■INSURANCE
AIG to settle legal disputes
American International Group Inc (AIG) has agreed to settle all legal disputes with its former chairman Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, the company said late on Wednesday. AIG also settled all its legal disputes with former chief financial officer Howard Smith. AIG, which is owned by US taxpayers, said it would pay up to US$150 million in past legal costs for Greenberg and Smith. Greenberg was ousted from New York-based AIG amid an accounting scandal in 2005.
■MEDIA
Comcast nears deal
Comcast’s bid to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal from General Electric (GE) could be sealed next week if GE reaches an agreement with Vivendi, a source close to the matter said on Wednesday. An agreement between GE and cable TV operator Comcast on the NBC Universal sale “should probably be announced next week,” said the source, adding that “a deal has to be finished with Vivendi” first.
■RETAIL
Wal-Mart uses abusive labor
Wal-Mart supplier factories in China feature abusive conditions in violation of the retailer’s own “basic” standards, a labor report showed on Wednesday. Workers making shoes, Christmas lights, tools, curtains and paper boxes sold at Wal-Mart stores endure “illegal and degrading conditions,” New York-based China Labor Watch said, based on its probe. The group’s investigation of five Wal-Mart supplier factories reveals that “not a single factory has implemented Wal-Mart’s basic standards, and a total of 10,000 workers included in the report suffer serious rights abuses,” the group said in a statement.
■AUTOMOBILES
Governments work with GM
The German and Spanish governments said on Wednesday they plan to work closely to avert major job losses and factory closures at General Motors’ (GM) European division Opel. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero met on Wednesday evening at Meseberg Palace, just outside Berlin, for long-planned talks. GM’s top executive in Europe had confirmed hours before plans to axe about 9,000 jobs. Nick Reilly said the brunt of the cuts would be borne at plants in Germany and Belgium. Opel also has a factory in Spain.
■EQUITY
Australia fines TPG over tax
Australian authorities have slapped US private equity firm TPG with a bill for A$678 million (US$629 million) in taxes and penalties. The tax bill is linked to TPG’s Oct. 29 sale of its stake in Australian retailer Myer Holdings Ltd, from which the Fort Worth, Texas-based company made A$1.58 billion. The Australian Taxation Office has accused TPG of skipping out on paying Australian taxes on those profits by funneling the money to companies in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg.
■PHILIPPINES
GDP growth at 0.8 percent
Philippine economic growth slowed to 0.8 percent in the three months to September, the government said yesterday. The third quarter figure was well below the 4.6 percent growth posted in the same period a year ago and marked a fall from the 1.5 percent growth recorded in the three months to June. In the first half of this year the Philippines recorded a 1 percent pace of GDP growth on the back of the government’s 300 billion peso (US$6.4 billion) stimulus package.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday said that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival-threatening situation," Takaichi was quoted as saying in the report. Under Japan’s security legislation,
RSS