■INTERNET
Google office hit by flu
Internet search leader Google Inc shut one of its offices in southern India for two days after an employee tested positive for swine flu, a company statement said yesterday. The office in Hyderabad with 250 workers was closed on Tuesday and yesterday while it was being sanitized, the statement said. However, the main office in the city, a key software hub in the country, was functioning normally. “One of our contractual workers in Hyderabad has been diagnosed with the virus. He has been hospitalized and is under full medical care,” the statement said.
■RETAIL
Burberry revenue down
British luxury goods company Burberry Group PLC said yesterday that total revenue fell 4 percent in the three months to June 30, dragged down by a slump in wholesale revenue. Though total revenue of £229 million (US$375 million) was down on a constant currency basis during the firm’s first fiscal quarter, Burberry said revenue was up 8 percent on a reported basis. “The United States and Spain remain more difficult markets, with comparable store sales in both markets again down double-digit in the quarter,” the company said. Russia and parts of the Middle East were also difficult, but China “continues to perform strongly,” the company said.
■RETAIL
Johnson & Johnson sales hit
Health care products maker Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday said its second-quarter profit fell 3.5 percent, as the global recession, strong dollar and generic competition took their toll on sales, particularly for prescription drugs. The New Brunswick, New Jersey-based maker of baby shampoo, Tylenol, contraceptives and biotech drugs earned US$3.21 billion, or US$1.15 per share, down from US$3.33 billion, or US$1.17 a share, a year ago. Revenue fell 7.4 percent to US$15.24 billion from US$16.45 billion a year ago. “This was one of the most difficult years in our history,” chief financial officer Dominic Caruso told analysts during a conference call. But he said operational results were better than expected.
■ELECTRONICS
LG expands production line
South Korea’s LG Display Co, one of the world’s top liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel makers, said yesterday it would invest 3.27 trillion won (US$2.6 billion) to meet the growing demand for flat-screen TVs. The company plans to expand its LCD display production lines at its plant in Paju, 25km north of Seoul, it said. “The company has been experiencing a shortage of 20 [percent] to 30 percent” in its supply to meet swelling demand, the company said in a statement. It plans to start production at the new facility in the second half of next year, the statement said.
■TRANSPORT
Bombardier wins contract
Canada’s Bombardier Transportation has received a US$255 million contract to supply, operate and maintain an automated transit system at the Phoenix international airport in Arizona. Under the contract signed with the southwestern US city, the rail technology giant said on Tuesday it would design and supply 18 driverless vehicles and its accompanying electrical and communications system at its facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The contract’s value includes a design-build contract estimated at US$186 million and a separate contract of about US$69 million for Bombardier to maintain and operate the system for 10 years.
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