■ PUBLISHING
No higher bid: Murdoch
News Corp chief executive Rupert Murdoch says he won't raise last week's US$5 billion bid for Dow Jones and Co. But the executive editor of BusinessWeek magazine on Thursday predicted Murdoch will up the offer and acquire the owner of the Wall Street Journal by year's end. Journal publisher Gordon Crovitz, sitting on stage with BusinessWeek's John Byrne, refused to comment other than to acknowledge: "We're more accustomed to publishing the headlines than being in them."
■ AUTOMAKERS
Magna denies Chrysler bid
The co-chief executive of Canadian auto group Magna International said on Thursday that his company was not interested in fully taking over DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler unit. "We're only interested in a minority stake," co-chief executive Siegfried Wolf was quoted as saying by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview posted on its Web site. Wolf added Magna and DaimlerChrysler are in advanced talks on a possible deal. "Our offer has been sent to DaimlerChrysler, who are reviewing the bid," he said.
■ INTERNET
Joost announces funding
Joost, an Internet-based TV service being launched by the creators of Skype and Kazaa, said it has raised US$45 million from five investors including CBS Corp and Viacom Inc and an influential Hong Kong telecommunications executive. Index Ventures, a European venture capital firm, and Sequoia Capital were the lead contributors to the investment. The fifth participant is Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd (黃浦和記) and Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd (長江實業), who invested in Joost through his charitable foundation, the Li Ka-shing Foundation. Joost declined to say on Thursday whether this is its first round of venture capital funding.
■ TRADE
China's surplus increases
China's monthly trade surplus more than doubled in April to nearly US$17 billion, the government said yesterday, adding to pressure on Beijing ahead of closely watched talks with Washington on its swollen trade gap. The April trade gap of US$16.88 billion was below February's US$23.7 billion -- the second-highest level on record -- but in line with steady increases in monthly trade surpluses over the past year. The government reported a monthly trade surplus of just US$6.9 billion in March. The April figure raised the country's accumulated trade surplus so far this year to US$63 billion, the customs agency said. China reported a global trade surplus last year of US$177.5 billion.
■ BANKING
Greens pan Chinese banks
Green groups have slammed Chinese banks for increasing investments in environmentally hazardous and controversial projects both in developing nations around the world and at home. Friends of the Earth and BankTrack, a network that monitors the financial sector, cite logging activities in Suriname and Indonesia, a controversial iron ore mine in Gabon and a potentially polluting nickel mine in Papua New Guinea as examples of projects funded by Chinese banks. A dam in Sudan that will displace 50,000 people when it straddles the Nile river is also being built with money from Chinese banks, the organizations said in a report. China's Three Gorges Dam project was also noted.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
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