■ Electronics
Siemens offices searched
Investigators probing suspected corruption at Siemens AG have searched the offices of top managers, including CEO Klaus Kleinfeld, officials said on Monday. Prosecutors searched the offices of the electronics conglomerate across Germany last week as part of an investigation into the alleged embezzlement of company funds and possible bribery. Anton Winkler, a prosecutor in Munich, and a spokesman for Siemens said Kleinfeld's office was among those searched. The prosecutors are investigating 12 people, including two former Siemens managers, on suspicion that they embezzled more than 20 million euros (US$25.6 million) from the company's landline communications unit, COM. Four of the suspects are in custody.
■ Finance
Mitsubishi settles suit
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc said yesterday it had agreed to pay ¥2.5 billion (US$21.2 million) to Sumitomo Trust and Banking Co to settle a two-year legal battle over the scrapping of a partial merger in favor of a deal to create the world's largest bank. Sumitomo Trust had agreed in principle in May 2004 to buy the trust banking unit of then UFJ Holdings Inc, which was buckling under a mountain of bad debts. But in a merger battle that was unusually bitter by Japanese standards, UFJ later abandoned the plan in favor of a full merger with Mitsubishi.
■ Aviation
Korean Air to buy 25 planes
South Korea's flag carrier Korean Air said yesterday it would buy 25 aircraft from Boeing Co for around US$5.5 billion, the largest aviation deal in the nation's history. Under the agreement, Boeing will deliver 15 passenger aircraft and 10 freighters to Korean Air Co -- the world's biggest mover of air cargo -- over a 10-year period beginning in 2009, the airline said in a statement. Korean Air will purchase 10 long-haul 777-300s and five medium-range 737-900/700 passenger jets, as well as 10 freighters, five 747-8Fs and five 777-200s. It has an option on an additional eight planes: four 777-300s, two 747-8Fs and two 737-900s.
■ United States
Paulson issues warning
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called for a "more agile" regulatory framework for publicly traded US firms on Monday, citing a drop in the number of initial public offerings (IPOs). Paulson, in a speech to the Economic Club of New York, said the decline in the number of companies seeking a public listing on US exchanges could raise a challenge to the country's economic competitiveness. Paulson said the US regulatory system had also become "complex and confusing," citing the existence of four separate banking regulators. "Excessive regulation slows innovation, imposes needless costs on investors, and stifles competitiveness and job creation," Paulson said.
■ Automobiles
Proton stirs local interest
Two Malaysian firms are interested in forming a pact with troubled automaker Proton, Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop said yesterday as the government holds talks with PSA Peugeot Citroen and Volkswagen AG. Yakcop said that the government has not excluded local firms from buying the 43 percent stake in Proton held by Khazanah Nasional Bhd, the state's investment arm. Local motor giant, Naza Group said it had submitted a letter of intent to buy Khazanah's controlling stake. DRB-Hicom has also expressed an interest.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
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