■ Internet
Messenger gets interrupted
Microsoft Corp said its MSN instant messaging service, with 187 million users, became unavailable to some customers beginning Saturday after routine network maintenance. Service was restored late Monday. Microsoft did not immediately identify the source of the problem, other than to note in an e-mailed statement that it followed work on the system over the weekend. MSN Messenger competes with similar services from Yahoo Inc and Time Warner Inc's America Online.
■ Airlines
Alitalia signs for new loan
Alitalia SpA has signed an agreement for a US$496 million bridge loan, the struggling Italian airline said Monday. The emergency loan, guaranteed by the Italian Economy Ministry, is being put up by Dresdner Bank AG's Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein unit, Alitalia said. The carrier can access the credit line for up to six months and must reimburse any funds taken within 12 months, Alitalia said. Shares in the carrier closed Monday unchanged at US$0.28.
■ Aerospace
Boeing hopes for deal
Boeing's top executive said Monday the aerospace giant still hopes to win a contract for new Air Force tanker refueling planes, despite action by Congress killing a controversial lease plan. "If there is a contract for tankers Boeing will get it," Boeing chief executive Harry Stonecipher told reporters in a conference call. "The US Air Force needs tankers, that's clear and the [Boeing] 7E7 is an excellent tanker ... and we will find ways to satisfy" the Pentagon's needs. The comments came just after lawmakers killed a proposal by Boeing to lease, then sell dozens of its 767 tanker jets. The US$23 billion program, which had been approved earlier this year, then suspended, faced criticism as a sweetheart deal for the aerospace company.
■ Auto industry
Opel to make huge job cuts
German car maker Opel, the loss-making subsidiary of General Motors, is to axe 6,000-7,000 jobs from a total German workforce of around 12,000, newspapers here reported yesterday. General Motors plans to axe 12,000 jobs in Europe, or nearly one in five of its 62,000-strong European workforce, with Germany to bear the brunt of the cuts, the Financial Times reported quoting GM sources. The job cuts are to be announced on tomorrow when GM unveils its plans to restructure its loss-making European activities, which alongside Opel include Saab in Sweden and Vauxhall in Britain, the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeiting reported separately. FAZ also put the number of jobs on the line at 6,000-7,000.
■ Health sector
Hospital to get Starbucks
Breaking the mold of China's typically grim and bare health facilities, one upscale Shanghai hospital will soon offer a Starbucks outlet as the country's health sector slowly turns an eye to improving service. "We aim to bring our coffee to where there is a need," Summer Ji, spokeswoman for Shanghai United Starbucks Coffee Co, [partly owned by UNI PRES?] said yesterday of the plan to open an outlet at Shanghai's East Hospital this month. "Doctors, nurses, visitors to the hospital, people from nearby office buildings, as well as patients can all become our customers," Ji said. Seattle-based Starbucks Corp operates about 90 outlets in China.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2