-Plough unit. Merck, of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, bought Schering-Plough in November.
■MOTORCYCLES
Honda to expand in India
Japan’s Honda Motor Co said yesterday it would build a second motorcycle factory in India, employing about 2,000 people, to meet surging demand in the fast-growing market there. The factory near Delhi is due to start operating in the second half of next year with a production capacity of 600,000 vehicles a year, said Honda, which will invest about US$100 million in the facility. Output could be doubled in the future if necessary to meet demand, a company spokesman said. Together with its existing plant, Honda’s motorcycle production capacity in India will increase to 2.2 million vehicles a year.
■INTERNET
Google testing TV service
Internet giant Google is testing a new television programming search service with Dish Network Corp, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The newspaper, citing “people familiar with the matter,” said the service runs on TV set-top boxes using Google’s Android operating system. It said it allows users to search content from Dish, which has 14 million satellite TV subscribers, as well as Web video like YouTube and to personalize a lineup of shows. The Journal said users can search by typing on a keyboard instead of using a remote control.
■LOGISTICS
Deutsche Post narrows loss
German mail and logistics company Deutsche Post AG says its net loss for the fourth quarter narrowed to 283 million euros (US$385 million), largely because of a cost-savings program. The Bonn-based company lost more than 3 billion euros in the fourth quarter of 2008. Revenue for the October-December period of last year was 12 percent lower to 12.4 billion euros from 14 billion euros the year before. For the full year, the company managed to post net income of 644 million euros from a net loss of 1.7 billion euros in 2008. Revenue for the full year was 15 percent lower to 46.2 billion euros. Deutsche Post, which also owns express carrier DHL, said yesterday it expects a moderate recovery in global transport volumes this year.
■BANKING
S&P maintains Iceland rating
The overwhelming rejection by Iceland voters of a deal to repay losses of collapsed bank Icesave does not affect the country’s credit rating, Standard & Poor’s said on Monday. “In our view, the referendum outcome does not constitute an outright repudiation of Iceland’s international obligations,” S&P said in a statement. The referendum’s outcome “merely reflects overwhelming popular discontent with the financial conditions of a bilateral loan offered by the British and the Dutch to finance their claim,” it added.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
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