■ Banking
HSBC eyes `greater China'
HSBC Holdings Plc, the world's third-biggest bank by market value, said it plans to hire 600 employees next year to expand its commercial banking business in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. About half of hires will be in Hong Kong, while the bank's China arms add 270 and Taiwan eight to 12, said Margaret Leung, global co-head commercial banking, at a briefing yesterday in Taipei. "Greater China is the area of growth" in commercial banking, Leung said. "We expect no slower profit growth next year than each market's gross domestic product growth" of about 9 percent for China and 4 percent for Taiwan, she said.
■ Trademarks
`Hanlissy' makers fined
Two Chinese drink companies have been ordered to pay a 300,000-yuan (US$37,000) fine and apologize to French cognac maker Moet Hennessy for trademark violations, state press said yesterday. Distributor Zhuhai Xiangmutong Trading Co and bottler Xiamen Golden Huanya Food Co infringed on the Hennessy trademark by selling their own version of cognac under the name "Hanlissy," the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court said. The court found the similarity of the Hanlissy name and the resemblance in labeling to the original Hennessy was meant to mislead consumers, according to a Shanghai Daily report. Hennessy, which registered its international brand in China in 1990, found the counterfeit products at French retailer Carrefour in July last year and subsequently sued seeking 500,000 yuan in damages.
■ Internet
Yahoo tests new service
Looking to gain another edge on its rivals, Internet powerhouse Yahoo Inc was to begin testing a new e-mail folder yesterday designed to make it easier for people to track the latest information posted on their favorite Web sites. The free feature relies on Really Simple Syndication (RSS), an increasingly popular technology that can compile content from a wide array of Web sites catering to a user's personal tastes. Millions of people have signed up to receive automatic feeds on everything from the international news to family recipes since Yahoo first began providing its RSS service last year, said Scott Gatz, the company's senior director of personalization products. Until yesterday, Yahoo relied on Web pages as its RSS hub. RSS feeds will still be accessible through Yahoo's Web site.
■ Electricity
GE to buy Chile power lines
US-based General Electric Co is making its first investment in power transmission lines abroad, part of a strategy to step up business in developing countries and diversify its energy holdings. The industrial and financial services giant announced on Tuesday that it will spend US$24.4 million in a partnership to buy three transmission lines in Chile. "I think this is going to be the first of many. It depends upon finding the right country. GE as a company has made a commitment to grow in emerging economies," said Stephen Petricone, a managing director of GE Energy Financial Services. GE expects 60 percent of its growth in the next decade to come from developing countries. Under the agreement, GE will acquire an 80 percent stake in a partnership with Abengoa, a Spanish engineering company that built and operates the transmission lines.
National Taiwan University (NTU) yesterday said it disqualified a person from an entrance examination for using AI smart glasses to cheat, along with two others for making untruthful statements in their curriculum vitae. The three applicants were given null scores, Taiwan’s highest-ranked university said, calling on prospective students to be honest in the admissions process. NTU registrar Lee Hung-sen (李宏森) said that the cheating applicant wore a hat and thick-rimmed glasses to the second written exam for medical school, claiming that they felt cold. Suspicions were aroused when the applicant stared oddly at the test for long stretches while steadily bringing the paper
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
Heavy rain is expected to affect parts of Taiwan this week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday as a meteorologist said the active part of the annual plum rain season has started. A stationary plum rain front and southwesterly winds would bring unstable weather and abundant moisture to Taiwan from today for about a week, with the heaviest rainfall forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday, the CWA said. The agency said western and northeastern Taiwan, and mountainous areas in the east and southeast, could expect showers or thunderstorms on those two days, with localized heavy rain possible. Other parts of
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