■AVIATION
JAL to cut thousands of jobs
Japan Airlines is to cut 6,800 jobs and pursue a tie-up with a foreign carrier in an effort to return to profit, its president Haruka Nishimatsu said yesterday. “We are talking about a personnel cut of 6,800,” he told reporters. “It’s a significant figure. The personnel reduction cannot wait.” JAL, which lost more than US$1 billion in the April-June quarter, has already slashed thousands of jobs in recent years. Nishimatsu said JAL aimed to seal a tie-up with an overseas carrier by the middle of next month. According to local media, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines’ parent company are both interested in taking stakes in the Japanese group.
■BANKING
Citigroup plans to pare stake
The US Treasury Department and Citigroup Inc have begun discussing how to sell the 34 percent stake that the government acquired in the rescue of the bank, people familiar with the matter said. The Treasury, which owns 7.69 billion common shares after a recent preferred-stock conversion designed to shore up the bank’s capital, may start unloading the stake as soon as next month, one of the people said. It aims to sell the holdings over the next six to eight months, the person said. The planning is in the early stages, and some transactions may need regulatory approvals, the people familiar with the matter said. Other bailed-out banks, including Bank of America Corp and Wells Fargo & Co, have pledged to repay government money.
■BEVERAGES
Coca-Cola reports arrests
Coca-Cola said yesterday two former employees of its Shanghai bottling company had been arrested for corruption. The two employees worked for Shanghai Shenmei Beverage and Food Co (上海申美飲料食品), which is licensed to produce Coca-Cola in China and which is part-owned by the US soft drink giant, a Hong Kong-based spokesman for Coca-Cola said. “We can confirm that two former employees at our Shanghai [Shenmei] bottling plant have been detained by the police,” said the spokesman. Coca-Cola dismissed reports that the case involved bribes to government officials, saying the investigation focused on “allegations that the former employees extracted kickbacks from suppliers and embezzled from our bottler.”
■INTERNET
Yahoo to sell Alibaba stake
Yahoo has cashed out of its investment in Chinese e-commerce site, Alibaba.com (阿里巴巴). The sale, announced on Monday, is expected to generate a pretax windfall of about US$150 million for Yahoo. The Internet company had owned a 1 percent stake in Alibaba.com. Yahoo invested about US$100 million in Alibaba.com as part of an initial public offering completed in November 2007. The shares have soared since then, and Yahoo decided it was time to capitalize on the run-up. Yahoo still holds a roughly 40 percent stake in Alibaba.com’s owner, the Alibaba Group.
■AUTOMOBILES
Ssangyong proposes plan
Debt-burdened South Korean carmaker Ssangyong Motor yesterday proposed a rescue package that would weaken links to China’s SAIC Motor Corp (上海汽車), its biggest shareholder. The plan submitted to a bankruptcy court involves a major capital writedown and a debt-for-equity swap, the company said in a statement. SAIC’s holding of 51 percent would be cut to 11.2 percent through a five for one writedown of its stake, while other shareholders would face a three for one reduction.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
CHINA’s BULLYING: The former British prime minister said that he believes ‘Taiwan can and will’ protect its freedom and democracy, as its people are lovers of liberty Former British prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday said Western nations should have the courage to stand with and deepen their economic partnerships with Taiwan in the face of China’s intensified pressure. He made the remarks at the ninth Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. Johnson, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said he had seen Taiwan’s coastline on a screen on his indoor bicycle, but wanted to learn more about the nation, including its artificial intelligence (AI) development, the key technology of the 21st century. Calling himself an
South Korea yesterday said that it was removing loudspeakers used to blare K-pop and news reports to North Korea, as the new administration in Seoul tries to ease tensions with its bellicose neighbor. The nations, still technically at war, had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. It said in June that Pyongyang stopped transmitting bizarre, unsettling noises along the border that had become a major nuisance for South Korean residents, a day after South Korea’s loudspeakers fell silent. “Starting today, the military has begun removing the loudspeakers,”
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