■ AUSTRALAISA
Companies to reduce staff
Almost half of Australian and New Zealand companies plan to decrease or freeze staff levels due to the global economic recession, a Hay Group survey found. Seventeen percent of the Australian and New Zealand firms polled said they would cut jobs, while 27 percent would keep headcount steady, three times the number of companies that considered a similar action eight months ago, the consulting firm said in an e-mailed release citing its Global Employee Pay and Staffing Survey. More than 130 Australian and New Zealand companies participated in the survey.
■ COMMUNICATIONS
SK Telecom fined US$1.2m
SK Telecom Co, South Korea’s largest mobile-phone operator, was fined 1.7 billion won (US$1.2 million) by the nation’s antitrust regulator for unfair trading practices. SK Telecom blocked the sale of a certain type of an advanced handset to retail customers on concern it might reduce the carrier’s data revenue from wireless Internet services, the Korea Fair Trade Commission said in a statement yesterday. SK Telecom also prevented some of its users from accessing content offered by a third-party service provider, the commission said.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Bosch to slash jobs
The world’s leading auto parts maker, Bosch, will have to slash jobs in Germany and abroad because of the financial crisis, an executive has warned. In an interview to appear in the next edition of the magazine Auto Motor, Bernd Bohr refused to give precise figures, while speaking of several hundred jobs affected in foreign plants and “structural adjustment” in Germany. Temporary contracts would not be renewed, Bohr said. In October the group predicted a “really tough year” next year after results this year fell below expectations, with rising costs and weaker sales growth.
■ TOURISM
Theme park to be built
Merlin Entertainments Group Ltd, the operator of tourist attractions owned by Blackstone Group LP, will build a 750 million ringgit (US$209 million) Legoland theme park in Malaysia. Merlin and Iskandar Investment Bhd have agreed to construct the park, expected to be open in 2013, in Johor Bahru, a statement e-mailed yesterday said. Merlin will take a 20 percent stake in the venture while a group led by Iskandar will own 80 percent, the joint statement said. The Legoland park is part of a 3.5 billion ringgit complex which includes offices, hotels, apartments and a shopping mall, Iskandar, a Malaysian state-controlled company, and Merlin said.
■ COMPUTERS
Biodegradable model made
The world’s first biodegradable computer, the iameco, has been manufactured in Dublin from bio-degradable wood panels made from waste products in the lumber and pulp industry. During a visit to the company by Irish Minister for Science and Innovation, Jimmy Devins, the inventors of iameco, MicroPro Computers Ltd, said they could implant the seeds of native-tree species into the wood panels. The minister’s visit coincided with the announcement of details of a new Enterprise Ireland Green Technology Support for businesses. In addition to the iameco computer, which uses one-third less energy than conventional computers, the biodegradable wood can also be used to manufacture the computer monitor casing, keyboard and mouse.
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 —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
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