■MUSIC
MySpace buys imeem
MySpace on Tuesday announced that it has bought online music service imeem and is weaving it into the social networking community. “We’ll start that transition today by redirecting imeem users to MySpace Music to discover their favorite music,” MySpace chief executive Owen Van Natta said in a blog post. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Imeem launched in San Francisco in 2003 and became a popular online locale for streaming and sharing music free of charge. It reported having more than 16 million users worldwide by the time it was bought by MySpace and went offline.
■REAL ESTATE
Nakheel loses US$3.64bn
Real estate giant Nakheel, at the center of the Dubai debt crisis, reported a 13.4 billion dirham (US$3.64 billion) loss on Wednesday for the first half of the year after a large writedown of asset values. The developer, whose US$3.5 billion Islamic bond debt sparked parent Dubai World’s move to ask lenders for a temporary payment suspension, said revenues had plunged 78.1 percent in the six months to June 30 to 1.97 billion dirhams from 9 billion dirhams a year earlier. The company took 12.2 billion dirhams in “impairment losses” stemming from a writedown of land values as the property market in Dubai has plunged in the past year.
■MANUFACTURING
3M cautious on outlook
Manufacturing conglomerate 3M Co on Tuesday issued an unsettling profit outlook for next year and maintained a cautious profit prediction for this year. The company forecast earnings next year between US$4.85 per share and US$5 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters predict income of US$4.94 per share next year. 3M also reiterated its forecast for this year below analyst’s expectations. Excluding one-time gains and losses, it sees full-year income of US$4.50 per share to US$4.55 per share.
■ELECTRONICS
TI struggling to fill demand
Texas Instruments Inc (TI), the second-largest US chipmaker, maintained the top end of its sales forecast during a mid-quarter update, saying it was having difficulty keeping up with demand. Sales will be US$2.9 billion to US$3.02 billion this quarter, compared with a previous forecast of US$2.78 billion to US$3.02 billion, the Dallas-based company said yesterday. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey had forecast US$2.93 billion on average. The company is coping with a surge in orders, which is making it harder to supply enough chips, vice president Ron Slaymaker said.
■FINANCE
GE expects better profits
General Electric Co (GE) says profits at its lending arm will start improving by 2011, but first it will have to slog through another year of big losses on loans gone bad in areas like commercial real estate. The conglomerate told analysts on Tuesday that profit is expected to be flat next year, ranging between US$2 billion and US$2.5 billion, and then rise in 2011. Overall losses are expected to peak next year at US$13.6 billion. GE said that while some other previously troubled lending areas have stabilized, such as consumer credit cards and mortgages in Britain, losses in commercial real estate could reach US$2.9 billion next year. That would be up from a US$2.1 billion for this year.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from