■ BANKING
Warning given on Q3 results
Deutsche Bank said the international credit crisis would hurt its third quarter results. "Deutsche Bank also made errors during this crisis," chief executive Josef Ackermann said in an interview broadcast yesterday on ZDF television. Ackermann said the bank's third-quarter results would be weighed down by the crisis because 29 billion euros (US$40 billion) in credit agreements for large acquisitions must be re-assessed. He did not say exactly how much the errors would cost the bank, but warned it would probably not hire 4,000 staff by the end of the year as planned.
■ ENERGY
Beijing curbs use of corn
China is tightening controls on the industrial use of corn, including biofuel processing. The National Development and Reform Commission, in a notice on its Web site yesterday, said it would stop approving new projects involving use of corn for industrial purposes and would suspend those not already under construction. New projects to build plants to convert corn into fuels such as ethanol are banned, as it foreign investment in such industries.
■ TELECOMS
DoCoMo opens Hanoi office
NTT DoCoMo Inc, Japan's biggest mobile-phone operator, has set up an office in Hanoi. The office, staffed with four employees, will "strengthen relationships with government officials and corporate executives," Tokyo-based DoCoMo said yesterday in a statement. The company is seeking sources of income outside of Japan as intensifying competition contributed to a 25 percent profit decline last fiscal year. It aims to increase overseas sales to 10 percent of total revenue within a decade from less than 1 percent, chief financial officer Masayuki Hirata said in June.
■ TELECOMS
NextWave leaving Japan
US telecom firm NextWave Wireless has decided to sell its stake in IP Mobile, becoming the second foreign firm to exit Japan's mobile telephone industry, IP Mobile said yesterday. Japanese real estate group Mori Trust Co will buy back the stake and again become the largest shareholder in the Tokyo-based cellphone firm, it said. NextWave just acquired a 69.23 percent stake in IP Mobile from Mori Trust last month, becoming the top shareholder. NextWave was only the second foreign firm to enter the Japan's mobile phone market after Britain's Vodafone, which pulled out last year.
■ TRADE
EU happy with US move
The EU yesterday hailed as a "positive move" what it saw as a new US willingness to negotiate in world trade talks, raising hopes of progress in the Doha round of negotiations. It showed a "US commitment to negotiate on the basis of the Geneva text and we urge all partners to do likewise ... Unless the US is committed then there is no future," said Peter Power, the spokesman for EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson. WTO chief agriculture negotiator, New Zealand Ambassador Crawford Falconer, said in Geneva on Wednesday that the US had accepted a proposal to cut subsidies in the agricultural sector.
■ BANKING
Cordes to head retail giant
Metro, the leading German retail and distribution firm, said yesterday that former Mercedes chief Eckhard Cordes will be its new chief executive, replacing Hans-Joachim Koerber, who is leaving on Oct. 31.
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