ASIA
Philippine joblessness hits 2-year high in July
MANILA >> Philippine unemployment jumped almost a full percentage point in July to a two-year high as business investment declined for a third straight quarter and the number of people looking for jobs expanded.The jobless rate rose to 11.2 percent from 10.1 percent a year earlier, the National Statistics Office said. No seasonally adjusted month-on-month figures are provided.
Higher numbers of people out of work may dampen consumer spending, making the government's 4.5 percent economic growth target unattainable. Consumer spending comprises two-thirds of the Philippine economy, which grew at the fastest pace in five years in the second quarter.
Business investment fell 3.3 percent in the second quarter, the third quarterly decline, while the number of people employed and looking for work rose 4 percent.
Price rise leads OPEC to raise oil production
OSAKA, Japan >> OPEC will agree this week to boost production quotas for the first time in two years, as a 45 percent surge in oil prices threatens to slow demand and spur rivals to boost output, investors and traders said.The group will raise its target by about 950,000 barrels a day, or 4.4 percent, according to forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey of 24 analysts. An increase would send U.S. oil prices down by $2 a barrel from almost $30 now, the survey showed. Twenty of the 24 analysts expected an increase, and the rest saw no change.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meets Thursday in Osaka, Japan, as the threat of war in Iraq and the approach of an annual peak in demand threaten to drive prices higher.
MAINLAND
IBM, Red Hat spread Linux compatibility
NEW YORK >> IBM and the software company Red Hat plan to announce a multiyear alliance today to greatly expand the range of IBM computers and software products that run on the Linux operating software distributed by Red Hat.IBM and Red Hat, the leader among the start-ups trying to profit from packaging and supporting the free Linux operating system, also agreed to jointly sell their products and support services to big business customers deploying Linux systems.
Financial details and the exact length of the three separate deals in the alliance package will not be disclosed. But the general terms outline a substantial, if not entirely unexpected, step forward in the Linux assault on the corporate market.
Millions in loans were forgiven, Tyco says
NEW YORK >> Tyco International is planning to report this week that millions of dollars of previously undisclosed loans were made to dozens of employees and later forgiven on the instructions of former chief executive L. Dennis Kozlowski, said people who were briefed on the company's planned filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.The filing is the result of an investigation into the company's corporate governance and accounting practices by lawyer David Boies and the staff of his firm, Boies, Schiller & Flexner.
In the filing, Tyco plans to describe in detail many of the activities of Kozlowski that led to his indictment last week on charges of fraud, larceny and corruption and Tyco's lawsuit against him. The filing includes details of the activities of Tyco's former chief financial officer, Mark Swartz, who was charged with similar crimes, and its corporate counsel, Mark Belnick, who was charged with falsifying records.
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[ HAWAII INC. ]
PROMOTIONS
>> Daryl Akiyoshi has been named assistant general manager of the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach. He manages day-to-day operations, oversees the rooms division, and will have an active role in the hotel's $15 million guest room renovation. He has more than 20 years of experience in the visitor industry; 15 of those at Outrigger Hotels & Resorts.>> Elizabeth Bal has been promoted to catering and conference services manager for the Orchid at Mauna Lani. She is responsible for catering and meeting services for the corporate, incentive and association business at the hotel. She was most recently the Orchid's wedding coordinator and sales and public relations administrative assistant.
ON THE BOARD
>> Adelia C. Chung has been named 2003 second vice president of the Million Dollar Round Table. She is the first woman nominated to the MDRT executive committee.Her five-year term culminates in 2005 with the MDRT presidency. Chung and her husband, Steven Dung, are well-known for their efforts on behalf of the Hawaii Bone Marrow Registry following the leukemia diagnoses of the daughter Alana in 1997.
The MDRT is an international association of more than 28,000 life insurance and financial services professionals.
>> The Hawaii Korean Chamber of Commerce has elected Daniel Pyun, a private attorney, as its president for 2002-03. Other officers include: Andre Lee, a Pacific Naval Facilities Engineering Command structural engineer, as vice president; Jenny Li, an assistant vice president of City Bank's internal audit division, as treasurer; and Taeyong Kim, Environmental Communications Inc. president, as secretary.
>> Loren Mochida has been named president of the Agricultural Leadership Foundation of Hawaii. Mochida is general manager of Keaau's Tropical Hawaiian Products. Other new officers are: Vice president Diane Ley, Mountain View's Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation; secretary Tim O'Connell, cooperative development specialist at Hilo's USDA Rural Development Office; treasurer Carleton L. Williams, Detor & Williams CPA firm partner; and honorary chairman Daniel K. Inouye, senator.