■Electronics
Solectron to cut 12,000 jobs
Solectron Corp, the world's No. 2 maker of electronics for brand-name companies, will fire an additional 12,000 workers. The company forecast its ninth straight quarterly loss, and the shares fell 8.8 percent. Solectron predicted a third-quarter loss, excluding some costs, of US$0.01 to US$0.04 a share and said sales in the quarter ending in May will be US$2.6 billion to US$2.9 billion. The company, which had 75,000 employees in December, was expected to earn US$0.01 on sales of US$3.1 billion, the average Thom-son Financial estimates. The job cuts are on top of 40,000 firings already completed since 2001 and previously announced plans for another 1,000 by the end of August. Solectron, which assembles computers and networking gear for com-panies such as Hewlett-Packard Co and Cisco Systems Inc, has closed plants and moved produc-tion to lower-cost regions as clients have scaled back orders.
■ Tourism
Thai hotel bars Americans
A hotel on the Thai island of Koh Samui is refusing to accept American guests as a protest against the US invasion of Iraq. Wirat Pongchababnapa, owner of the Pavilian Resort on Lamai Beach, said American tourists were no longer welcome. "We think the United States is immoral and shows no respect for the UN resolution. [Bush] has started a war for no reason," the Bangkok Post quoted Wirat as saying yesterday. "If American tourists come to us, we will tell them politely that we cannot welcome them and we will give them a ride to other places." A Tourism Authority of Thailand official said the war was unlikely to affect tourism on Koh Samui.
Agencies
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from