■Record labels
EMI reports first-half profit
EMI Group Plc, the world's third-largest recorded music company, reported a fiscal first-half profit, helped by job cuts and a gain on asset sales. Net income in the six months ended Sept. 30 was ?138.4 million (US$219 million), EMI said in a PR Newswire statement. Revenue fell 9.9 percent to ?961.5 million. Sales at the recorded-music unit, the company's largest, will fall in the year ending March, it said. In May, EMI forecast revenue would be about unchanged at the division. First-half revenue at the unit slumped 12 percent to ?759.3 million.
■ Test equipment
Agilent has loss in Q4
Agilent Technologies Inc. had a fourth-quarter loss on higher costs and plans to cut as many as 2,500 jobs. The testing equipment-maker's shares surged as sales rose for the first time in six quarters. The net loss in the quarter ended Oct. 31 was US$236 million, or 51 cents a share, partly on severance costs, compared with net income of US$197 million, or US$0.43, a year ago, Agilent said in a statement. Sales rose 8.1 percent to US$1.74 billion from US$1.61 billion. Agilent has been paring expenses over the past year as sales tumbled partly because of slack demand for gear used to test telecommunications equipment. The job cuts, which represent as much as 6.9 percent of Agilent's workforce, are in addition to 8,000 eliminated positions announced last year.
■ World markets
Vietnam still restrictive
The US says Vietnam's economy remains too much under government control, a finding that may hinder efforts by companies such as Citigroup, Unilever and New York Life to expand business in the 13th most populous nation. The Commerce Department's finding hands a victory to US catfish farmers. Their dumping complaint led Vietnam to make its failed attempt to seek designation as a so-called market economy and avoid the highest possible tariffs when that case is decided. Many US corporations took Vietnam's side, since a market economy finding may ease Vietnam's entry into the WTO, further eliminating market barriers after a US-Vietnam trade agreement in July 2000 opened the door a crack. "We are disappointed that this has been the outcome of the ruling," said Virginia Foote, president of the US-Vietnam Business Council, whose members include Boeing Co, Nike Inc and Motorola Inc. "The effect could be fairly serious for Vietnam's catfish farmers."
■ Inventions
Human transporter on sale
A "human transporter" unveiled with great fanfare a year ago by inventor Dean Kamen went on sale to the public Monday through online retailer Amazon.com The two-wheeled, self-balancing Segway Human Transporter -- with the appearance of a T-shaped scooter -- has been touted as a revolutionary urban transport vehicle, using a system of coordinating gyroscopes, computers and electric motor. The cost was set at US$4,950. Deliveries are set for March. The device was unveiled last December, but had not been on sale to the public. The US postal service and some public safety officials signed contracts for the devices.
The Segway attains speeds of about 19kph. "Since the Segway HT was introduced nearly a year ago, tens of thousands of people have asked how they can get one," said Dean Kamen, the inventor who is chairman of Segway LLC.
Agencies
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
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