■ Forex
Wen pledges no surprises
China plans no "surprise adjustment" in its currency's exchange rate, Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) said, defending Beijing's policy of gradually adjusting its controls on the yuan. Wen's comments, posted on the Foreign Ministry's Web site yesterday, come amid speculation that Beijing will relax those controls in the face of mounting pressure from the US and other trading partners for the value of the yuan to rise. "The floating of the renminbi exchange rate will be mainly determined by market supply and demand and its flexibility will be increased gradually," Wen said. "So there will be no `surprise' adjustment in the renminbi exchange rate."
■ Semiconductors
Chip measures sunlight
South Korea's Samsung Electronics yesterday announced an "intelligent" light-sensitive microchip, allowing displays on devices like mobile phones to be clearly seen even in bright sunlight. Samsung said the new display chips will maintain image quality on liquid crystal display screens by automatically measuring sunlight and adjusting the backlight. Because of their sunlight-detecting abilities, the new chips will be able to save power when mobile phones are used indoors. Mass production of the chips will start this year.
■ Entertainment
PlayStation 3 delayed again
Sony said yesterday that it was again delaying the launch of the PlayStation 3 games console in Europe, pushing back the rollout of one of its most pivotal new products until March. The launch of the next-generation video game console will also be delayed in Russia, the Middle East, Africa and Australasia due to a shortage of laser parts, Sony said. It said that it still planned to launch the PlayStation 3 in Japan and North America in November as planned and it still plans to ship 6 million PlayStation 3 consoles globally in the 2007 fiscal year.
■ Travel
Korean Air limits laptops
Korean Air, South Korea's largest airline, has banned the in-flight use of all Dell and some Apple laptop computer models while operating on battery power after the two US firms announced massive recalls over a battery problem, a company official said yesterday. The ban has been in place since Aug. 30, but passengers can still operate the laptops if they use electricity from the in-seat power supply system after separating the batteries from the computers, an airline spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity.
■ Internet
MySpace to sell music
The Web site MySpace announced on Tuesday that it will enable members to sell their music. MySpace said it made a deal with San Francisco digital music technology firm SNOCAP to provide musicians and studios tools to sell tunes in a virtual storefront on the Web site. A beta version of the service began testing with offerings from a few bands on Tuesday and MySpace expected to have the polished service rolled out in the US by year's end.
■ Media
BMG Music sold to Vivendi
Bertelsmann AG said yesterday that it had agreed to sell its BMG Music Publishing Group to France's Vivendi for 1.63 billion euros (US$2 billion). The move means Vivendi and its Universal Music Publishing arm will become the world's biggest music publisher.
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
A Control Yuan member yesterday said he would initiate an investigation into why the number of foreign nationals injured or killed in traffic incidents has nearly doubled in the past few years, and whether government agencies’ mechanisms were ineffective in ensuring road safety. Control Yuan member Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) said in a news release that Taiwan has been described as a “living hell for pedestrians” and traffic safety has become an important national security issue. According to a National Audit Office report released last year, more than 780,000 foreign nationals were legally residing in Taiwan in 2019, which grew to more than
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
The US will continue its friendly approach toward Taiwan in the next US administration and Taiwan would work to prevent China “making trouble” during the transition, a senior Taiwanese security official said yesterday. Former US president Donald Trump, the Republican candidate who claimed victory in Tuesday’s vote against US Vice President Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party, made comments on the campaign trail that Taiwan should pay to be protected and also accused the nation of “stealing” American semiconductor business. Taiwan has faced military pressure from Beijing over the past five years, including four major rounds of war games in the past