■ Airways
Jobhunters swamp Cathay
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, Asia's sixth-largest carrier, received 1,000 applications in Hong Kong for 300 available cabin-crew positions as it expands its services and fleet this year, the South China Morning Post reported. Job applicants waited in line from 6am Hong Kong time, the newspaper said, citing Shirley Au, cabin crew manager. Cathay Pacific and other Asian carriers are expanding as demand for travel rebounds from record lows during the region's outbreak of SARS last year. That may help Hong Kong's jobless rate. Unemployment fell in May to 7 percent, seasonally adjusted, down from 7.1 percent in April, according to the government.
■ Property
Tokai Lease Co to expand
Tokai Lease Co plans to invest 1 billion yen (US$9.3 million) in China to expand its business of leasing prefabricated buildings, Nikkei English News (NEN) said, citing company sources that were not identified. The company's Chinese subsidiary is forecasting sales to triple to 2.5 billion yen (US$$23.3 million) in the year ending March 2007, according to the report. The unit will spend 600 million yen adding three distribution centers in Nanjing, Hangzhou and Tianjin, raising the total number to nine, the report said. The company also plans to expand its lease assets business in the world's most populous nation where it currently has assets totaling just over 1 billion yen, NEN said. China's property prices jumped 11 percent in the first five months of the year as the economy expands.
■ Internet
Gates may start own blog
Microsoft Corp founder Bill Gates may start a personal "blog," saying the Internet diaries are useful for sharing information, the Seattle Times reported. "And so if I do a trip report, say, and put that in a blog format, then all the employees at Microsoft who really want to look at that and who have keywords that connect to it or even people outside, they can find the information," the paper reported, citing a transcript of a speech Gates gave last month at a conference for chief executives. Mary Jo Foley, who writes a technology newsletter, said the Microsoft chairman and philanthropist soon will begin a blog that includes personal tidbits such as how he spent his recent vacation, the Times said. Programmers popularized blogs in the late 1990s by developing software that makes it easy to produce and update personal Web sites. Microsoft wouldn't confirm Foley's report but left open the possibility that Gates may start a blog, the paper said, citing company spokesman Mark Murray.
■ Financing
GE targets Australia
General Electric Co's Australian consumer finance unit may make more acquisitions as it targets 15 percent growth in its A$12 billion (US$8.4 billion) of assets this year, Tom Gentile, chief executive of the unit said. GE Consumer Finance's local unit looked at more than 50 potential deals in Australia last year and sees opportunities for growth in retailing and health care, Gentile told Nine Network television. General Electric, the world's largest company by market value, bought Westpac Banking Corp's AGC finance unit for A$1.65 billion in 2002, making it the biggest lender in Australia's non-bank consumer finance market. Gentile may also take on new partners to bolster the unit's 550,000 credit cards in Australia.
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