Japan planning more economic stimulus
TOKYO » Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is planning about $29 billion in fresh stimulus, including subsidies and job-creating programs, to help pull the world’s third-largest economy out of recession.
Officials said Friday that details of the plan would be approved by the Cabinet on Saturday as it wraps up work for 2014. The plan reportedly includes $3.5 billion in help for stagnant regional economies.
Abe took office for a third term Wednesday and faces strong pressure to do something to restore growth after a sales tax hike in April put Japan back in recession.
Data released Friday showed inflation eased slightly in November as household spending dropped, hindering the government’s effort to get the economy out of recession and back to sustainable growth.
Abe’s stimulus plan will focus on providing more support to lower-income families and to Japan’s regions where growth has stagnated, reports said Friday.
S. Korean official arrested over nut incident
SEOUL » South Korean prosecutors Friday arrested a government official who allegedly leaked information about an investigation into former Korean Air Lines executive Cho Hyun-ah, who forced a flight to return over a bag of macadamia nuts.
The transport ministry official was sent to a Seoul detention facility after a local court issued a warrant for his arrest. The official was suspected of providing the information to a Korean Air Lines executive, who allegedly tried to cover up the incident.
Cho, the daughter of Korean Air’s chairman, resigned as vice president at the airline earlier this month amid mounting public criticism that she forced a Dec. 5 plane bound for South Korea from New York to return to a gate and kicked off a flight attendant because the nuts were served in a bag, not on a plate.
PlayStation, Xbox outages agonize players
SAN FRANCISCO » Sony’s PlayStation network remained offline Friday on the second day of an outage that began roiling the online world just as eager video game players were unwrapping new consoles on Christmas morning.
Microsoft’s Xbox Live service, which also went down Thursday, was back online Friday, although the company reported problems with some functions in the afternoon.
Credit for the disruptions was claimed on Twitter by a group of self-proclaimed hackers called Lizard Squad — or someone purporting to speak for the group. But many video game enthusiasts and some other hacker groups quickly condemned their actions.
Even the notorious Kim Dotcom, a New Zealand-based online entrepreneur who’s been accused of abetting Internet piracy, got into the act by offering free vouchers for his online privacy service if the Lizard Squad would agree to restore the Xbox network.
A Lizard Squad account on Twitter appeared to credit Dotcom’s offer for the partial restoration of Xbox service Friday. But exactly what happened is still unclear: Neither Sony nor Microsoft would say what disrupted their networks. And experts say it’s difficult to trace the source of attacks or confirm claims of responsibility.
Tesla’s Roadster to get 400 miles per charge
NEW YORK » Tesla said improvements it is making to its older Roadster model will let the electric car travel about 400 miles on a single charge.
The Palo Alto, Calif., company said that a new battery, new tires and other improvements will boost the car’s range 40 to 50 percent compared with the original.
Tesla plans to demonstrate the higher range with a drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles — about a 400-mile trip — early next year.
Tesla Motors Inc. CEO Elon Musk tweeted about the upgrade Thursday, and Tesla posted more details on its website Friday.
Tesla stopped making Roadsters in 2012, the year it introduced the Model S. The company said not to expect any major upgrades in the battery or range of its Model S "in the near term." Musk said that upgrades will happen eventually.
The Model S comes with two battery options. The larger battery has a range of 265 miles, according to EPA testing.
ON THE MOVE
Graham Builders has announced that Hector Garcia is the firm’s estimator. Before joining the company, Garcia was a land surveyor for Martinez Couch & Associates in Rocky Hill, Conn., where he performed boundary and topographic surveys.
Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert, a law firm in Honolulu, has hired Sommerset K.M. Wong as an associate in the firm’s dispute resolution practice group. She was previously a volunteer intern with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a summer extern with Chief Judge Susan Oki Mollway of the U.S. District Court of Honolulu, as well as a research intern with the Hawaii State Bar Association.
Queen Kaahumanu Center has announced that Jacqueline Perreira has been named general manager. She was previously a senior accountant of Queen Kaahumanu Center as well as the King’s Shop, which is on Hawaii island.
