■ELECTRONICS
Hitachi posts record loss
Hitachi Ltd posted the worst-ever annual loss for a Japanese manufacturer and doesn’t expect to the global economy to recover until next year at the earliest. Hitachi said yesterday it booked a net loss of ¥787.3 billion (US$8.1 billion) for the fiscal year through March. That was worse than last year’s ¥58.1 billion loss. Annual revenue tumbled 11 percent to ¥10 trillion. But it managed an operating profit — which reflects its core business — of ¥127 billion for the year. Hitachi’s net loss represents the worst annual loss for a Japanese manufacturer, Shinko Research Institute Co reported. It would be the second-largest in Japanese corporate history after an ¥834.6 billion loss reported by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp for the fiscal year ending March 2002.
■ELECTRONICS
NEC falls into the red
Japanese giant NEC Corp said yesterday it fell into the red last fiscal year because of business restructuring costs and stock losses from the economic downturn, but it expects to return to a modest profit this year. NEC recorded a group net loss of ¥297 billion for the 12 months through March, down sharply from last year’s net profit of ¥22.7 billion. Annual sales fell 8.7 percent to ¥4.2 trillion. For the fiscal year through next March, NEC expects to return to profit of ¥10 billion on a sales forecast of ¥3.7 trillion, down 11 percent.
■OIL
Japan, Russia ink deal
Japanese and Russian energy companies signed a deal yesterday to jointly develop two major oil fields in eastern Siberia, the Japanese partner in the agreement said. The deal, which was inked on the margins of a visit to Tokyo by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, will help resource-poor Japan diversify its energy sources, said the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. The Nikkei Shimbun earlier reported that the project would cost ¥15 billion in its initial phase. The Japanese state-run company said it would hold 49 percent and Russia’s Irkutsk Oil Co would hold the remainder of the project to develop the fields, believed to hold up to several hundred million barrels.
■INTERNET
Greece restricts Google
Greece’s data protection agency barred Google from taking any more images on the nation’s streets for its Street View feature on Monday, pending “additional information” from the US search engine service. In a statement, Greece said it wanted Google to disclose how long it intends to keep the images it takes and what steps it is taking to alert residents liable to be photographed of their rights. For the same reasons, the Greek Data Protection Authority also suspended a comparable service run by Greek Internet service provider Kapou that depicted streets in Athens, Thessaloniki and Larissa.
■AVIATION
Delays hurt EADS profits
Costly development delays for a new Airbus cargo plane dragged down profits for European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co (EADS) in the first quarter, Europe’s largest aerospace company said yesterday. Net profits for the first three months of this year were down 40 percent to 170 million euros (US$231.5 million), as its Airbus SAS division, which contributes two-thirds of EADS’ revenues, delivered only 116 planes in the first quarter, down from 123 in the same period last year. EADS revenue fell from 9.9 billion euros to 8.5 billion euros year-on-year.
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’