■ELECTRONICS
Slim ‘watch phone’ unveiled
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics yesterday unveiled what it claims is the world’s slimmest “watch phone.” The handset is 11.98mm thick, compared with the 13.9mm of a model by rival LG Electronics, Samsung said in a statement. The firm plans to sell the new phone, priced at around US$639, first in France this month and then other European markets. LG Electronics said its version will go on sale no later than next month.
■FRANCE
Workers ransack office
Workers at a Michelin tire plant in eastern France briefly locked up four managers and ransacked offices in a labor dispute amid tensions over layoffs, a company official said yesterday. About 50 workers at Michelin’s plant in Montceau-les-Mines locked up four managers, including the director, on Tuesday night. Unions say the dispute stemmed from a worker being punished for refusing to use machinery he wasn’t trained on. The managers were released early yesterday and negotiations began at the plant yesterday morning.
■ELECTRONICS
TomTom profits drop
TomTom NV, the Dutch maker of navigation devices for cars, reported yesterday a 61 percent fall in net profit for the second quarter, better than analysts had feared. Net profit was 20 million euros (US$28.4 million), down from 52 million euros in the same period a year earlier. Sales fell 19 percent to 368 million euros. Both figures were significantly better than in the first quarter of this year, when the Amsterdam-based company posted a 39 million euro loss on sales of 213 million euros. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast profit of 13 million euros.
■BEVERAGES
Starbucks beats forecast
Shuttering stores, laying off workers and cutting other costs helped Starbucks Corp beat Wall Street’s profit expectations for its fiscal third quarter on Tuesday, but the recession continued to drain sales away from the gourmet coffee chain. The Seattle-based coffee chain earned US$151.5 million, or US$0.20 per share, compared with a loss of US$6.7 million, or US$0.01 per share a year earlier. Revenue fell 7 percent to US$2.40 billion. CEO Howard Schultz said on a conference call with investors that the quarter’s results showed “positive momentum,” but “a lot of hard work lies ahead.”
■ELECTRONICS
AT&T to use Plastic Logic
Following in the footsteps of Amazon.com Inc’s Kindle, another e-book reader is set to get a wireless connection from a cellular carrier, letting it access books anywhere there’s a signal. AT&T Inc planned to announce yesterday that it will support an e-book reading device early next year from Plastic Logic Ltd, a Mountain View, California-based startup based on British display technology. It marks the second significant announcement of the week for Plastic Logic, which said on Monday that Barnes & Noble Inc will supply digital versions of books for its device.
■COMPUTERS
AMD narrows losses
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Inc narrowed its loss in the second quarter, though not by as much as Wall Street had hoped. Its sales slumped 13 percent. AMD’s shares plunged 12 percent in extended trading on Tuesday on signs the chip company isn’t being buoyed like rival Intel Corp by the beginnings of a turnaround in the personal computer market. AMD lost US$330 million, in the latest period.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a