■ Labor
Seoul orders end to strike
Using rarely invoked powers, the South Korean government yesterday ordered an end to a 25-day strike by unionized pilots at Asiana Airlines, the country's second-biggest carrier, the Labor Ministry said. The government's intervention forces the pilots to stop the strike for 30 days. The government action came after hopes were raised for a last-minute resolution, with the union and management suddenly resuming broken off negotiations earlier in the day. Those talks failed to reach a breakthrough, the ministry said. Asiana has been forced to cancel over 2,000 domestic and more than 130 international flights since the strike began July 17. About 90 percent of its cargo flights have been suspended. The strike has been costly for the airline and companies it works closely with such as travel agencies, importers and exporters, resulting in estimated losses of 353 billion won (US$348 million) through Sunday.
■ Computers
Lenovo reports rising profit
In its first earnings report since buying IBM Corp's PC business, Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) said yesterday that its net profit rose 6 percent in the April-June quarter to HK$357 million (US$45.8 million). The figure compared to HK$337 million in the first quarter last year. Lenovo said its overall PC business remained profitable despite taking on IBM's money-losing unit, with global sales totalling HK$18.3 billion. Lenovo chief executive Steve Ward said the PC operations acquired from IBM in April are performing better than they did under IBM. Overall revenue more than tripled in the fiscal first quarter to HK$19.6 billion from HK$5.88 billion. Hong Kong-listed Lenovo had earlier predicted the IBM deal would quadruple its sales. Lenovo said in a statement it was "generating faster-than-expected benefits from the synergies anticipated from the acquisition."
■ Aerospace
EU backs merger plan
The European Commission has given its green light to plans by US aerospace and defense firms Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co to merge their rocket launch services. The firms will form a joint venture known as United Launch Alliance, to combine the testing and launching operations of Lockheed Martin's Atlas and Boeing's Delta rockets. The EU head office said late on Tuesday that the deal posed no competition concerns in the European market. The two firms will maintain separate engineering and design programs and will still produce their two rockets separately. The merger comes after a downturn in the rocket business. Each firm will control 50 percent of the venture, which is expected to generate between US$1.5 billion and US$2 billion in annual revenue.
■ Acquisitions
Ripplewood ups Maytag bid
In a last-ditch effort to outbid Maytag's much larger Whirlpool, a consortium of investors led by the private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings indicated on Tuesday night that it might be willing to raise its offer to about US$15.65 a share, or US$1.3 billion, according to executives close to the negotiations. Ripplewood made the indication to Maytag's board a day after Whirlpool submitted a bid of US$20 a share, or US$1.62 billion in cash and stock. Maytag's board had until 2pm yesterday to decide which bid to accept if neither suitor formally adjusts its offer.
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
RSS