■INTERNET
MySpace’s share slips
MySpace’s share of the US online social networking market slipped while rival Facebook’s piece grew in the year leading up to this month, industry tracker Hitwise reported on Thursday. On a month-on-month basis, MySpace got 67.5 percent of the visits to social networking Web sites last month, compared with 75 percent in the same month last year, Hitwise said. Meanwhile, Facebook got 20.5 percent of US social networking visits, a 50 percent increase from what it saw a year earlier.
■AUTOMOBILES
Hyundai, union make a deal
South Korea’s largest automaker, Hyundai Motor, reached a deal with its union to end a protracted dispute that has cost more than US$600 million in lost production, the company said yesterday. Some 95 percent of the 45,000 union members voted on the deal covering working conditions and wages and endorsed it by a 54-43 margin. Under the deal, the company will abolish its all-night shift system next September. It also agreed to raise the monthly base salary by 5.61 percent and pay a bonus equivalent to three months’ salary.
■IRELAND
Nation slips into recession
Ireland has become the first country in the eurozone to slip into recession, official figures showed on Thursday. The Central Statistics Office said the once-booming economy shrank 0.3 percent in the first quarter and by 0.5 percent in the second — a recession is two or more consecutive quarters of contraction. The European Commission said Germany and Spain might be next, and Britain might also be on the brink.
■TRADE
S Korea, India push FTA
South Korea and India have reached agreement on a free trade deal after talks lasting two-and-a-half years, the South Korean trade ministry said yesterday. The two countries resolved “all outstanding issues” in negotiations here on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, the equivalent of a free trade agreement, the ministry said in a statement. “Both sides expect that after completion of all domestic formalities, the agreement will enter into force in the first half of next year on a mutually agreed date,” the statement said.
■AUTOMOBILES
Tata to sell six units
India’s top vehicle maker Tata Motors is in talks with private equity funds to sell stakes in six units, a report said yesterday, as the company seeks to finance its Jaguar-Land Rover purchase. The Indian firm, which bought the British luxury icons early this year for US$2.3 billion, decided to sell off assets last month after canceling a convertible preference share issue when its share price tumbled. Tata is in talks to sell stakes in Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Co, HV Excels, HV Transmissions, Tata Motors Finance, Tata Technologies and Telco Construction Equipment, the Economic Times said, quoting unidentified bankers.
■INVESTMENT
Vietnam posts fourfold rise
Pledged foreign direct investment into Vietnam in the first nine months reached US$57.12 billion, jumping more than fourfold from the same period last year, government officials and state media said yesterday. Malaysia topped the list of investment by country origin, with US$14.8 billion being invested in Vietnam so far this year. Taiwan came in second with US$8.6 billion, followed by Japan with US$7.2 billion.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
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