■ AUTOMAKERS
NASCAR head weighs in
NASCAR chairman Brian France has lobbied the US Congress to support a financial rescue plan for the struggling Big Three automakers: Chrysler, Ford and General Motors. The trio, which participate in NASCAR, are pleading with Congress for a bailout to prevent their companies from going bankrupt. “I’m writing you as a concerned American who wants what is best for our general country,” France wrote. France’s letter said that if the auto industry failed, 3 million people would lose their jobs in the first year and another 2.5 million over the following two years. He said personal income in the US would drop by US$150 billion in the first year and domestic automobile production — even by foreign manufacturers — would likely drop to zero.
■CANADA
More than 70,000 lose jobs
Employers slashed nearly 71,000 jobs last month, the worst single month drop in 26 years, in a clear indication that the US recession is beginning to wreak havoc on manufacturers and workers across the border. Statistics Canada said on Friday that the jobless rate had edged up to 6.3 percent last month from 6.2 percent in October, despite the fact that 48,000 fewer Canadians were looking for work last month. Falling commodity prices and the impact of the slumping US housing and auto sectors have dealt a blow to the forestry, mining and manufacturing sectors across Canada.
■AVIATION
Okay Air suspends flights
Okay Airways Co (奧凱航空), China’s oldest private carrier, suspended flights earlier than planned yesterday because airports demanded cash payments for refueling, company president Liu Jieyin (劉捷音) said. Two airports, in Zhuhai and Sanya, refused to refuel the company’s planes on credit, leading Okay Air to stop all passenger routes yesterday, Liu said in an interview broadcast on China Central Television. The company had originally planned to suspend passenger flights from next Monday. Okay Air’s biggest shareholder, Junyao Group (均瑤集團), last month asked for the suspension as it tries to oust Liu, saying the management can’t guarantee safety levels. Losses from daily operations were increasing, Xinhua said, citing Wang Junjin (王均金), chairman of both Okay and Junyao. Okay Air won’t cut staff and has employees on paid leave as it attempts to resume flights before the Lunar New Year holiday next month, Xinhua said.
■AUTOMAKERS
Argentina funds purchases
Argentina announced on Saturday it would make US$9 billion available to finance car purchases in an attempt to slow job losses in one of the industries hardest hit by the global credit crunch. Under the plan, first-time car buyers can get their vehicle financed and demand could be boosted by some 100,000 units a year, Argentinian Manufacturing Minister Debora Giorgi said at Government House. “We are aiming to reorient where funds are going so that they stop being used for financial speculation and start helping bolster the economy and maintain jobs,” she said. There are some rules: The plan covers 12 lower-priced vehicles, two at each of the main automakers in the country. And the car’s value cannot top 31,000 pesos (US$9,100). It can be financed up to 60 months. Some 150,000 people work in Argentina’s auto industry, which exports vehicles worth US$8 billion annually — about 36 percent of manufactured exports. The funds will be taken from the state-held pension system.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
A bipartisan group of US representatives have introduced a draft US-Taiwan Defense Innovation Partnership bill, aimed at accelerating defense technology collaboration between Taiwan and the US in response to ongoing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The bill was introduced by US representatives Zach Nunn and Jill Tokuda, with US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar and US Representative Ashley Hinson joining as original cosponsors, a news release issued by Tokuda’s office on Thursday said. The draft bill “directs the US Department of Defense to work directly with Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense through their respective
Tsunami waves were possible in three areas of Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Services said yesterday after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii said there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The Russian tsunami alert was later canceled. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia’s RIA
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