■AUTOMOBILES
Saab verdict due soon
The final decision on whether the Saab brand will live or die is likely to come later this month or next, General Motors Co’s Europe president Nick Reilly said on Tuesday. His statement came as the Swedish government took another step toward ending Saab’s life, appointing two men who will replace its board and CEO while supervising Saab’s closure. The men, Stephen Taylor and Peter Torngren, will meet with management, unions and other Saab stakeholders and start working on a plan to close the troubled brand, GM said in a statement.
PHOTO: EPA
■SOUTH KOREA
Unemployment rises
The unemployment rate rose last month despite growing signs of an economic recovery, official figures showed yesterday. The rate stood at 3.5 percent last month, up from 3.3 percent in November, Statistics Korea said. It was the second consecutive monthly rise after the rate hit an 11-month low of 3.2 percent in October. The number of employed people totaled 23.23 million last month, down 16,000 from a year earlier. The year-on-year jobs decline compared with a 10,000 fall in November. The finance ministry says job creation is its top priority for this year.
■INVESTMENT
Carlyle inks China-fund deal
US investment giant Carlyle forged a deal on Tuesday with Beijing for establishing a yuan-denominated fund that will invest in companies in China. Carlyle Asia Partners, a regional unit of the world’s second-largest private-equity firm, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Financial Work for the new fund, a company statement said. The value of the fund was not revealed.
■TELECOMS
LG wants to be No. 2
South Korea’s LG Electronics said yesterday it plans to sell 140 million mobile phones worldwide this year, up 20 percent from last year The company, currently the world No. 3 for mobile phones after Nokia and Samsung Electronics, said it intends to become No. 2 by 2012 by exploiting the rising popularity of smartphones. LG said it plans a new lineup of 20 models this year, based on the operating systems of Google’s Android, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Linux to help achieve the business goal.
■BREWING
Heineken to take on debt
Dutch brewer Heineken is to assume the total debt of Mexican drinks group Fomento Economico Mexicano (FEMSA), some US$2.1 billion, after agreeing to buy its beer unit, chief executive Jean-Francois Van Boxmeer said in Mexico on Tuesday. Heineken announced on Monday it would buy FEMSA’s beer division in a share deal that values the company at about US$7.7 billion.
■BANKING
BofA shuffles management
Bank of America Corp (BofA) is shuffling its senior management team, moving its chief financial officer over to lead consumer and small business banking and naming a new chief risk officer. The bank said CFO Joe Price would lead the consumer and small business unit. The bank lost more than US$2.2 billion in the third quarter of last year.
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
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