■ECONOMY
China expands subsidies
China will subsidize purchases of cars and home appliances to replace older models, expanding a program first introduced in rural areas to major cities, the government said yesterday in its latest move to stimulate the economy. The decision by an executive meeting of the State Council is meant to pump up China’s domestic demand, a statement on the government’s Web site said. Areas qualifying for the subsidies include Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and several provinces in China’s affluent coastal regions.
■LABOR
HK jobless rate rises
Hong Kong’s jobless rate increased to 5.3 percent in the three months ending last month, government figures showed yesterday, the highest level in three years. The figure is up from 5.2 percent in the three months ending March, as the construction, food and manufacturing sectors were hit by a reduction in work, the Census and Statistics Department said in a statement. The number of unemployed people increased by around 9,700 to 196,900 over the period, while the workforce increased by around 4,100 to an all-time high of 3,699,000, the figures showed.
■AUTOMOBILES
Ripplewood eyes Opel
US investment fund Ripplewood is poised to make a bid for troubled German carmaker Opel, bringing the number of potential suitors to three, mass circulation daily Bild reported yesterday. Bild did not cite a source in its report. Ripplewood, a New York-based private equity fund, already controls German auto components maker Honsel. The other two firms interested in the struggling General Motors subsidiary are Italian car company Fiat and Canadian auto components manufacturer Magna, linked to Russian vehicle company GAZ.
■INTERNET
Google widens lead in US
Google increased its share of the US online search market last month while Yahoo and Microsoft both lost ground, according to figures released on Monday by tracking firm comScore. ComScore said 64.2 percent of the searches conducted by Americans last month were at Google sites, up from 63.7 percent in March. Yahoo’s share of the search market slipped 0.1 percentage points last month to 20.4 percent, while Microsoft saw its share fall by 0.1 percentage points to 8.2 percent.
■TELECOMS
Sony Ericsson needs cash
Mobile telephone maker Sony Ericsson needs to raise funds of at least 100 million euros (US$135 million) this fiscal year, Sony chief financial officer Nobuyuki Oneda said in remarks published yesterday. Sony Ericsson has various options to raise the cash, including borrowing and a share issuance, he told the Nikkei Shimbun in an interview. Sony Ericsson said last month that it would cut 2,000 more jobs after it reported a first-quarter loss of 293 million euros.
■TELECOMS
Nokia to cut 170 more jobs
Nokia, the world’s leading mobile phone maker, said yesterday it would cut 170 more jobs globally as it reorganizes its logistics, production management and production support units. At most, 100 of the 170 job reductions would take place in its native Finland, the company said in a statement. Nokia also said in a separate announcement it would offer a voluntary redundancy package to 320 people working at its factory in Salo, southwestern Finland.
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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