■ INTERNET
Google tops online brands
Google and Yahoo are the top online brand names for US consumers, with MySpace a strong contender among young Internet users, a survey showed on Monday. The JupiterResearch survey showed Google was a favorite online brand for 36 percent of those surveyed, compared with 32 percent for Yahoo. But MySpace, the social networking site, was cited as a favorite by 32 percent of those in the age group of 18 to 24. Among other key online brands, Amazon was cited by 20 percent of those surveyed, eBay by 18 percent, followed by Microsoft with 11 percent, AOL 7 percent and Apple 3 percent.
■ FOOTWEAR
Nike wins lawsuit in China
Nike has won lawsuits against two Chinese shoemakers and the local operations of a French supermarket chain over alleged illegal copying of its Air Jordan logo, a court official said yesterday. The Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate Court awarded Nike Inc, the world's largest sports apparel firm, a total of 350,000 yuan (US$46,100) in damages from Jinjiang Longzhibu Shoe Co, Jinjiang Kangwei Shoe Co and retailer Auchan, Xinhua news agency and other reports said. Nike said its employees found shoes made by the companies being sold for about 100 yuan a pair, while authentic Air Jordan shoes sell for many times that amount.
■ TELECOMS
SK to convert bond holdings
South Korea's SK Telecom said yesterday it would become the second-largest shareholder in China Unicom Ltd (中國聯通) by converting US$1 billion in bonds into shares. The company, South Korea's largest mobile phone operator, said the move to forge a stronger strategic partnership would help it make inroads into the Chinese market. It said in a statement that the bond swap would give it a 6.6 percent shareholding and one director on the board of China Unicom. The Chinese firm is the nation's second-largest mobile carrier.
■ INVESTMENT
Blackstone to buy Goldakas
US private equity investor Blackstone Group LP has agreed to pay up to US$165 million to buy a majority stake in India's leading garment exporter, Gokaldas Exports Ltd, both firms have said. The New York-based company has reached an agreement to acquire a 50.1 percent stake in Gokaldas Exports and later make an open offer for an additional 20 percent as required by Indian laws, the companies said in a joint statement released late on Monday. Blackstone will invest up to US$165 million to complete the transaction, including the open offer, it said. This is Blackstone's third major deal in India this year.
■ TRANSPORTATION
Malaysian port in debt
Malaysian authorities are facing a scandal over debts allegedly exceeding US$1 billion incurred by the nation's main port authority, sparking concerns about a possible government bailout, politicians said yesterday. The issue is politically sensitive for Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is widely expected to call for general elections before the middle of next year. Abdullah said last week he needed more details and refused to comment on media reports saying the Port Klang Authority has racked up debts totaling about 4.6 billion ringgit (US$1.3 billion) because of problems with the Port Klang Free Zone, a much-hyped shipping area that opened in western Malaysia last year.
NO RECIPROCITY: Taipei has called for cross-strait group travel to resume fully, but Beijing is only allowing people from its Fujian Province to travel to Matsu, the MAC said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday criticized an announcement by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism that it would lift a travel ban to Taiwan only for residents of China’s Fujian Province, saying that the policy does not meet the principles of reciprocity and openness. Chinese Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Rao Quan (饒權) yesterday morning told a delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers in a meeting in Beijing that the ministry would first allow Fujian residents to visit Lienchiang County (Matsu), adding that they would be able to travel to Taiwan proper directly once express ferry
FAST RELEASE: The council lauded the developer for completing model testing in only four days and releasing a commercial version for use by academia and industry The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) yesterday released the latest artificial intelligence (AI) language model in traditional Chinese embedded with Taiwanese cultural values. The council launched the Trustworthy AI Dialogue Engine (TAIDE) program in April last year to develop and train traditional Chinese-language models based on LLaMA, the open-source AI language model released by Meta. The program aims to tackle the information bias that is often present in international large-scale language models and take Taiwanese culture and values into consideration, it said. Llama 3-TAIDE-LX-8B-Chat-Alpha1, released yesterday, is the latest large language model in traditional Chinese. It was trained based on Meta’s Llama-3-8B
STUMPED: KMT and TPP lawmakers approved a resolution to suspend the rate hike, which the government said was unavoidable in view of rising global energy costs The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it has a mandate to raise electricity prices as planned after the legislature passed a non-binding resolution along partisan lines to freeze rates. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers proposed the resolution to suspend the price hike, which passed by a 59-50 vote. The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) voted with the KMT. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the KMT said the resolution is a mandate for the “immediate suspension of electricity price hikes” and for the Executive Yuan to review its energy policy and propose supplementary measures. A government-organized electricity price evaluation board in March
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has