■ Airlines
Crew retired to cut costs
Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong's leading carrier, said yesterday it is offering early retirement to 1,600 cabin crew to offset surging fuel prices and operating costs which are chewing heavily into profits. Cabin crew with more than 15 years of experience -- about 1,600 people -- could opt to retire early and receive up to 17 months' salary on top of their standard retirement benefits, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd spokeswoman Carolyn Leung said. Cathay Pacific reported earlier that its net profit fell 25 percent last year to HK$3.3 billion (US$426 million), down from HK$4.42 billion in 2004, as higher jet fuel prices offset strong growth in passenger demand. The carrier said during the year its fuel costs rose 67 percent to HK$15.59 billion, accounting for a third of its operating expenses.
■ Oil
Venezuela buys Chinese rigs
Venezuela's state oil company will form a joint venture with a Chinese company to assemble oil rigs, a company executive said. Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, has agreed to purchase 28 drilling rigs from China Petro Technology and Development Corp to assemble some of the rigs in Venezuela, Luis Vierma, vice president for exploration and production at PDVSA, said on Thursday at an industry conference in Houston, Texas. The company is a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corp. "By the year 2008 we're going to be assembling rigs in Venezuela," Vierma said. "By 2010-11, we're going to be able to build our own rigs." Venezuela currently operates about 90 rigs but doesn't manufacture any. The purchase comes as Venezuela endeavors to ramp up its production to 5.8 million barrels a day from its official output of 3.3 million at present.
■ Computers
Dell confident about future
Dell Inc founder and chairman Michael Dell, responding to concerns about his company's recent stock declines, said on Thursday he remains confident in the direct-sales model that helped create the world's largest PC maker. "Let's kind of review the situation here," Dell said. "In the last 10 years our company has grown about 10 times and our stock is up a couple thousand percent." Shares of the company have sunk since a Citigroup analyst cut his rating on the stock to "Sell" last month amid concerns that Dell's gross margins could rapidly deteriorate if it slashes prices in order to gain market share.
■ Internet
Google sued over porn links
A US politician sued Google Inc, claiming the search engine leader is profiting from illegal child pornography. Jeffrey Toback, a member of the Nassau County Legislature, said on Thursday Google has paid links to Web sites containing pornography involving minors. "This case is about a multi-billion dollar company that promotes and profits from child pornography," said the complaint filed in state Supreme Court in Mineola, New York. A Google spokesman denied the allegations and said the Mountain View, California-based company takes numerous steps to prevent access to child pornography. "When we find or are made aware of any pornography, we remove it from our products, including our search engine," spokesman Steve Langdon said in a statement. "We also report it to the appropriate law enforcement officials and fully cooperate with the law enforcement community to combat child pornography."
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
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
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
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique