■ Manufacturing
Rolls Royce doing fine
The chief of British aircraft engine maker Rolls Royce PLC said yesterday that the company's earnings outlook would not be hurt by its recent suspension of production of engines for the Airbus A380. "We make deliveries to Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Gulfstream, Embraer, Cessna and a whole range of other companies. This represents a relatively small proportion of our turnover," chief executive John Rose told reporters during a visit to Malaysia. He said the firm's deliveries for the next two years are "completely unaffected by the orders in the shorter term."
■ Internet
Google offers Korean e-mail
Google Inc launched a Korean-language version of its free e-mail service yesterday in an effort to strengthen its presence in South Korea. The launch of Google's Korean-language Gmail service came a month after it announced a US$10 million investment in a planned research center in the country. Google started its Korean-language search site in 2000 and began offering its English-language Gmail service two years ago in South Korea, where many Internet users have preferred local free e-mail services. Local search engine Naver controls more than 60 percent of South Korea's search traffic.
■ Environment
`New Kyoto' wanted
After repeatedly blocking domestic carbon trading, Australia said yesterday it would now push for Asia-wide emissions trading to combat global warming as part of a planned "new-Kyoto" pact. The turn-around comes as an opinion poll showed most Australians believe Canberra should sign Kyoto. Environment Minister Ian Campbell told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio that Canberra wanted to forge a "New Kyoto" out of a six-nation alliance of the world's biggest polluters -- China, India, the US, Australia, South Korea and Japan. Australia, which has failed to ratify Kyoto Protocol, is already feeling the brunt of global warming with the worst drought in 100 years eating into economic growth.
■ Automobiles
Hyundai faces probe
South Korea's fair trade watchdog is investigating the Hyundai Motor group on suspicion of unfair trading, company officials said yesterday. "Hyundai Motor and some of its subsidiaries are being investigated by the Fair Trade Commission for suspected unfair trading inside the group," a group spokesman said. "The investigation started around Sept. 11 and is expected to last until Friday." The spokesman said Hyundai Motor and its affiliates including Hyundai Card, Hyundai Glovis and Hyundai Capital were the target of the investigation. Hyundai Glovis is the group's auto shipping unit and Hyundai Capital provides consumers with loans to buy cars.
■ Telecoms
Alfa Group eyes Vodafone
Russian conglomerate Alfa Group is seeking to buy 20 percent of British mobile phone giant Vodafone, valued at about £15 billion (US$28.6 billion), the Times said yesterday. Alfa's telecoms arm, Altimo, has targeted Vodafone with a view to either a joint venture or a merger as it seeks to grow outside Russia, the newspaper said. "We are in negotiations with Vodafone, and with other large Euro-pean telecoms companies," it quoted Kirill Babaev, a vice-president of Altimo, as saying. But a Vodafone spokesman denied the report.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
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