■PHARMACEUTICALS
British giant to axe jobs
British giant GlaxoSmithKline is to cut up to 4,000 more jobs as it restructures its workforce and focuses increasingly on emerging markets, the Sunday Times reported yesterday. The majority of the jobs will be lost in the US and Europe, the newspaper said. GlaxoSmithKline, which employs just under 100,000 staff globally, is expected to reveal plans for the job cuts when it releases its annual results on Thursday, the report said. Its Anglo-Swedish rival, AstraZeneca, announced on Thursday it plans to axe 8,000 more jobs worldwide by 2014, extending a cost-cutting drive despite soaring profits.
■MEDIA
News Corp settles lawsuit
News Corp said on Saturday it had reached a US$500 million settlement over lawsuits filed by Valassis Communications Inc against a division of Rupert Murdoch’s entertainment and media giant. In legal action begun in 2006, Valassis accused News America Marketing of unfair business practices and seeking to monopolize the market for in-store coupons known as free standing inserts. Valassis said under the terms of the settlement News America Marketing will pay Valassis US$500 million, a sum that includes the jury award, and enter into a 10-year shared mail distribution agreement.
■JAPAN
Profits increase 14 percent
Japan’s listed companies saw their profits rise 14 percent in the October to December period for a third straight quarter-on-quarter gain, a newspaper survey showed yesterday. The survey, conducted by the leading business daily the Nikkei, covered 438 non-financial firms that had released their October to December earnings reports by Friday. It excluded start-up markets. The pretax profits represented a 120 percent gain from a year earlier to about ¥1.78 trillion (US$20 billion), the Nikkei said. The survey showed an impressive turnaround after combined pretax profits plunged to ¥93 billion in January to March last year in the midst of the global financial crisis, the daily added.
■MINING
Association expels Doe Run
Peru’s mining, oil and energy association (SNMPE) said on Saturday it had expelled US mining company Doe Run from its roster for not cleaning up its pollution problems, which environmentalists say are among the worst in the world. Doe Run in 1997 took over La Oroya mining complex and the Cobriza copper mine in Peru’s central Andean mountain region, where it mines for lead, copper, zinc, silver, gold and a series of byproducts, including sulfuric acid. SNMPE said expelling Doe Run from the association would not affect its mining business, but it noted that the company was presently in “a serious financial crisis.”
■BANKING
S Korean bad loans down
South Korean banks’ bad-loan ratios dropped to 1.22 percent of total lending at the end of December as they reduced the amount of non-performing loans through sales and write-downs. The ratio declined 26 basis points from three months earlier, with the total of non-performing loans falling to 15.7 trillion won (US$13.5 billion), the Financial Services Commission said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. Excluding 3 trillion won of one-off bad loans from restructuring debt at two Kumho Asiana Group units, the ratio was 0.99 percent, meeting the government’s 1 percent target, the regulator said.
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ALL-IN-ONE: A company in Tainan and another in New Taipei City offer tours to China during which Taiwanese can apply for a Chinese ID card, the source said The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday. The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing
STAY WARM: Sixty-three nontraumatic incidents of OHCA were reported on Feb. 1, the most for a single day this year, the National Fire Agency said A total of 415 cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) occurred this month as of Saturday, data from the National Fire Agency showed as doctors advised people to stay warm amid cold weather, particularly people with cardiovascular disease. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a low temperature warning nationwide except for Penghu County, anticipating sustained lows of 10°C or a dip to below 6°C in Nantou, Yilan, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as areas north of Yunlin County. The coldest temperature recorded in flat areas of Taiwan proper yesterday morning was 6.4°C in New Taipei City’s Shiding District (石碇). Sixty-three nontraumatic OHCA
COMMITTED: Lai said that Taiwan deeply appreciated the leaders’ statement, adding that the nation would remain steadfast in working to advance regional peace and prosperity US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait in a joint statement issued after they met in Washington for their first official meeting. Trump and Ishiba “affirmed their determination to pursue a new golden age for US-Japan relations that upholds a free and open Indo-Pacific and brings peace and prosperity to a violent and disorderly world,” the US-Japan Joint Leaders’ Statement said. “The two leaders emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element of security and prosperity for the