■ Semiconductors
NEC boasts smaller circuits
NEC Electronics Corp has developed a technology to make semiconductors with circuit widths smaller than those made by companies such Intel Corp, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said, without citing where it got the information. NEC Electronics plans to start production of semicon-ductors with a circuit width of 55 nanometers in 2007, the paper said. Intel and Matsushita Electric Indus-trial Co have already started production of semicon-ductors with circuit widths of 65 nanometers, the report said.
■ Aviation
Cathay's salaries rise 3.5%
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd will raise the salaries of its almost 8,000 employees by an average 3.5 percent next year, the Oriental Daily reported, citing an unidentified company spokesman. The increase will apply to the airline's 6,000-strong cabin crew and 2,000-member ground crew, the Hong Kong-based newspaper said. The airline will announce the salary adjustment plan for management staff before Christmas, the Daily said. Increased demand in leisure travel has made up for lower profit margins resulting from high oil prices, the paper said, citing the spokesman.
■ Economics
Managers trust in recovery
Nearly three quarters of Japan's top managers think the country's economy will continue on a path of recovery, according to a poll published yesterday. The showing from management at 73 of the country's 100 top companies was significantly more optimistic than a similar survey conducted earlier in the year. Seventy companies said they expec-ted individual consumption to improve moderately over the next 12 months, it said. The government cites consumption as one of main factors reining in a recovery. Eighty-seven companies said they regarded the status of the Japanese economy as growing, up sharply from 49 companies in the previous poll. The poll was conducted between Nov. 7 and Nov. 26.
■ Aviation
Qantas mulls global Jetstar
Australian flag carrier Qantas is considering expanding its budget offshoot Jetstar's international presence, chief executive Geoff Dixon said yesterday. Dixon said the Qantas board would take a vote this week on expanding Jetstar's routes to include destinations no more than eight to 10 hours from Australia -- which could include Asian and Pacific island flights. Dixon said Jetstar, which this month launched a service to New Zealand, would not compete on profitable routes flown by Qantas, instead flying to new destinations or ones that the main airline had scrapped. He named Seoul and Taipei as destinations no longer serviced by Qantas that Jetstar could potentially pick up.
■ Software
Belarusian OS in the works
Scientists in Belarus are working on their own computer software to serve as an alternative to the market-leading Windows operating system from Microsoft. The inexpensive Belarusian operating system will work with open-source code like Linux, reports computer scientist Michail Machanek from the Academy of Science in Minsk. Both the EU and NATO have expressed interest in his project, he says. "Ordinary citizens cannot afford to buy an operating system for US$300," Machanek says. The Belarusian Windows will cost only 12 euros (US$14).
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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