■ 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.
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
Thirty Taiwanese firms, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), yesterday launched a silicon photonics industry alliance, aiming to accelerate the medium’s development and address the energy efficiency of artificial intelligence (AI) devices like data centers. As the world is ushering in a new AI era with tremendous demand for computing power and algorithms, energy consumption is emerging as a critical issue, TSMC vice president of integrated interconnect and packaging business C.K. Hsu (徐國晉) told a media briefing in Taipei. To solve this issue, it is essential to introduce silicon photonics and copackaged optics (CPO)
The High Court yesterday overturned a Taipei District Court decision to release Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and sent the case back to the lower court. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday questioned Ko amid a probe into alleged corruption involving the Core Pacific City development project during his time as Taipei mayor. Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心), was a shopping mall in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) that has since been demolished. On Monday, the Taipei District Court granted a second motion by Ko’s attorney to release him without bail, a decision the prosecutors’ office appealed
GRAFT PROBE: Critics questioned Ko claiming he did not know about the Core Pacific floor area ratio issue until this year, citing a 2021 video in which he was asked about it Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released without bail early yesterday, while his deputy during his tenure as Taipei mayor was detained and held incommunicado after being questioned since Friday over graft allegations related to a shopping center redevelopment project. Prosecutors on Saturday filed a request with the Taipei District Court to officially detain Ko and former Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲) over allegations surrounding the redevelopment of Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心). The court yesterday determined that the evidence provided by prosecutors was insufficient to justify the detention of Ko and ordered his
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