■ Music industry
EMI offers bid for Warner
EMI Group Plc has offered £625 million (US$998 million) for Warner Music's recorded music unit as part of an effort to end merger talks between Warner and Bertelsmann AG's BMG division, the Financial Mail on Sunday reported, citing unidentified people in the industry. EMI chairman Eric Nicoli wants to find a merger partner and Warner is his preferred choice, the paper said. He is on friendly terms with AOL Time Warner Inc Chairman and chief executive Dick Parsons, the paper said. Warner and BMG have extended an exclusivity period for their negotiations, the report said. Last week the < ■ Scandals SK Global head resigns The chairman of South Korea's third-largest conglomerate, SK Group, has resigned as head of the group's troubled trading arm, SK Global, officials said yesterday. Group officials said the exit was aimed at helping creditors form a new leadership for SK Global, which admitted in March to inflating earnings by more than US$1.2 billion in 2001 to hide losses. Group chairman Son Kil-Seung and the largest shareholder, Chey Tae-Won, has been found guilty of accounting irregularities. Creditors will discuss the appointment of SK Global's new chairman and board members today, it said. Son, however, will retain his membership in the board of SK Corp, the largest refiner, which has a controlling stake in SK Global. ■ Trade Da Silva urges cooperation Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged South American nations to stand united in trade negotiations with richer countries. "There is no individual solution for any country in South America," Silva said Saturday during the inauguration of a new turbine at the huge Itaipu hydroelectric dam on Brazil's southwestern border with Paraguay. The region's countries have to act as one political force in negotiations with rich countries, or Latin America would "continue [to be] poor for another century," Silva warned. Talks for an all-hemispheric Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) have entered a difficult stage as South America's bigger economies, Brazil and Argentina, insist on an end to tariff barriers imposed against some of their agricultural products by the US. ■ Telecom India limits CDMA India's telecommunications regulator has recommended the government enforce limits on mobile phone companies such as Reliance Infocomm Ltd that use CDMA technology, the Economic Times reported. Since January 2001, fixed-line phone companies have been able to offer mobile services using code division multiple access, or CDMA technology, provided the service is limited within a city. Infocomm and other companies have skirted the limit, allowing customers to roam using call forwarding and multiple registrations. If the regulator's recom-mendations are accepted, the practice would have to end, the paper said. Phone companies using global system for mobile communications, or GSM standard technology, such as Bharti Tele- Ventures Ltd, had opposed the introduction of the rival services.
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
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