■TELECOMS
Nortel seeks legal advice
Nortel Networks Corp has sought legal advice to study a bankruptcy protection scenario in the event that its restructuring plan fails, and has also been exploring potential assistance from the Canadian government, the Wall Street Journal reported. Nortel’s spokesperson said no bankruptcy filing was imminent though the Toronto-based company had engaged several advisers to plan ahead, the newspaper reported. Nortel has lost billions of dollars and cut tens of thousands of jobs since the technology bubble burst at the beginning of this decade.
■SEMICONDUCTORS
Intel sues S Korean agency
Intel Corp said yesterday it is taking South Korea’s fair trade watchdog to court over a decision to fine it for undercutting competitors. Intel filed a formal complaint at the Seoul High Court to try and overturn the Korea Fair Trade Commission decision, the company said in a statement. Intel said it was reacting to a final written decision by the commission last month ordering it to pay 26.6 billion won (US$18.6 million) for violating fair trade rules by paying rebates to South Korean computer companies to undercut main rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Intel denied any wrongdoing.
■AUTOMOBILES
Toyota cutting production
Toyota Motor Corp said yesterday it would suspend part of the production in Indiana and Kentucky for up to nine days and in Canada for up to 10 days early next year to cope with a slump in the global auto industry. It will also halt production of its Tacoma and Corolla brands at a plant jointly operated with General Motors in California for 10 days, a Toyota spokesman said.
■INVESTMENT
AIG owes on bad trades
American International Group Inc (AIG) owes some of the biggest companies on Wall Street about US$10 billion for trades that have gone bad, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The losses are not covered under terms of the current US$150 billion US government bailout plan, the report said.
■INVESTMENT
Nikko Cordial to cut jobs
Citigroup Inc will slash some 1,000 jobs at its Japanese brokerage unit, Nikko Cordial Securities Inc, as part of its efforts to survive the financial meltdown, the Kyodo News agency said yesterday. Nikko Cordial will cut its work force through early retirement, and some 1,000 employees, mostly those aged above 40, have accepted severance offers, the agency said, citing no sources. The brokerage employs about 7,000 workers, and the job cuts will amount to 14 percent of its total work force.
■AVIATION
Airlines told to cut orders
China is urging its troubled state-owned airlines to cancel or defer new aircraft purchases — a move that could hurt US and European aircraft makers. Airlines are also being urged not to renew leases for aircraft rented from foreign firms and to ground or sell some planes, according to an announcement seen yesterday on the Web site of industry regulator the Civil Aviation Administration of China. No new airlines will be approved for operation before at least 2010 and carriers should switch passenger service to freight where applicable and retire larger numbers of old aircraft, the administration said.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’