■ Airlines
War may spur changes
War in Iraq would see consolidation in the international aviation industry as some marginal airlines collapsed due to a fall in passenger numbers, the head of Australian flag carrier Qantas said yesterday. "If there was a war in Iraq, I believe we will have failures of airlines," Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon told Network Nine television's Sunday business program. "The inevitable consolidation that must be necessary in an industry that has such high people and capital costs will happen." Describing the state of the global aviation industry as "chaos," Dixon said that Qantas would be "well placed" to take advantage of an industry consolidation in the event of war in Iraq. "Perhaps we will be in the position to be able to look at whether there is potential opportunities out there," he said. Qantas has been one of the few international carriers to prosper following a global downturn in travel after the Sept. 11 attacks in the US.
■ Economic crime
SK executive arrested
SK Group Vice Chairman Chey Tae-won was arrested by South Korean prosecutors for misuse of funds at companies in the country's third largest business group. Chey was arrested last night under a special economic crime law and remains in custody, said Lim Su Kil, an SK Group spokesman. Kim Chang-keun, an official at SK Group's restructuring office, which operates as the group headquarters, was also held. Calls to the office of Lee In-kyu, head of the Seoul District Prosecutor investigation department, which questioned Chey, were not answered. Chey was investigated on suspicion of illegal stock trading alleged to have taken place between him and SK units. Prosecutors Friday summoned the 42-year-old nephew of the SK Group's founder as part of a probe into alleged purchases by SK units of Chey's stock in a hotel company for more than market value.
■ Memory chips
Elpida out to raise funds
Elpida Memory Inc, the memory-chip venture between NEC Corp. and Hitachi Ltd, intends to raise ¥80 billion (US$676 million) to boost its production capacity of silicon wafers, President Yukio Sakamoto said. The ¥80 billion will be invested to increase monthly capacity of 300mm silicon wafers to around 15,000 from the current 3,000, Sakamoto said in a telephone interview. He didn't identify investors. Silicon wafers are the material from which semiconductors are cut and packaged. Elpida, whose liabilities have exceeded assets since its inception in December 1999, in November said it aims to be the world's third-largest memory-chip maker within the next three years.
■ Erectile helpers
Chinese product marketed
A Viagra-style capsule based on traditional Chinese medicine has gone on sale at drug stores in China's largest city Shanghai, state media said yesterday. The Jianyang Capsule is the first medicine for erectile dysfunction using traditional ingredients to be given the green light for over-the-counter sale, Xinhua news agency reported. Interest is expected to be huge, and about 500 drug stores in the city are likely to eventually offer the product, according to the agency. Erectile dysfuntion is up to three times more frequent in Shanghai than in inland areas.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
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