■Labor
Australians are overworked
To outsiders Australia has always been an egalitarian paradise of decent living standards, easy work and time off at the beach. But according to a new survey, Australians are among the most overworked people in the developed world. The report, by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (Actu), found that a higher proportion worked 50-plus hours a week in Australia than in any of the other 29 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It also found that half the workforce was in part-time or casual work, and half worked overtime but only two out of five were paid extra for it.
■ Tourism
Guangdong Tours collapses
One thousand travellers were hit Friday when a travel agency chain shut down its branches across Hong Kong after collapsing with debts of US$48 million. Guangdong (HK) Tours, which specializes in cross-border tours between Hong Kong and China, shut down its six offices around Hong Kong yesterday, affecting an estimated 1,000 tourists either on tours or booked onto tours with the company. The shutdown came after the 20-year-old chain was wound up by creditors in Hong Kong's High Court Thursday night for failing to repay its debts. Director Li Wen-yue said business had been hard hit since the central govern-ment eased restrictions and allowed the number of Chinese companies bringing tours to Hong Kong to be increased from four to nearly 70, triggering price wars and reduced profit margins.
■ Scandals
Zhou accused of laundering
Companies associated with reportedly detained Shanghai tycoon, Zhou Zhengyi (周正毅), acted as fundraising agents for Shanghai Nongkai Development, Zhou's flagship company, state press reported yesterday. Daying Modern Agriculture and property developer Shanghai Hainiao Enterprise Develop-ment Company allegedly transferred large amounts of money to the embattled tycoon's Nongkai Group via various restructuring and asset deals, the China Securities Journal claimed. There were also signs that Shanghai Nongkai was making use of the two listed firms to finance its property development projects, the report said, without providing further details. Daying admitted yesterday that it had been under the effective control of Shanghai Nongkai, backtracking on a previous public statement to the contrary.
■ Free trade
Americas FTA talks held
The Bush administration began discussions aimed at narrowing differences with 14 other Western Hemi-sphere countries involved in talks to create the world's largest free trade area. The two days of meetings were intended to take stock of the negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement of the Americas before a November meeting in Miami that will bring together all 34 participating countries. Anti-trade groups complained that more than half of the countries in the negotiations were excluded from this week's gathering. The groups also charged that the administration had picked a remote conference center 113km from Washing-ton, in Wye River, Maryland, as the meeting site in order to limit news coverage. The agreement "has become a real negotiation with other countries making demands on the US that are giving the administration political heartburn," said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch.
Agencies
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS