■ Copyrights
YouTube deletes 29,549 files
The popular video-sharing site YouTube deleted nearly 30,000 files after a Japanese entertainment group complained of copyright infringement. The Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers, found 29,549 video clips such as television shows, music videos and movies posted on YouTube's site without permission, an official from the group, Fumiyuki Asakura, said on Friday. The San Mateo, California-based company quickly complied with the request to remove the copyright materials, made on behalf of 23 Japanese TV stations and entertainment companies, Asakura said.
■ Investment
WorldCom payouts to start
Thousands of individual investors who lost money in the WorldCom collapse are set to receive up to US$150 million from a special compensation fund, US regulators said on Friday. The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement that defrauded investors would start receiving compensation payouts from the fund immediately. The 2002 implosion of WorldCom marked the US' biggest corporate collapse. Investors in 110 countries made nearly 450,000 claims to the SEC-administered fund related to approximately 9.4 million transactions in WorldCom securities.
■ Banking
Watchdog tackles GE's Lake
Japan's financial watchdog has ordered GE Consumer Finance Ltd, a unit of General Electric Co, to temporarily suspend some operations, accusing the consumer lender of using inappropriate loan collection tactics. The Financial Services Agency on Friday ordered the company, which runs a personal loan business in Japan known as Lake, to halt all operations at its call centers in Tokyo and Osaka from Nov. 13 to Nov. 17. GE Consumer Finance has acknowledged that it called a customer at work twice in April, even though the customer asked not to receive such contacts after the first call. Calling a borrower at his or her workplace after a request not to do so is a violation of Japan's money-lending laws.
■ Automakers
Japanese eye Russia, Brazil
Nissan Motor Co and Suzuki Motor Corp are looking into jointly producing cars in Russia and Brazil, Japanese business daily Nihon Keizai reported yesterday. Nissan may produce cars for Suzuki in Brazil, where Nissan began production in 2001, as well as at its new plant in St. Petersburg, Russia, which will begin production in 2009, the paper said. Nissan and Suzuki officials were not available for comment yesterday. The reported plans follow an announcement in June that the two companies will mutually supply vehicles and share plants.
■ Reinsurance
Buffett assures Lloyds names
US investor Warren Buffett yesterday offered reassurance to thousands of Lloyds of London names over his company's deal to take on pre-1993 claims. In a deal announced on Friday, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway, his investment company, will provide US$7 billion reinsurance cover to Equitas, the company set up to manage the liabilities of policies underwritten by 34,000 individual investors, or "names." Berkshire Hathaway unit National Indemnity Co will also take over the staff and managment of Equitas, set up after Lloyds faced a crisis following the loss of £8 billion (US$15 billion) between 1988 and 1992 after a series of natural disasters and massive asbestos claims.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
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