■ AUTOMOBILES
Daimler recalls 65,000 cars
German automaker Daimler AG has ordered a recall of nearly 65,000 Mercedes-Benz cars sold in Japan to fix potential fuel tank defects caused by parts with insufficient durability, Japanese transport and company officials said. The recall, announced on Tuesday, covers 64,550 E-Class sedan, station wagon and CLS-Class coupe models imported to Japan from February 2002 through April this year, the company's Japanese subsidiary, Mercedes-Benz Japan, and the transport ministry said. No accidents were reported from the defects, but there were 142 customer reports of the defects, the ministry said.
■ Telecoms
BT acquiring Frontline
British telecoms giant BT Group said yesterday it was acquiring Singapore-based Frontline Technologies for S$202 million (US$140 million) to beef up its regional presence. BT will pay S$0.245 for each Frontline share, representing a 33.9 percent premium to the firm's one-month average share price. "Through this acquisition we reinforce our ability to provide high quality services to our customers wherever they do business," BT Global Services CEO Frangois Barrault said in a statement. "We believe our combined reach and skills will create an unbeatable team in Asia Pacific as we seek to respond better to our customers' challenges and opportunities." Established in 1993, Frontline provides end-to-end IT services such consulting and security solutions and has more than 5,000 specialist staff in nine Asian markets, including China, Hong Kong, India, Taiwan and Thailand.
■ Retail
Wal-Mart ups Seiyu stake
Wal-Mart Stores has raised its stake in Japanese chain Seiyu to 95.1 percent, Seiyu said yesterday, marking the US retailer's latest attempt to solidify its foothold in the difficult Japanese market. Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's biggest retail chain, owned 50.9 percent of Seiyu Ltd before launching an effort to buy more shares in October to attain full ownership. The results of the bid, which ended on Tuesday, were confirmed by Seiyu spokeswoman Shoko Nagata. The effort underlines Wal-Mart's strategy of taking a lead in speeding up management changes to turn around Seiyu's struggling business and ends for now doubts about whether Wal-Mart may exit Japan.
■ Oil
China approves refinery
China said yesterday it had approved initial work on a multibillion-dollar oil refinery project in the south, in what the official China Daily has hailed as the nation's largest ever joint venture. The daily said the project, to be jointly run by the nation's top refiner Sinopec and Kuwait Petroleum Corp, would involve US$5 billion in investment. "Initial work can be started on the project now," said an official surnamed Zhang with the National Development and Reform Commission. It will include a refinery and an ethylene plant that will be built in Nansha City, Guangdong Province.
■ Australia
Central bank holds rates
The central bank left interest rates on hold at an 11-year high of 6.75 percent yesterday, while warning that it remained concerned about inflationary pressure. The decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia, which last month raised rates by 0.25 percentage points for the 10th time since 2002, had been widely expected by economists.
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 —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
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