[Taking notice]

NEW JOBS

>> Superior Solid Surface recently opened a showroom in Honolulu, with David W. "Chino" Haynes heading the company as vice president. A 15-year veteran of the kitchen and bath industry, Haynes most recently served as a foreman at Pacific Counter Top.

>> Benchmark Hospitality has named Bradford D. Jencks as general manager at the Turtle Bay Resort. He most recently served as vice president and general manager of the Maui Inter-Continental Resort.

>> Eva Laird Smith has been named executive director at the Filipino Community Center. She will be responsible for day-to-day operations, administration, special events and fundraising. Laird Smith most recently served as executive director at Hawaii's Plantation Village in Waipahu.

>> Louise Keali'iloma King Lanzilotti has been named managing director of the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Hawaii's only professional theatre company. She succeeds Jane Campbell, who will retire this spring after 42 years with HTY. Lanzilotti is curator of education at The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, a position she has held since 1988; as well as musical director for many of Punahou School's theatrical productions and senior class variety shows. She has taught grades K though 12 in humanities, math, English, music and drama.

>> Former company intern Alyssa Murphy returns to Cowabunga! Computers as Net Junkie, specializing in Web design and Japanese translation. Eric Miyasato has been hired as the company cowboy, responsible for programming PHP, PERL, C++, Data Base Management and Development and Web CGI. And Mike "Kobe" Maeshiro is the farmer of the herd, responsible for developing new accounts.

PROMOTIONS

>> Roberta F. Chu has been promoted to senior vice president and Hawaii Island Commercial Banking Center manager at Bank of Hawaii. Others promoted at the bank include: Sharon Crofts, senior vice president and cash management manager; Mike Curtis, senior vice president and internet channel manager; Lynn E. Elaydo, senior vice president and leadership and employee development manager; and James M. Ewing, senior vice president and wholesale credit manager.

>> Summit Lending of Hawaii has promoted Nora Yoshikane from accountant to finance manager in its secondary marketing and accounting department. Her duties encompass accounting services as well as loan pricing. Yoshikane has been with the company for two years.

ON THE BOARD

>> Fred Wong has been named to the board of directors at the National Precast Concrete Association. Wong, president and CEO of Kahului-based Walker Industries Ltd., has been a NPCA member since 1988.

>> Marvin Dang has been named chairperson of the Collection Law Association of the Hawaii State Bar Association. Other newly elected officers and directors are: Steven Guttman, vice-chair; Carla Poirier, secretary; David Farmer, treasurer; and David Farmer, William Plum, Carla Poirier and Thomas Wong, directors.

RECOGNITION

>> Charles Beeck Jr. has been named Remodeler of the Year by the Building Industry Association of Hawaii. Beeck is the president of Tropical Roofing and Raingutters Inc.

>> The Honolulu Board of Realtors recently announced the winners of the 2001 Aloha 'Aina Realtor Awards. Realtors presented with the Hawaii's Homes People's Choice Award were: Scott T. Fujiwara, STF Properties LLC; Bruce M. Kennedy, Properties of the Pacific LLC; Kay M. Mukaigawa, Properties Unlimited Inc.; Ethel T. Shima, Kumai Realty Inc.; and Kathy Jo Yap, Herbert K. Horita Realty Inc. Realtors' Choice Award winners were: Constance M. Carvill, Carvill and Co.; Janet Cordes, Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties; Ronald N. Lee, Real Estate Inc.; Nancy D. Metcalf, Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties; and Ronald M. Okubo, Ron Corp. And Christi Conroy, Lali DeWolfe, Harry S.K. Lee and Donna M. Maier of Coldwell Banker Pacific were given the Outstanding Newcomer Award. Jason Y. Nishikawa of Marcus and Associates Inc. also won an Outstanding Newcomer Award.

BACK TO TOP

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China factory production up 9.9% in January

Beijing >> China's industrial production growth accelerated in January, the government said. Production climbed 9.9 percent from a year earlier to 215.8 billion yuan ($26 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics said, topping December's 8.7 percent increase and matching the rate for all of 2001.

Consumer and government spending, along with foreign investment spurred by China's World Trade Organization entry, probably helped Asia's second-largest economy expand 7.3 percent last year -- among the fastest in the world, according to a Bloomberg News report.

Cathay buys remaining stake in Air Hong Kong

Hong Kong >> Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. said it will buy a 25 percent stake in Air Hong Kong Ltd. for HK$194 million ($25 million) in cash, making the cargo airline a wholly owned subsidiary, according to a Bloomberg News report.

Asia's sixth-largest carrier agreed to buy the stake from Stabilo Ltd., a unit of Shun Tak Holdings Ltd., the dominant operator of ferry services between Hong Kong and Macau, the airline said in a faxed statement.

Air Hong Kong operates scheduled flights from Hong Kong to Japan, Korea, Europe and the Middle East with a fleet of three Boeing Co. 747-200 freighters leased from Cathay.

Taiwan shuts down movie Web sites

TAIPEI, Taiwan >> Taiwanese police have seized the servers of a Web site that violated U.S. copyright laws and allowed customers worldwide to watch Hollywood movies on the Internet, officials said last week.

For about 35 Taiwan dollars ($1 U.S.), Eternity Italy Ltd allowed people to watch streamed movies from the company's Web site, movie88.com. Films featured on the site included "Antitrust" as well as episodes of the "X-Files" and "Star Trek."

Investigators raided Eternity's Taipei offices and confiscated its computers.

Japan readmits most U.S. poultry imports

Japan has lifted its almost six-week ban on poultry and poultry products from all U.S. states except Maine and Pennsylvania, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported.

The ban was imposed Jan. 12 after some chickens in Maine and Pennsylvania were found to be infected with a low-pathogenic avian influenza virus, a potentially deadly strain of flu, said the USDA. After the virus was discovered, officials in Maine and Pennsylvania destroyed infected flocks to prevent the virus spreading. Programs to monitor and test birds for potential disease were also established.

Japan is the sixth-largest export market for U.S. poultry, the USDA said.

Brazil's Central Bank lowers interest rates

Brasilia >> Brazil's central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate for the first time in more than a year, betting inflation is starting to slow.

The bank lowered its overnight lending rate to 18.75 percent from 19 percent, the first time since January 2001 it has done so. The central bank also said its keeping its bias as "neutral," meaning bank President Arminio Fraga cannot change rates before the next policy meeting in March, according to a Bloomberg News report. With inflation in Brazil showing little sign of slowing, the central bank's inflation-fighting credentials may suffer if prices rise more than expected this year.

India gets $289 million to revamp irrigation

The World Bank approved $289 million in interest-free loans for India to pay for efforts by the states of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to better manage irrigation.

Agriculture employs 70 percent of the workforce and consumes most of the water in Rajasthan, a desert state that occupies a tenth of the country and has only 1 percent of its water, the World Bank said in a statement.

The $140 million loan for Rajasthan is intended to benefit about 250,000 farm families and reduce pollution, "preventing water related diseases (while) improving public health," Geoffrey Spencer, the World Bank's senior irrigation engineer, said in a statement.

The $149 million Uttar Pradesh loan will increase farm employment by 24 percent, the bank said in its statement.

DPA English-language service goes to Ireland

Cork, Ireland >> Deutsche Presse Agentur GmbH, Germany's largest news agency, will base its worldwide English-language service in Cork, Ireland's second-largest city, according to a Bloomberg News report. DPA expects to have about between 15 and 20 journalists in Cork by the end of the year, said Deputy Editor-in-Chief Thomas Mouillard. DPA will close the main desk for the international service in Hamburg and relocate some staff to Cork, as well as recruiting others in Ireland, he said.

Hot new cellular technologies are all about location

CANNES, France >> In Britain, cell phones can track down the nearest pub. Scandinavian teen-agers can use them to find out where their friends are hanging out. And a French company is testing a dating service that will signal when available singles are around.

Throughout Europe, a new mobile technology is gaining ground. It's all about location, location, location.

The technology works two ways -- either through global satellite positioning chips embedded in phones or by measuring a caller's distance from cell towers to chart out a position on a map.

Once your cell phone knows exactly where you're calling from, it can point you in the right direction, hook you up with friends or let you play interactive games such as wireless tag.

At the 3GSM World Congress last week in the French Riviera resort of Cannes, many companies were showing off so-called "location-based" mobile technologies.

AT&T board appointment could signal new CEO

NEW YORK >> In a move that appears to point to its next chief executive, AT&T Corp. appointed company president David W. Dorman to its board of directors.

"Putting him on the board is a vote of confidence in him," said AT&T spokeswoman Eileen Connolly. "Dorman is clearly one of the people the board would consider" as a candidate to replace departing chief executive C. Michael Armstrong.

Basking Ridge, N.J.-based AT&T, the country's number one long-distance carrier, needs to name a successor to replace Armstrong by year's end, Connolly said.

Armstrong has said he will remain with the company's cable business, AT&T Broadband, which, pending shareholder and regulatory approval, will be sold and merged with cable provider Comcast Corp.

In the board room, former jobs count

In the Orwellian board room, all outside directors are created equal, but some are more equal than others. The Boston Globe reported the new proxy statement of Interneuron Pharmaceuticals Inc. informs shareholders that all outside directors are paid $2,000 for each meeting, except for Alexander Haig, the former secretary of state. Without explanation it reports Haig, a director since 1990, is paid $10,000.

Federated Direct CEO takes job at Limited

CINCINNATI >> Federated Department Stores Inc., which operates the Macy's and Bloomingdale's department-store chains, said the head of its Internet and catalog unit, Jeffrey Sherman, resigned to take over as chief executive of The Limited Inc.'s namesake stores.

Sherman, 53, will resign March 1. He will become chief executive of the Limited Stores on March 4, replacing Rob Bernard, who resigned earlier this month, Limited said.

Sherman's duties at Federated include overseeing the Fingerhut catalog and Internet business, which the company is trying to sell.

Honeywell elects CEO to succeed Bossidy

NEWARK, N.J. >> Honeywell International named David M. Cote its new chief executive, replacing Lawrence A. Bossidy as head of the struggling aerospace technology company.

Bossidy, 66, said he will remain chairman and a member of the board of directors until June 30 and will then retire, ceding the chairmanship to Cote.

Bossidy had rejoined Honeywell in July 2001 after retiring in 2000, promising to stay a year to try to turn around the maker of high-tech aerospace, automotive and security products.

Cote, 49, has served for just over six months as chairman, president and CEO of TRW, the Cleveland-based service provider for the space, defense and automotive industries. He spent 25 years before that in various management and leadership positions for GE.

Former Coke exec named to head Revlon

CHICAGO >> Troubled cosmetics maker Revlon Inc. named former Coca-Cola Co. President and Chief Operating Officer Jack Stahl to become the company's third chief executive in five years.

Stahl, 48, replaces Jeffrey Nugent, who resigned from New York-based Revlon, which has suffered from declining sales and millions of dollars in losses over the past several years.

Revlon, which is controlled by financier Ronald Perelman and makes Revlon and Almay cosmetics as well as Flex shampoo, said Stahl's appointment was effective immediately.

Stahl resigned from Coca-Cola in March 2001, as the company shuffled its management structure. At the time, analysts said Stahl had ambitions to be a CEO, a job that would not be available for some time at Coca-Cola.