■ AUTOMOBILES
SUV factory to be closed
Sagging demand for large sport utility vehicles has forced Ford Motor Co to close a Michigan factory for nine weeks starting on Monday. The Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, west of Detroit, makes the Lincoln Navigator and Ford Expedition. It will be idled until Aug. 25, Ford spokeswoman Angie Kozleski said on Monday. The factory employs about 1,400 hourly workers. They will be laid off but get roughly 95 percent of their pay under their contract with the United Auto Workers. Responding to the same market conditions, General Motors Corp said on Monday that it is moving up the start of a third shift at its small-car plant in Lordstown, Ohio, that makes the Chevy Cobalt and Pontiac G5.
■ PHARMACEUTICALS
Roche to invest in research
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche announced yesterday an investment of 1.3 billion Swiss francs (US$1.25 billion) in its production and research units in Switzerland. Of the total, SF800 million has been earmarked for the company’s main factory in Basel, northern Switzerland. Roche reported a net profit of SF11.4 billion last year, a 25 percent increase on the previous year that was largely attributed to sales of the company’s cancer medication.
■ BANKING
Bank sues over investments
A US bank part-owned by billionaire Warren Buffett is suing Deutsche Bank over risky financial investments of the kind that caused the subprime crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. A Deutsche Bank spokesman contacted by the newspaper declined to comment. M&T Bank is suing Deutsche over a US$82 million investment in mortgage securities known as collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) that went sour, the paper said. M&T, in which Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway company owns 6 percent, accuses Germany’s biggest bank of fraud, it said. Money manager HBK Investments is also named in the suit. It alleges that Deutsche Bank “withheld from the ratings agencies material information about the quality and default problems” that Deutsche was experiencing with CDOs that the bank had manufactured from risky consumer loans.
■ SHIPPING
Protests interrupt exports
Export-dependent South Korea said yesterday that a strike by container truck drivers in protest at soaring fuel prices has disrupted international trade worth almost US$5 billion. The stoppage by more than 13,000 drivers, in its fifth day yesterday, has crippled major ports and inland cargo terminals where containers are stacking up. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said the strike had affected exports worth US$2.31 billion and imports worth US$2.43 billion as of late on Monday.
■ COMMUNICATIONS
Watchdog warns of charges
Mobile phone users in Hong Kong who go online are being hit with hidden charges of up to US$1,800 a month, a consumer watchdog warned yesterday. High-tech phones that can receive e-mails and data-switch between networks sometimes lock onto paid-for wireless services without the phone owner’s knowledge, the Hong Kong Consumer Council warned. The watchdog said it had received 143 complaints about unexpected charges for Internet services between January and May and 270 last year. Bills can be particularly high in cases in which people use their mobile phones to download large data files, which phone companies charge for in terms of volume, the Consumer Council said.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS