■SOUTH KOREA
Fitch raises credit rating
Fitch Ratings yesterday raised its sovereign credit rating outlook for South Korea, saying foreign exchange pressure on the country caused by the global financial crisis has eased. The outlook for South Korea’s long-term credit rating was revised to “stable” from “negative,” Fitch said in a statement provided by Seoul’s Strategy and Finance Ministry. Fitch had lowered the sovereign credit rating outlook for six emerging market economies last November, including South Korea, Mexico and Russia, to reflect higher risks to creditworthiness stemming from the global financial crisis.
■INTERNET
Germany opposes book plan
Google Inc’s plan to digitize millions of books would violate German copyright law and the country’s privacy protections for Internet users, the German government said in a US court filing. Germany opposes a proposed settlement, which Google reached with the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers Inc among others last October, because Google could digitize books by German authors without their consent, said Johannes Christian Wichard, deputy director-general of the German justice ministry’s Directorate General of Commercial and Economic Law, in a filing on Monday.
■INTERNET
eBay sells Skype holding
Online auction house eBay on Tuesday sold a 65 percent stake in Skype to an investment consortium in a deal that valued the Internet telephony group at US$2.75 billion. The US dotcom group will receive US$1.9 billion in cash and US$125 million in loans. The valuation placed on Skype is roughly comparable to what eBay spent buying the business in 2005. However, eBay will in effect make a profit on the deal because it slashed the value of the business two years after it was bought as it became increasingly obvious that it had little strategic fit.
■AVIATION
SkyEurope goes bankrupt
Budget carrier SkyEurope, which serves Eastern Europe, became the latest casualty of the industry downturn when it filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday. The Slovakia-based airline suspended all flights immediately, disrupting travel plans for thousands of passengers. SkyEurope, whose main airports are at Bratislava, Vienna and Prague, warned that a refund “may not be possible” for customers who booked with the airline directly. Abta, the UK travel agents’ association, said the collapse underlined the need for a compensation system for airline passengers. “This airline failure in a tough economic climate, along with several others last year, highlights the need for urgent action by the government and EU to plug this gaping hole in customer financial protection,” CEO Mark Tanzer said.
■AUTOMOBILES
German car program ends
Germany’s car-scrapping premium expired yesterday after 2 million buyers took advantage of a landmark government offer that has boosted the crisis-hit auto sector. The Web site of the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control showed that the last contract had been taken early in the day, after demand surged to around 14,000 per day as the program entered the final stretch. But although the plan has succeeded in keeping domestic auto sales afloat, sales next year could slump heavily because many drivers brought forward purchases to benefit from the subsidy. The grant of 2,500 euros (US$3,550) for drivers who scrap old cars and buy new ones spurred sales of small cars in Germany.
‘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
EARLY ARRIVALS: The first sets of HIMARS purchased from the US arrived ahead of their scheduled delivery, with troops already training on the platforms, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said it spotted 35 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and bombers, flying to the south of Taiwan proper on the way to exercises in the Pacific, a second consecutive day it has reported such activities. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the missions, reported just days before tomorrow’s US presidential election. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Its arms sales to Taipei include a US$2 billion missile system announced last month. The MND said that from 9am yesterday,
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