■AVIATION
Qantas to slash senior jobs
Australian airline Qantas is planning to slash 100 senior executive jobs in response to the slump in global air travel, a report said yesterday. The move would also allow recently appointed chief executive Alan Joyce to stamp his authority on the country’s largest airline, the Australian Financial Review reported, citing unnamed senior sources at Qantas. It said the job losses, to be announced in coming weeks, came on top of the 1,500 positions Qantas announced it would scrap last July. The airline refused to comment on the report. A number of key executives have already left the company, including the head of engineering David Cox and chief financial officer Peter Gregg.
■GERMANY
Economy to contract 7%
Commerzbank AG said the German economy would contract as much as 7 percent this year, cutting its forecast after factory orders collapsed. “The recent collapse of order intake compels us to make a massive downward revision to our economic outlook,” Joerg Kraemer, chief economist at Commerzbank in Frankfurt, said in a note to clients yesterday. “We now expect the German economy to contract this year not only by 3 percent to 4 percent, but by 6 percent to 7 percent. And we have sharply lowered our forecasts for the euro-zone and the US.”
■OIL
Oil prices above US$52
Oil prices rose above US$52 a barrel yesterday in Asia, boosted by stronger Asian stock markets amid plans by the US government to buy bad assets from banks to contain the financial crisis. Benchmark crude for May delivery rose US$0.45 to US$52.52 a barrel by midday in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract edged up US$0.03 on Friday to settle at US$52.07, the first time crude ended the week above US$50 since last year. Dealers said the rally, which was given an extra boost by the US Federal Reserve’s decision to buy US$1.25 trillion of government bonds and mortgage-backed securities, continued yesterday as Asian equity markets rose in anticipation of more good news.
■FOREX
China favors US bonds
US Treasury bonds will remain central to China’s plans for investing its massive foreign exchange holdings, a deputy governor of the Chinese central bank said yesterday. “Investing in US Treasury bonds is an important element in China’s investment strategy and we will continue this practice,” Hu Xiaolian (胡曉煉) told reporters. China has been the top holder of US Treasury bonds since September, when it overtook Japan for the first time, US data showed. As of late January, it had accumulated a total of US$739.6 billion in US Treasury bonds.
■AUCTIONS
Antique toys sold off
KB Toys Inc co-founder Donald Kaufman’s decision to go ahead with auctioning off his antique toys in a recession turned out to be a good one. The first 1,500 lots of his 7,000-piece collection sold for a little more than the US$4 million high estimate in a three-day sale from last Thursday until last Saturday at Bertoia Auctions in Vineland, New Jersey. “Everyone kept saying, ‘Boy, the recession isn’t going on in this room,’” auction-house owner Jeanne Bertoia, 54, said in a telephone interview. The auction set a record for the 20-year-old company on a single sale. Kaufman, 78, sold his stake in KB Toys in 1981. He decided to part with his antiques two years ago to divest his assets and invest the proceeds.
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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