■ Aviation
EADS deal meets obstacles
A consortium of investors put together by the German government to buy a bloc of EADS shares put up for sale by DaimlerChrysler has hit difficulties, notably because of French resistance to the plan, Der Spiegel magazine said. In its edition to be published today, Der Spiegel quoted senior German civil servants as saying that Paris had so far vetoed the purchase of any stake in the aerospace and defence group by the consortium, which is led by Deutsche Bank. Compounding its difficulties, the German bank had also failed to fully convince the potential investors themselves of the worth of its project.
■ Real estate
Mack-Cali pulls out of bid
Mack-Cali Realty Corp withdrew from its planned participation in a group led by billionaire Carl Icahn that is bidding for Reckson Associates Realty Corp, owner of 101 New York-area office properties. Reckson, a Uniondale, New York-based real estate investment trust, said Mack-Cali told the company on Saturday that it was pulling out of the group. Reckson didn't give a reason for Edison, New Jersey-based Mack-Cali's withdrawal. Reckson also said that Icahn and partner Harry Macklowe, owner of New York's General Motors Building, still hasn't provided "any documentation with respect to its debt financing arrangements" for their US$4.26 billion buyout.
■ Oil
Iran calls for OPEC cuts
Iran's OPEC envoy Hossein Kazempour Ardebili yesterday called on the oil cartel to agree to a new oil output cut at its next meeting to counter an oversupply of crude, official news agency IRNA reported. "Some factors like the decrease of world economic growth and accumulation of oil and stockpiles of its by-products indicate that the market needs a cut in OPEC oil output again," Ardebili said. "There is still oversupply in the market beyond the oil demand and with OPEC's output cut [agreed in October] all the global market demands have been covered," he added. The 11 members of OPEC are due to meet in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Dec. 14.
■ Steel
Nippon mulls Baosteel buy
Nippon Steel Corp, the world's second-largest steelmaker, may buy a stake in Baosteel Group Corp (寶鋼集團), China's largest steelmaker, Nippon Steel president Akio Mimura told reporters in Tokyo yesterday. Baosteel Chairwoman Xie Qihua (謝企華) proposed having Nippon Steel buy into Baosteel to strengthen the companies' ties, and Nippon Steel will consider the purchase on the basis of profitability, Mimura said. Mimura and Xie had talks on Friday. Baoshan Iron and Steel Co (寶山鋼鐵), Baosteel's publicly traded unit, said on Thursday that conditions for share sales were improving.
■ Automobiles
Delphi, GM reach agreement
Delphi Corp and former parent General Motors Corp have exchanged "draft agreements" during negotiations to help the automobile parts supplier emerge from bankruptcy protection, court documents show. A 110-page report that addressed the talks was filed late on Thursday in the US Bankruptcy Court in New York, the Detroit News reported. "The parties have exchanged various draft agreements and term sheets, which taken together, have advanced negotiations considerably," Delphi bankruptcy lawyer Jack Butler wrote in the report.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
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The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
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