■FINANCE
Deutsche Bank may cut jobs
The biggest German bank, Deutsche Bank, wants to eliminate or farm out 1,300 German jobs, but without resorting to outright redundancy, the daily Die Welt said yesterday. Late last year, Deutsche Bank employed 80,000 people worldwide, including almost 28,000 in Germany. It warned in March that some jobs might be cut. In both the first and second quarters of this year, the bank has posted net profit of more than 1 billion euros (US$1.46 billion).
■AVIATION
Air India pilots end strike
Pilots at the ailing state-run carrier Air India ended a five-day strike yesterday, saying the government had provided assurances that their salaries would not be cut. Senior pilots representative V.K. Bhalla told reporters in New Delhi the stoppage was “immediately and absolutely called off” and that they would return to work at once. The airline has canceled hundreds of flights since Saturday, when non-unionized senior pilots called in sick to protest against a slash of between 25 percent to 50 percent in incentive-based pay for more than 7,000 employees.
■ACCOUNTING
Ernst & Young raided
The Hong Kong offices of accounting giant Ernst & Young were raided by police as part of a fraud investigation linked to the city’s biggest corporate collapse, media said yesterday. The search, which occurred on Tuesday, came after Ernst & Young was accused in court earlier this month of falsifying documents to shield itself from a negligence claim brought by the liquidators of electronics company Akai Holdings, the South China Morning Post reported. The lawsuit ended last week with an out-of-court settlement, with Ernst & Young paying the liquidators, Borrelli Walsh, hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars, the Post said.
■APPAREL
Nike profits unchanged
Nike Inc said on Tuesday that as consumers around the globe limited their spending, its first-quarter profit was nearly unchanged from a year ago, but it beat expectations. The world’s largest athletic shoe and apparel company reported that it earned US$513 million, or US$1.04 per share, for the quarter that ended Aug. 31. In the same quarter last year, Nike earned US$510.5 million, or US$1.03 per share. Revenue fell 12 percent to US$4.8 billion from US$5.4 billion a year earlier, due in part to the negative impact of the stronger dollar.
■SOFTWARE
Google Wave to be released
Google was to release a new product yesterday aimed at making e-mail obsolete, the company said in a blog posting on Tuesday. Google Wave combines the best features of e-mail, instant messaging, social networking and collaborative document editing and was to be released to 100,000 developers and corporate users, the company said. The application was developed by Jens and Lars Rasmussen, brothers who had a key role in developing Google Maps.
■SOFTWARE
CNN iPhone App launched
US cable network CNN launched a news application for the Apple iPhone on Tuesday, which costs US$1.99 and includes advertising, features news headlines and stories, photos and live breaking news video. The CNN iPhone App is available through Apple’s App Store and can also run on the iPod Touch. The CNN App allows for personalization of weather, traffic and news.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
‘NARWHAL’: The indigenous submarine completed its harbor acceptance test recently and is now under heavy guard as it undergoes tests in open waters, a source said The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, yesterday began sea trials, sailing out of the Port of Kaohsiung, a military source said. Also known as the “Narwhal,” the vessel departed from CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard at about 8am, where it had been docked. More than 10 technicians and military personnel were on deck, with several others standing atop the sail. After recently completing its harbor acceptance test, the vessel has started a series of sea-based trials, including tests of its propulsion and navigational systems, while partially surfaced, the source said. The Hai Kun underwent tests in the port from
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