■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.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the