■CLOTHING
Burberry to slash 540 jobs
British luxury clothing brand Burberry said yesterday it planned to eliminate up to 540 jobs in Britain and Spain as the global economic slowdown takes its toll. The company famed for its iconic trenchcoat said it would shut a sewing factory in Rotherham, northern England, and close its “underperforming” Thomas Burberry business in Spain. “Burberry will shortly be entering a consultation process in Spain, which could lead to around 250 redundancies,” the group said in a statement. In addition, up to 290 staff will lose their jobs in England. Burberry said in a statement that the measures would help the group to reduce annual costs by up to £35 million (US$50 million).
■ECONOMICS
China, HK sign agreement
China and Hong Kong signed a 200 billion yuan (US$29 billion) swap agreement yesterday as part of Beijing’s measures to help the city through the economic crisis, the Chinese central bank said. “It will ... strengthen the outside world’s confidence in the financial stability of Hong Kong,” the People’s Bank of China said in a statement about the three-year agreement. It will ease liquidity trouble for the territory as it will boost the amount of yuan that Hong Kong banks can draw on as they service companies in the city that use the Chinese currency when trading.
■TECHNOLOGY
RIM may appeal court order
Canadian firm Research In Motion (RIM), the maker of the Blackberry smartphone, said on Monday that it may appeal a court order that blocked its hostile takeover offer for Certicom Corp. “RIM is reviewing the court’s reasons for decision and is considering any alternatives available to it as a result of the court order, including a possible appeal,” RIM said in a statement. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the firm made an offer in December to buy encryption software maker Certicom Corp for C$66 million (US$53 million). But Certicom said the Ontario Superior Court of Justice had granted a permanent injunction to block the buyout offer of C$1.50 per share. RIM said it “continues to be disappointed by the actions of Certicom’s directors in pursuing court proceedings.”
■ECONOMICS
S Korea reports trade deficit
South Korea recorded its first trade deficit in 11 years last year due to the global economic slowdown and soaring crude prices earlier in the year, the Customs Service said yesterday. It said the shortfall was US$13.3 billion last year compared with a surplus of US$14.6 billion in 2007. Exports jumped 13.6 percent to US$422 billion but imports surged 22 percent to US$435.3 billion, it said in a report. The annual trade deficit was the first since 1997 when the nation was hit by the East Asian financial crisis.
■AUTOMOTIVE
BMW looks for guarantees
Germany’s BMW, the world’s largest premium car maker, is looking into applying for state guarantees to back up its borrowings, the Bild Zeitung newspaper reported yesterday. BMW was not immediately available for comment on the report. The car maker would become the second manufacturer in Germany to seek state aid after Volkswagen sought guarantees for its financial divisions to cover refinancing of car loans in December. Germany’s carmakers are suffering from collapsing global demand.
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the