■ Thai airport ceremony put off
Thailand would delay an opening ceremony at Bangkok's new international airport due to problems including cracked taxiways, inadequate toilets and complaints of sexual harassment, reports said yesterday. The government was to hold a formal inauguration ceremony this month of Suvarnabhumi International Airport, which opened in late September, with an annual passenger capacity of 45 million. But the ceremony, to be attended by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, would be delayed at least six months due to multiple problems, English-language newspapers the Nation and Bangkok Post said. The problems include long waits for luggage, hold-ups at check-in counters, roof leaks and inadequate toilets, the Nation said, adding "uneven and cracked taxiways" were also discovered at the new airport.
■ Trade
NZ backs free trade plan
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke yesterday threw her support behind a US-backed proposal for a massive free trade zone stretching across the Pacific Ocean, saying it was an attractive alternative if global free trade talks fail. Clarke, speaking to reporters at the end of a two-day summit of leaders from the 21-member APEC forum, said the idea was not in conflict with the Doha round of WTO talks, which collapsed in July amid bickering between the US and Europe over farm tariffs. "The key game has to be WTO," she said. "But if Doha stumbles so badly that it went into suspension for years, then of course an agreement which covers countries around about 60 percent of the world economy is very attractive for us," she said.
■ IP protection
China court backs local firm
A Beijing court has ruled China's leading Internet search engine was not guilty of property rights infringement when posting links to Web sites offering illegal music downloads, state press said yesterday. A Beijing intermediate court ruled in favor of Baidu.com (百度) in the lawsuit brought against it by major international music companies, including EMI, Sony BMG, Warner Music and Universal Music, the Xinhua news agency reported. No date for the ruling was given. The music companies accused Baidu of engaging in illegal downloading and the playing of music owned by the plaintiffs without their permission, the report said. They had demanded a public apology from Baidu, the suspension of its download service and 1.73 million yuan (US$216,250) in compensation, it said.
■ Property
Major US deal closed
A New York development company closed its US$5.4 billion purchase of one of the US' largest apartment complexes, despite some tenants' claims that the sale isn't allowed under state housing laws. MetLife Inc said on Friday it had finalized the sale of the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complex to Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty, the real estate arm of BlackRock Inc, a provider of global investment management and advisory services. Tenants of the 110-building complex had launched their own bid to take over its 11,000 units, most of which are rent-stabilized and priced far below the market rate. This week, the tenants asked the city comptroller to investigate the sale, saying MetLife had not terminated the redevelopment company that managed the complex.
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 —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
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