■ 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.
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
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