■ Auto Industry
Mitsubishi recalls vehicles
Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp, Japan's third-largest truckmaker, said it will recall about 136,000 vehicles to fix faulty front and rear wheel hubs.
The recall, which will start mid-December, will affect trucks, buses and coaches made between July 1983 and November last year, the company said in filings to Japan's transport ministry. No accidents related to the recall have been reported, the company said. Fuso, 65 percent owned by Daimler-Chrysler AG, in June began recalls of more than 848,000 vehicles in Japan, or about 60 percent of the Fuso vehicles that are in use. Fuso covered up defects and repaired some vehicles without notifying the transport ministry about the problems.
■ Auto Industry
DaimlerChrysler must pay
A jury ordered DaimlerChrysler AG to pay US$98 million in damages to a couple whose baby died when a Dodge Caravan seatback failed in a crash, according to the family's lawyer. The jury awarded US$98 million in punitive damages to punish the company today after saying earlier that the family was entitled to US$7.5 million to compensate for injuries suffered in the crash, said Jim Butler, a lawyer for the family. There have been more than 500 deaths and injuries in cases involving allegations about seat-latches in Chryslers, according to Clarence Ditlow, president of the Center for Auto Safety in Washington.
■ Communications
Cingular Wireless cuts jobs
Cingular Wireless LLC, the largest US cellphone company, plans to cut 7,000 jobs, or nearly 10 per cent of its workforce, a news report said yesterday. The move was made to take advantage of cost-cutting oppor-tunities brought by Cingular's US$41 billion takeover of AT&T Wireless Services Inc last month. Company spokesman Mark Siegel told Bloomberg that the cuts would come next year. The layoffs are part of Cingular's aim to cut costs by US$2 billion by 2007.
■ Computers
Server market grows
The global market for computer servers grew to US$11.5 billion in factory revenue in the third quarter, a 5.5 percent increase from a year earlier, market researcher IDC said. International Business Machines Corp, the world's largest computer maker, increased its lead over Hewlett-Packard Co and Sun Microsystems Inc in the worldwide server market, IDC said in a statement distributed by Business Wire. IBM's share of the US$11.5 billion market for servers, machines that run company databases and Internet sites, increased to 32 percent from 31 percent a year earlier.
■ Computers
Kirin buys into Dalian Daxue
Kirin Brewery Co, Japan's biggest beverage maker by sales, said it will spend 3.9 billion yen (US$37.6 million) for a 25 percent stake in China's Dalian Daxue Brewery Co. Tokyo-based Kirin plans to double the Chinese brewer's yearly beer production capacity to 400,000 kiloliters by December 2008, the company said yesterday. "China's beer consumption is rising," Vice President Naomichi Asano said during a Tokyo news conference. "Our purchase will help us expand our Chinese market share." Japanese breweries such as Kirin and Asahi Breweries Ltd, Japan's second biggest, are expanding overseas and diversifying their alcoholic products.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
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