■MINING
Macarthur rejects bid
Australia’s Macarthur yesterday rejected a sweetened A$3.56 billion (US$3.3 billion) takeover bid by US energy firm Peabody, saying it wanted to stage its own buy-out of a rival miner. The US company’s offer of US$14 per share had been conditional on Macarthur delaying a planned April 12 shareholder meeting to seek approval for its bid for fellow miner Gloucester Coal Ltd. Macarthur said Peabody’s revised proposal did not represent an adequate premium for control of the company and it would go ahead with the meeting.
■AUTOMOBILES
Nissan to recall vehicles
Carmaker Nissan is to recall more than 25,000 vehicles in Japan due to accelerator pedal defects, the company said yesterday. The recall of 25,024 vehicles came on top of the company’s worldwide recalls for nearly 540,000 vehicles, most of them in the US, over brake pedal defects and faulty fuel gauges. The company decided there was a risk that gas pedals in affected cars could return slowly from a depressed position due to oil clogging up the controlling mechanism, Nissan spokesman Mitsuru Yonekawa said.
■AVIATION
Japan Airlines speeds cuts
Japan Airlines is speeding up planned job cuts in an effort to return to profitability and intends to lay off one-third of its workforce this fiscal year instead of over three years as previously announced, the country’s top business newspaper reported yesterday. The Nikkei said Japan Airlines Corp is now considering cutting 16,452 employees by next March under a plan that also calls for cutting routes and selling off old equipment. The company is moving faster because its business is still deeply in the red and is losing ¥500 million to ¥1 billion yen (US$5.3 million to US$10.6 million) each day, the paper said.
■ECONOMICS
Eurozone PMI jumps
Private sector business activity across the eurozone climbed last month with the largest increase since August 2007, according to data and research group Markit on yesterday. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the 16 countries that share the single currency, compiled by Markit, jumped to 55.9 points from 53.7 points in February, up slightly from an estimate on March 24, the researchers said. Any score above the boom-and-bust 50-point line indicates economic growth.
■AVIATION
Spirit to charge for luggage
Low-cost US airline Spirit announced on Tuesday it would charge up to US$45 each way for hand luggage that does not fit under a passenger’s seat. Passengers wanting to place bags in the overhead bins will pay the US$45 fee, with discounts for online bookers and paid-up “club” members, the Florida-based company said in a statement. Spirit said the decision means less-encumbered customers would no longer have to subsidize fellow travelers.
■INTERNET
AOL seeks Bebo buyer
AOL Inc plans to find a buyer for its social networking site Bebo, for which it paid US$850 million in 2008, or shut it down. The level of competition in social networking makes it difficult for the company to fight larger players such as Facebook and News Corp’s MySpace, AOL said. The company plans to decide whether to close Bebo or sell it by the end of May, it told staff on Tuesday. Bebo has about 40 employees, mostly in the US.
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
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