■ Flights offered to Saipan
Continental Airlines, the world's sixth-largest carrier, yesterday announced to offer non-stop services between Taipei and Saipan twice a week starting next month. The new service is aimed at increasing the number of Taiwanese tourists to the capital of the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas, the airline said at a press conference in Taipei. According to the Marianas Visitors Authority, there were only 700 Taiwanese citizens visiting the capital island in the last fiscal year ended September, compared with the total outbound volume of over 5.92 million Taiwanese last year. With the help of this new direct flight services, the authority hopes to boost the number of Taiwanese visiting Saipan to 12,000 people per year, said the authority's managing director Vicky Benavente. The direct flight will take 3.5 hours.
■ FSC vice chairman appointed
Lu Daung-yen (呂東英), was promoted to vice chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission, the commission announced on its Web site yesterday. Lu, a former chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission, said he would prioritize the government's bill to expand the size of the Financial Restructuring Fund (金融重建基金), hoping that the legislature could accelerate the bill's passage. The Financial Restructuring Fund was set up in 2001 to help clean up bad loans and dispose of failed banks. On Thursday, the Presidential Office finalized the nomination of Lu to fill in the second, politically-appointed vice-chairman vacancy at the commission to assist chairman Kong Jaw-sheng (龔照勝).
■ Intel to create digital homes
Intel Corp, the world's largest semiconductor maker, on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) to create "digital homes" in Taiwan. The project will be the first of its kind between Intel and a telecom services provider. A "digital home" is designed to allow the occupants to access and transfer digital content between multimedia devices, whether they are in the house or not. Taiwan is extremely well placed to set up digital homes, since more than 50 percent of households here have broadband capability, Paul Otellini, Intel's president and chief operating officer, told a press conference in Taipei. The two companies also planned to open an interoperability lab for digital home technologies to test products, Otellini said. Chunghwa Telecom's total digital home solution -- a collaboration between Intel Taiwan, leading IT companies and content providers -- is scheduled to be launched by the end of the year.
■ Yulon expects 40% profit drop
Yulon Motor Co (裕隆), which makes Nissan Motor Co's cars in Taiwan, said it set its profit target for this year at NT$4.6 billion (US$137 million), a 40 percent drop from a year ago. Sales may increase 6 percent from last year to NT$39.6 billion, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The company didn't elaborate on its forecast. Yulon Motor's second-quarter profit declined 18 percent to NT$1.6 billion, from NT$1.9 billion last year. Yulon Motor's profit fell 18.8 percent in the first six months to NT$3.4 billion.
■ NT dollar strengthens
The New Taiwan dollar rose against its US counterpart yesterday after the nation's central bank raised its key interest rates by 25 basis points on Thursday. The local currency edged up NT$0.044 to close at NT$33.940 against the dollar on the Taipei foreign exchange market on turnover of US$412 million.
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