■INTERNET
MySpace’s share slips
MySpace’s share of the US online social networking market slipped while rival Facebook’s piece grew in the year leading up to this month, industry tracker Hitwise reported on Thursday. On a month-on-month basis, MySpace got 67.5 percent of the visits to social networking Web sites last month, compared with 75 percent in the same month last year, Hitwise said. Meanwhile, Facebook got 20.5 percent of US social networking visits, a 50 percent increase from what it saw a year earlier.
■AUTOMOBILES
Hyundai, union make a deal
South Korea’s largest automaker, Hyundai Motor, reached a deal with its union to end a protracted dispute that has cost more than US$600 million in lost production, the company said yesterday. Some 95 percent of the 45,000 union members voted on the deal covering working conditions and wages and endorsed it by a 54-43 margin. Under the deal, the company will abolish its all-night shift system next September. It also agreed to raise the monthly base salary by 5.61 percent and pay a bonus equivalent to three months’ salary.
■IRELAND
Nation slips into recession
Ireland has become the first country in the eurozone to slip into recession, official figures showed on Thursday. The Central Statistics Office said the once-booming economy shrank 0.3 percent in the first quarter and by 0.5 percent in the second — a recession is two or more consecutive quarters of contraction. The European Commission said Germany and Spain might be next, and Britain might also be on the brink.
■TRADE
S Korea, India push FTA
South Korea and India have reached agreement on a free trade deal after talks lasting two-and-a-half years, the South Korean trade ministry said yesterday. The two countries resolved “all outstanding issues” in negotiations here on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, the equivalent of a free trade agreement, the ministry said in a statement. “Both sides expect that after completion of all domestic formalities, the agreement will enter into force in the first half of next year on a mutually agreed date,” the statement said.
■AUTOMOBILES
Tata to sell six units
India’s top vehicle maker Tata Motors is in talks with private equity funds to sell stakes in six units, a report said yesterday, as the company seeks to finance its Jaguar-Land Rover purchase. The Indian firm, which bought the British luxury icons early this year for US$2.3 billion, decided to sell off assets last month after canceling a convertible preference share issue when its share price tumbled. Tata is in talks to sell stakes in Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Co, HV Excels, HV Transmissions, Tata Motors Finance, Tata Technologies and Telco Construction Equipment, the Economic Times said, quoting unidentified bankers.
■INVESTMENT
Vietnam posts fourfold rise
Pledged foreign direct investment into Vietnam in the first nine months reached US$57.12 billion, jumping more than fourfold from the same period last year, government officials and state media said yesterday. Malaysia topped the list of investment by country origin, with US$14.8 billion being invested in Vietnam so far this year. Taiwan came in second with US$8.6 billion, followed by Japan with US$7.2 billion.
QUIET START: Nearly a week after applications opened, agencies did not announce or promote the program, nor did they explain how it differed from other visitor visas Taiwan has launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program for foreign nationals from its list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts. To apply, foreign nationals must either provide proof that they have obtained a digital nomad visa issued by another country or demonstrate earnings based on age brackets, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. Applicants aged 20 to 29 must show they earned an annual salary of at least US$20,000 or its equivalent in one of the past two years, while those aged 30 or older must provide proof they earned US$40,000 in
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
UNITY MESSAGE: Rather than focusing on what Trump said on the campaign trail about Taiwan, Taipei should be willing to engage with the US, Pompeo said Taiwan plays a key role in Washington’s model of deterrence against China, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said in a speech in Taipei yesterday. During US president-elect Donald Trump’s first term, “we had developed what we believe was a pretty effective model of deterrence against adversaries who wanted to undermine the set of rules and values that the people of Taiwan and the people of the US hold dear,” Pompeo said at a forum organized by the Formosa Republican Association. “Succeeding in continuing to build this model will not solely rest at the feet of president Trump and his team,
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