■ Companies
Whitman quits Disney race
EBay Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman has withdrawn as a candidate to replace Michael Eisner as Walt Disney Co's chief executive, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unidentified person familiar with the search. Whitman met with the board earlier this week, and has decided to stay at the largest Internet auctioneer because Disney had taken longer than promised to make a choice of the new chief executive, the newspaper said today, citing the person. She telephoned an unidentified Disney board member last night to take her name out of consideration, the newspaper said. She was the only external candidate being considered by the board, the Journal said.
■ Cellphones
Motorola to release A1000
Cellphone giant Motorola will release its long-awaited update of the Motorola A925 this month. The Motorola A1000, as it will be called, is a 3G smartphone targeted at business users who need access to e-mail, Web sites, documents and contacts while on the road. The cellphone includes a program that allows users to work with documents from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF files. The stylish unit sports a high-resolution TFT display that can display 65,000 colors. The A1000 also boasts a touchscreen that supports handwriting recognition for the use of a "virtual keyboard." As if that's not enough, the A1000 also has a built-in digital camera capable of taking 1.2 megapixel images, an MP3 player, as well as a GPS positioning system. Pricing is expected to be under US$1,000.
■ Economics
S Koreans spend on credit
South Korean credit card spending rose for a second consecutive month last month, official data showed yesterday, amid signs of an economic recovery backed by improving consumer sentiment. The spending jumped 8.5 percent year-on-year to 13.5 trillion won (US$13.5 billion) last month, according to Finance and Economy Ministry figures. In January, it was up 15 percent. In the first two months of this year, the overall credit card usage increased 11.7 percent year-on-year to 28.2 trillion won, the data showed. South Korea's central bank said last week the country's economic recovery was proceeding faster than expected with consumer sentiment improving markedly after a protracted slump. Bank of Korea governor Park Seung said on Thursday that the economy already "entered a gradual recovery phase from the first quarter," a quarter earlier than previously expected.
■ Aero industry
Malaysia Airlines gets flak
Malaysia Airlines has come under fire for its policies on hiring women after a former stewardess who was sacked for falling pregnant lost a long-running legal battle to win her job back. The national carrier sacked Beatrice Fernandez in 1991 after she refused to comply with company rules by resigning after becoming pregnant. After a nearly 14-year legal battle, Malaysia's highest court rejected her petition to review the airline's working conditions, which have been amended to say stewardesses can have only two children and must resign at 45, the Sunday Star newspaper said. Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil urged the airline to review its "archaic" policies as soon as possible.
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
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
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