■MINING
Macarthur rejects bid
Australia’s Macarthur yesterday rejected a sweetened A$3.56 billion (US$3.3 billion) takeover bid by US energy firm Peabody, saying it wanted to stage its own buy-out of a rival miner. The US company’s offer of US$14 per share had been conditional on Macarthur delaying a planned April 12 shareholder meeting to seek approval for its bid for fellow miner Gloucester Coal Ltd. Macarthur said Peabody’s revised proposal did not represent an adequate premium for control of the company and it would go ahead with the meeting.
■AUTOMOBILES
Nissan to recall vehicles
Carmaker Nissan is to recall more than 25,000 vehicles in Japan due to accelerator pedal defects, the company said yesterday. The recall of 25,024 vehicles came on top of the company’s worldwide recalls for nearly 540,000 vehicles, most of them in the US, over brake pedal defects and faulty fuel gauges. The company decided there was a risk that gas pedals in affected cars could return slowly from a depressed position due to oil clogging up the controlling mechanism, Nissan spokesman Mitsuru Yonekawa said.
■AVIATION
Japan Airlines speeds cuts
Japan Airlines is speeding up planned job cuts in an effort to return to profitability and intends to lay off one-third of its workforce this fiscal year instead of over three years as previously announced, the country’s top business newspaper reported yesterday. The Nikkei said Japan Airlines Corp is now considering cutting 16,452 employees by next March under a plan that also calls for cutting routes and selling off old equipment. The company is moving faster because its business is still deeply in the red and is losing ¥500 million to ¥1 billion yen (US$5.3 million to US$10.6 million) each day, the paper said.
■ECONOMICS
Eurozone PMI jumps
Private sector business activity across the eurozone climbed last month with the largest increase since August 2007, according to data and research group Markit on yesterday. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the 16 countries that share the single currency, compiled by Markit, jumped to 55.9 points from 53.7 points in February, up slightly from an estimate on March 24, the researchers said. Any score above the boom-and-bust 50-point line indicates economic growth.
■AVIATION
Spirit to charge for luggage
Low-cost US airline Spirit announced on Tuesday it would charge up to US$45 each way for hand luggage that does not fit under a passenger’s seat. Passengers wanting to place bags in the overhead bins will pay the US$45 fee, with discounts for online bookers and paid-up “club” members, the Florida-based company said in a statement. Spirit said the decision means less-encumbered customers would no longer have to subsidize fellow travelers.
■INTERNET
AOL seeks Bebo buyer
AOL Inc plans to find a buyer for its social networking site Bebo, for which it paid US$850 million in 2008, or shut it down. The level of competition in social networking makes it difficult for the company to fight larger players such as Facebook and News Corp’s MySpace, AOL said. The company plans to decide whether to close Bebo or sell it by the end of May, it told staff on Tuesday. Bebo has about 40 employees, mostly in the US.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2