■ 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.
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.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
COORDINATION, ASSURANCE: Separately, representatives reintroduced a bill that asks the state department to review guidelines on how the US engages with Taiwan US senators on Tuesday introduced the Taiwan travel and tourism coordination act, which they said would bolster bilateral travel and cooperation. The bill, proposed by US senators Marsha Blackburn and Brian Schatz, seeks to establish “robust security screenings for those traveling to the US from Asia, open new markets for American industry, and strengthen the economic partnership between the US and Taiwan,” they said in a statement. “Travel and tourism play a crucial role in a nation’s economic security,” but Taiwan faces “pressure and coercion from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]” in this sector, the statement said. As Taiwan is a “vital trading
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