■ AVIATION
Airline boosts entertainment
American Airlines is offering free on-demand video and audio entertainment for first-and business-class passengers on transcontinental flights and will test a media player on some flights between Los Angeles and Chicago. The airline said premium customers will get free on-demand movies, music and television on handheld devices with 7-inch (17.7cm) touch-screen monitors. American said it began offering the devices on Tuesday on Boeing 767-200 and 767-300 aircraft flying New York-Los Angeles and New York-San Francisco routes, and it will add them to Miami-San Francisco flights next month.
■ AUTOMOBILES
US sales stall
US auto sales stalled last month as a weaker housing market and higher gas prices hurt consumers, raising further doubts about the industry's outlook for the remainder of the year. Sales at General Motors Corp fell 2 percent, while Ford Motor Co sales dropped 6 percent. Declines for the top two US automakers had been expected after executives at both companies warned about results for last month. Even Toyota Motor Co posted its lowest monthly sales growth since August 2004 at just under 4 percent. But sales at Chrysler Group bucked the downtrend with a 10 percent gain, boosted by aggressive discounts.
■ BANKING
Goldman Sachs audited
Tax authorities have conducted an audit of the South Korean operations of US investment bank Goldman Sachs, the company said yesterday. The firm said its business in South Korea faced a "routine" tax audit but refused to confirm media reports that the National Tax Service is looking in particular at its investment in Jinro, a major distiller. Goldman Sachs' Seoul branch sold Jinro in 2005 to Hite Brewery for 3.4 trillion won (US$3.7 billion), reaping more than one trillion won in investment profits but only paying taxes on part of the profits, Yonhap news agency reported.
■ BANKING
Larger banknotes imminent
South Korea's central bank said yesterday it plans to issue large-denomination banknotes from 2009, more than three decades after the 10,000 won note (now worth US$10.70) was introduced. Since 1973, commodity prices have risen twelve-fold and the gross national income has become 150 times larger. Koreans who do not wish to use credit cards carry thick wads of notes or bank cheques which are issued in fixed sums. Personal cheques are very rarely used. The Bank of Korea plans to issue 100,000 won and 50,000 won bills in the first half of 2009 if the government approves the move.
■ PET FOOD
Officials step up probe
US food and drug officials were in Beijing yesterday to step up a joint investigation with Chinese authorities into tainted pet food products that have killed numerous animals in the US. The tainted wheat gluten has been found in nearly 100 brands of US pet food. Chemical melamine, a substance used in fertilizers and plastics, is used to enhance nitrogen-levels in the food and is believed to have led to kidney failure in pets. Adding melamine to food products is illegal in the US, but appears to be widely used in China. It is not known to be toxic to humans.
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