■ INTERNET
Souders to join Google
Yahoo Inc.s Web site performance executive Steve Souders, who has been at Yahoo since 2000, will join Google Inc next week, Souders said on his blog. "I'm at Google as of Jan. 7, 2008," Souders wrote on his Web site www.stevesouders.com, without further explanation. Souders developed platforms and products while at Yahoo and managed the development team for My Yahoo, a page that can be tailored to individual users' preferences. Yahoo's stock has fallen 9 percent this year while Google's has risen 50 percent.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Delphi reports losses
Auto-parts supplier Delphi Corp on Monday reported a net loss of US$231 million for November. The Troy, Michigan, company, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2005, said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that its net loss for January through November amounted to US$2.78 billion. Delphi recorded about US$1.15 billion in net sales for last month. Delphi, the US' biggest maker of auto parts, was spun off in 1999 from General Motors Corp, which has borne a large chunk of Delphi's restructuring costs.
■ INVESTMENT
US approves NASDAQ deal
NASDAQ Stock Market Inc said on Monday the US government approved a plan to give Dubai's state-owned bourse a stake in the US electronic exchange. The approval is the first step in allowing the NASDAQ to continue with its plan to acquire Stockholm-based exchange operator OMX. The new exchange will be known as Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. Borse Dubai Ltd will own a 19.9 percent stake in the US exchange, though its voting stake will be capped at 5 percent. It will also receive NASDAQ's stake in the London Stock Exchange. Shares of NASDAQ rose US$0.35 cents to US$49.47 in afternoon trading.
■ TRANSPORTATION
Jeju Air orders 737s
South Korea's Jeju Air has ordered five narrowbody 737 passenger planes to accommodate future growth, Boeing Co said on Monday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Chicago-based Boeing, which assembles its 737s south of Seattle, said the new 737-800s are worth US$370 million at list prices, though customers typically negotiate steep discounts. The single-aisle plane can seat between 162 and 189 passengers and fly about 5,600km. To date, Boeing has won more than 4,400 orders for so-called "Next-Generation" 737s, which include several models from the 737-600 to the 737-900ER.
■ TRADE
Cuba-China trade up 23%
Trade between Cuba and China grew by 23 percent to more than US$2 billion last year, solidifying China's place as the communist-run island's second-largest economic benefactor behind oil-rich Venezuela. China is Cuba's second-largest trading partner and the top importer of Cuban products, especially nickel and sugar, Cuba's official news agency Prensa Latina reported on Monday from Beijing, without giving exact figures. In 2006, trade between the two countries totaled US$1.8 billion -- double that of 2005, China's ambassador to Havana said in March. Chinese consumer goods are increasingly common on the island, and hundreds of Chinese-made buses and trains have helped ease chronic transportation problems.
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
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