■ Executives
Ghosn gets another hat
Carlos Ghosn, the turnaround artist who reinvented the Japanese automaker Nissan, will have yet another hat to wear when March rolls around. The president and CEO of Nissan Motor Co., will join the board of directors of the information technology giant IBM effective March 1, the company said Tuesday. "Carlos Ghosn's international business experience and perspective will make him a valuable addition to our board," said IBM chairman and chief executive officer Samuel Palmisano in a statement. "We are very pleased that he will be joining the IBM board." Ghosn, a French national born in Brazil to a Lebanese family, is credited with having rescued Nissan from near-bankruptcy after he was appointed chief operating officer by Nissan's parent company Renault in 1999.
■ Trade
Indonesia bans shrimp
Indonesian will soon ban imports of shrimp from six countries accused by the US of practising dumping, the minister of maritime affairs and fisheries said yesterday. The US administration this month launched an investigation into suspected dumping of shrimp by Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, Thailand and Vietnam. "We hope that the [Indonesian] ban will rejuvenate the shrimping business which has been in the doldrums," minister Rokhmin Dahuri was quoted by the state Antara news agency as saying. Dahuri said he was hopeful the ban would be issued by the trade ministry next week. With the investigation against the six nations, Indonesia could increase its shrimp exports to the US, he said. Dumping means selling goods overseas for less than the cost of production or less than the price in the home market.
■ Electronics
Mitsubishi to build plants
Mitsubishi Electric said yesterday it will invest ?10 billion (US$95 million dollars) to build five factories in Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and the US to boost capacity. The five plants will produce electric auto components including a car navigation system and car audio system, Japan's third-largest electronics maker said. "With the investment, we will increase our production capacity and hope we can supply auto parts to Japanese and foreign auto makers," an official for Mitsubishi Electric said, adding two plants would be built in Japan. The company also hopes to expand its annual sales from automotive parts to ?500 billion over the next four years from ?350 billion in the current financial year to March this year.
■ Statistics
Italy's confidence rises
Italian business confidence unexpectedly rose in January for a second month, a further indication that European executives expect accelerating global demand to help counter the euro's increase. An index based on a survey of 4,000 executives rose to 93.4 from a revised 91.3 last month, the Rome-based Isae institute said. Economists had expected a drop to 90.9. The increase in Italian confidence matches similar surveys from Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium in the past week. Gains in Italy have been less pronounced after strikes against government pension proposals and the collapse of Parmalat Finanziaria SpA, Italy's biggest foodmaker. German business confidence rose to a three-year high in January, the Ifo economic institute said yesterday.
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from