■REAL ESTATE
Land Lease cutting jobs
Australia’s largest property developer Lend Lease said yesterday it would lose about 1,700 jobs worldwide due to the global financial crisis, the second national company in as many days to flag job cuts. Lend Lease posted a A$600 million (US$388 million) first-half loss compared with a A$251 million profit recorded a year earlier, saying deteriorating economic and market conditions had forced it to reduce its global staff. “There is no doubt that 2009 is challenging as the effects of the global financial crisis continue to be felt,” chief executive Steve McCann said.
■COMPUTERS
Jobs will be back: Apple
Apple’s board of directors on Wednesday assured stockholders at its annual gathering that ailing chief executive Steve Jobs was on track to return to the company’s helm in June as planned. “Nothing has changed,” Apple board member Arthur Levinson replied when a shareholder asked whether Jobs would return to work on schedule. Apple announced on Jan. 14 that Jobs, who turned 54 on Tuesday, will be on a leave of absence until the end of June because his health issues were “more complex” than initially believed.
■SOFTWARE
Microsoft sues TomTom
Microsoft on Wednesday said it is steering Netherlands-based vehicle navigation systems firm TomTom to court for infringing on the software giant’s patented technology. Microsoft filed complaints against TomTom in US district court and with the International Trade Commission, said Horacio Gutierrez, deputy general counsel of intellectual property and licensing at Microsoft. Patents involved in the case relate to vehicle navigation technology and computer software that Microsoft has licensed to other firms, he said.
■HARDWARE
Cisco cutting 250 jobs
Cisco Systems Inc, the largest maker of networking equipment, cut 250 jobs in San Jose, California, this week, as the company begins a worldwide effort to trim headcount and consolidate offices. Cisco chief executive officer John Chambers said earlier this month the company was always “realigning and restructuring resources” and that 1,500 to 2,000 jobs might be eliminated in the near term. Cisco said then its headcount was 67,318 last quarter.
■AUTOMOBILES
VW has new plans for China
German automaker Volkswagen AG said yesterday that it is launching a new strategy for the China market, aiming to double its sales by upgrading its brand image and improving customer service. “We plan to add or renew at least four models per year and double the number of dealerships to achieve our sales target,” Winfried Vahland, the Wolfsburg, Germany-based company’s president for China, said in a statement. Volkswagen reported a new record of 6.23 million vehicles sold last year, up 0.6 percent from the year before. Sales in China rose 12.5 percent to 1.02 million last year, compared with 1.06 million in Germany, Volkswagen’s biggest market.
■INSURANCE
Allianz lost big last year
German insurance giant Allianz yesterday posted a worse-than-expected loss for last year, owing in large part to a huge charge in connection with the sale of its Dresdner Bank subsidiary. Allianz said its net loss amounted to 2.44 billion euros (US$3.1 billion). Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a 1.86 billion euro drop. Allianz made a net profit of 7.97 billion euros in 2007.
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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