■ COMPUTERS
Makers issue battery recall
Computer makers are recalling 100,000 laptop battery packs made by Sony Corp after 40 reports of overheating, a US Consumer Product Safety Commission notice said on Thursday. The recall applies to certain Sony 2.15Ah lithium-ion cell batteries made in Japan and sold around the world in laptops made by Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Inc and Toshiba Corp. Twenty-one of the reports claimed minor property damage, and small burns were reported in four cases. Sony blamed two factors for the defects: adjustments on its manufacturing line from October 2004 to June 2005, which may have affected the quality of cells in certain production lots, and a possible flaw in the metal foil for electrodes.
■ BANKING
Barclays seeking capital
Barclays PLC said yesterday it was seeking up to £7.3 billion (US$11.8 billion) from Middle Eastern investors to avoid resorting to a British government bailout. The money would come from investment funds and royal families in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Yesterday’s announcement follows an earlier £4.5 billion cash call by the bank in June. Barclays said the investment would enable it to meet new rules on banks’ capitalization ordered by Britain’s financial regulators. “The board believes that this maintains Barclays as a strong, independent and well capitalized bank,” chairman Marcus Agius said.
■ BANKING
Mizuho halves profit target
Japan’s second-largest bank, Mizuho Financial Group, said yesterday it had slashed its net profit target for this year by more than half in the face of global financial turmoil. Mizuho forecast a 19.7 percent drop in net profit to ¥250 billion (US$2.5 billion) in the fiscal year to March, well short of a previous forecast of ¥560 billion. It blamed the falling stock market, rising corporate bankruptcies and the collapse of Wall Street bank Lehman Brothers. The bank said it made a net profit of about ¥94 billion in the six months to September, down sharply from ¥327.06 billion a year earlier, missing its target of ¥250 billion. Mizuho, one of Japan’s three megabanks, saw its profits roughly halved last year amid heavy losses from the subprime loan crisis in the US.
■ ICELAND
PM warns of huge deficit
Prime Minister Geir Haarde said on Thursday the total cost of the nation’s banking crisis could amount to 1.1 trillion Icelandic crowns (US$9.4 billion), or 85 percent of last year’s GDP. According to a statement released by the prime minister’s office, Haarde told parliament the budget deficit next year could be as high as 10 percent of economic output, pushing gross debt — which stood at 29 percent of GDP at the end of last year — above 100 percent by the end of next year. Its GDP last year was around US$11 billion.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Toyota to reopen US plants
Toyota Motor Corp said yesterday it would reopen three US factories after a three-month suspension in the face of falling US demand, using them to produce exports for the Middle East and Latin America. The factories in Texas, Indiana and Alabama will resume producing Sequoia sports utility vehicles and Tundra pick-up trucks by the middle of this month, Japan’s largest automaker said. Toyota’s sales are expected to fall this year for the first time in a decade amid the global slowdown. Toyota’s sales in the US plunged 29.5 percent in September.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
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