■ Aviation
Vietnam Airlines expands
Vietnam Airlines said yesterday it was in talks with Boeing to buy four super-efficient 7E7 Dreamliner aircraft as part of its ambitious fleet and route expansion program. "We have signed a protocol of intention with Boeing to buy four 7E7s by 2010. In the long run, we hope to increase the number of 7E7s owned by Vietnam Airlines to 15," said Nguyen Chan, spokesman for the state-owned carrier. The 7E7, dubbed the Dreamliner, is a family of aircraft in the 200 seat to 300-seat class that will carry passengers on routes between 6,500km to 16,000km. The US aviation giant has yet to begin production of the Dreamliners, which are due to enter service in 2008. On Sunday, Vietnam Airlines took delivery of a new Boeing 777-200ER, the final aircraft of a four-jet deal guaranteed by the official US export credit agency, the Export-Import Bank.
■ Consumer goods
Unilever slashes forecast
Unilever, the world's largest maker of food and soap, cut its full-year earnings forecast after sales of ice cream and cold drinks slumped in Europe and demand for beauty and laundry products slowed. Earnings per share before one-time charges and amortization will rise less than 5 percent, Finance Director Rudy Markham said on a conference call. Unilever had previously forecast a gain of at least 10 percent. Cold weather in Europe damped for ice cream and cold tea in July and August, and Unilever cut prices on soap and hair-care products to keep up with competitors including Procter & Gamble Co. Unilever has pared hundreds of brands in five years to focus on the most profitable including Dove soap and Surf detergent. The company in July reported its first quarterly sales drop in four years. Demand in Asia, particularly Japan and India, has been hurt by price cuts.
■ Semiconductors
Samsung in breakthrough
South Korea's Samsung Electronics, the world's leading semiconductor maker, said yesterday it had developed the industry's first 60-nanometer 8-gigabit NAND Flash memory chip used for data storage. One nanometer is equal to one billionth of a meter. The 8Gb NAND flash memory will allow storage of up to 16 hours of DVD quality video or 4,000 MP3 audio files or songs on a single memory card. Samsung's NAND flash business has shown strong growth, with sales expanding from US$400 million in 2001 to US$2.1 billion last year. This year Samsung expects to double the volume of NAND sales and so secure a 65 percent global market share.
■ Internet
AOL launches shopping site
America Online announced the launch of an online shopping site it says will provide and easy and fast way to compare products from thousands of online merchants. Called inStore, the company said the site is available on the AOL service at AOL Keyword: inStore and as a standalone destination on the Web at www.in-store.com. The announcement of the Monday launch said the site's shopping search functionality is supported by BizRate.com's catalog of 25 million products and 48,000 merchants, one of the largest and most comprehensive catalogs available online. It said an inStore Outlets area, to be launched later, will offer bargain shoppers brand name products at discounts from dozens of merchants. America Online, Inc is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source