■AUTOMOBILES
Electric cars affordable
Nissan Motor Co said yesterday its electric vehicles would be affordable, setting sights on the potentially lucrative market with a plan to mass produce zero-emission cars globally from 2012. Japan’s No. 3 automaker said it would unveil its first electric vehicle in Japan on August 2 and begin sales next year. “We are moving forward with zero-emission vehicles,” chief executive Carlos Ghosn said at a shareholders’ meeting. Nissan would sell electric cars first in Japan and the US after April next year and then mass produce them globally in 2012.
■AVIATION
United cuts more jobs
United Airlines said on Monday it would cut an additional 600 flight attendant jobs in response to slumping demand for travel due to a weak global economy. “The continued challenging economic environment, combined with significantly lower flight attendant attrition, has resulted in United taking the difficult, but necessary step to reduce the number of flight attendants in our operation,” parent company UAL said.
■TELECOMS
Telstra freezes salaries
The head of Australian telecoms giant Telstra has frozen top executive salaries for 12-months in a “belt-tightening” move as part of a continued restructuring, a company source said yesterday. The austerity measure imposed by chief executive David Thodey this week would apply to about 300 executives across all divisions of the company, a source at Telstra said. Thodey’s predecessor, Sol Trujillo, faced criticism for receiving a hefty pay packet while cutting 10,000 jobs and seeing Telstra shares fall.
■BANKING
Auditor finds irregularities
Three major Chinese banks said yesterday the nation’s top auditor had uncovered lending irregularities in their business, adding the findings would not have an impact on their financial results. The National Audit Office found violations last year by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Construction Bank and China CITIC Bank, the lenders said in separate statements. ICBC said the auditors found “non-compliance issues in the business operation and weaknesses in the operation and management of certain branches of the bank.” China Construction Bank and China CITIC Bank said some branches had been found to have extended loans that violated government rules.
FRANCE
Confidence edges up
French business confidence has edged up again but consumers are less buoyant, with household purchases falling back after recent gains, official data showed yesterday. Business confidence this month rose two points from last month to 75 points, regaining the December level, the INSEE statistics body said, adding that despite the improvement, the reading remains very low.
■CHINA
Siemens expects orders
German industrial group Siemens expects to land orders worth US$2.9 billion over the next three years as part of China’s economic stimulus plan, state media reported yesterday. Half of the orders would focus on energy-efficient and environment-friendly technologies, the China Daily said, quoting the company’s top official in China. “China’s demand for environment-friendly technologies will remain robust. This will continue to be a strong growth area for Siemens in China,” the paper quoted Richard Hausmann, president of Siemens China, as saying.
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
Air and rail traffic around Taiwan were disrupted today while power cuts occurred across the country as Typhoon Kong-rey, predicted to make landfall in eastern Taiwan this afternoon, continued edging closer to the country. A total of 241 passenger and cargo flights departing from or arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport were canceled today due to the typhoon, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. As of 9:30am, 109 inbound flights, 103 outbound flights and 29 cargo flights had been canceled, the company said. Taiwan Railway Corp also canceled all express trains on its Western Trunk Line, Eastern Trunk Line, South-Link Line and attached branches
Typhoon Kong-rey is forecast to make landfall in eastern Taiwan this afternoon and would move out to sea sometime overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 9am today, Kong-rey's outer rim was covering most of Taiwan except for the north. The storm's center was 110km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost tip, and moving northwest at 28kph. It was carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of 184kph, and gusts of up to 227kph, the CWA said. At a news conference this morning, CWA forecaster Chu Mei-lin (朱美霖) said Kong-rey is moving "extremely fast," and is expected to make landfall between