■ AUTOMAKERS
NASCAR head weighs in
NASCAR chairman Brian France has lobbied the US Congress to support a financial rescue plan for the struggling Big Three automakers: Chrysler, Ford and General Motors. The trio, which participate in NASCAR, are pleading with Congress for a bailout to prevent their companies from going bankrupt. “I’m writing you as a concerned American who wants what is best for our general country,” France wrote. France’s letter said that if the auto industry failed, 3 million people would lose their jobs in the first year and another 2.5 million over the following two years. He said personal income in the US would drop by US$150 billion in the first year and domestic automobile production — even by foreign manufacturers — would likely drop to zero.
■CANADA
More than 70,000 lose jobs
Employers slashed nearly 71,000 jobs last month, the worst single month drop in 26 years, in a clear indication that the US recession is beginning to wreak havoc on manufacturers and workers across the border. Statistics Canada said on Friday that the jobless rate had edged up to 6.3 percent last month from 6.2 percent in October, despite the fact that 48,000 fewer Canadians were looking for work last month. Falling commodity prices and the impact of the slumping US housing and auto sectors have dealt a blow to the forestry, mining and manufacturing sectors across Canada.
■AVIATION
Okay Air suspends flights
Okay Airways Co (奧凱航空), China’s oldest private carrier, suspended flights earlier than planned yesterday because airports demanded cash payments for refueling, company president Liu Jieyin (劉捷音) said. Two airports, in Zhuhai and Sanya, refused to refuel the company’s planes on credit, leading Okay Air to stop all passenger routes yesterday, Liu said in an interview broadcast on China Central Television. The company had originally planned to suspend passenger flights from next Monday. Okay Air’s biggest shareholder, Junyao Group (均瑤集團), last month asked for the suspension as it tries to oust Liu, saying the management can’t guarantee safety levels. Losses from daily operations were increasing, Xinhua said, citing Wang Junjin (王均金), chairman of both Okay and Junyao. Okay Air won’t cut staff and has employees on paid leave as it attempts to resume flights before the Lunar New Year holiday next month, Xinhua said.
■AUTOMAKERS
Argentina funds purchases
Argentina announced on Saturday it would make US$9 billion available to finance car purchases in an attempt to slow job losses in one of the industries hardest hit by the global credit crunch. Under the plan, first-time car buyers can get their vehicle financed and demand could be boosted by some 100,000 units a year, Argentinian Manufacturing Minister Debora Giorgi said at Government House. “We are aiming to reorient where funds are going so that they stop being used for financial speculation and start helping bolster the economy and maintain jobs,” she said. There are some rules: The plan covers 12 lower-priced vehicles, two at each of the main automakers in the country. And the car’s value cannot top 31,000 pesos (US$9,100). It can be financed up to 60 months. Some 150,000 people work in Argentina’s auto industry, which exports vehicles worth US$8 billion annually — about 36 percent of manufactured exports. The funds will be taken from the state-held pension system.
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’