■AUTOMOBILES
GM may go bankrupt: report
The US Treasury Department has told General Motors (GM) to make all necessary preparations for a possible bankruptcy filing by June 1, even though the troubled automaker insists it can restructure its business on its own, the New York Times reported late on Sunday. Citing unnamed people “with knowledge of the plans,” the newspaper said the instructions had been conveyed by members of President Barack Obama’s automotive task force, who spent last week in meetings and on conference calls with GM in Detroit and Washington. The talks are expected to continue this week, the report said, adding that the goal is to prepare GM for a fast “surgical” bankruptcy. The automaker already has been granted US$13.4 billion in federal aid, and its managers are insisting the company’s image should not be damaged.
■TELECOMS
BT to cut 10,000 jobs
British telecoms operator BT will cut 10,000 jobs when it reveals its preliminary results next month, reports said on Sunday. BT will also make a £1.5 billion (US$2.2 billion) writedown in its under-fire Global Services division and slash its dividend by about 60 percent, the Daily Telegraph’s Web site said. The job losses, which the report said will be in addition to the 10,000 job cuts BT made last year, are expected to be spread across the company’s 160,000-strong global work force.
■TELECOMS
SK in US$150m loan talks
SK Telecom Co, South Korea’s largest mobile-phone operator, is in talks with banks to raise up to US$150 million for working capital from a three-year loan, a person with direct knowledge of the transaction said. Lenders that committed about US$100 million to the so-called club loan include Calyon and DBS Group Holdings Ltd, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the talks are private. Seoul-based SK Telecom, which has investments in the US, China and Vietnam, said on Thursday it planned to enter overseas markets and roll out new services to offset slowing growth at home.
■PHARMACEUTICALS
Express to buy NextRx units
Express Scripts Inc has agreed to buy WellPoint Inc’s NextRx subsidiaries for US$4.68 billion, the companies said in a statement. NextRx subsidiaries provide pharmacy benefits management services to about 25 million Americans and manage more than 265 million adjusted prescriptions annually. The companies said the deal includes a 10-year contract for Express Scripts to provide services to WellPoint, the largest US health insurer by membership, which will retain control of medical policy, formulary and integrated disease management in the subsidiaries.
■OIL
Prices slide below US$52
Oil prices fell below US$52 a barrel yesterday in Asia after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said it expected global crude demand to drop this year amid the worst worldwide recession in decades. Benchmark crude for delivery next month fell US$0.40 to US$51.84 a barrel by midday in Singapore in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract on Thursday rose US$2.86 to settle at US$52.24 a barrel. Trading was closed on Friday for the Lenten holiday. The Paris-based IEA, an energy policy adviser comprising 28 countries, said on Friday that demand this year will likely fall by 1 million barrels a day to 83.4 million barrels, or 2.8 percent lower than last year.
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.
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