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■ Jelly cup ban considered
The Consumers' Foundation yesterday called for a ban on jelly mini-cup sweets which have caused the deaths of a dozen children in several countries. The foundation made the call after a local newspaper reported that a girl in Shanghai died after choking on a mini-cup sweet produced by the Shanghai branch of Sheng Hsiang Chen Foods Co (盛香珍食品), the Taiwanese inventor of the candies. "We have asked authorities to order mini-cup sweets removed from shelves and call on consumers not to buy them," the foundation's secretary general Terry Huang (黃怡騰) said in a radio interview. "Sheng Hsiang Chen Foods has enlarged the mini-cups and changed the packaging of the sweets, but they still pose a hazard to children," he said.

■ Kinsus to acquire Flexium
Flexium Interconnect Inc (台郡), a Taiwan maker of printed circuit boards, said its board approved a plan for the company to be acquired by Kinsus Interconnect Technology Corp (景碩) in a stock swap. Shareholders will receive one share of Kinsus for every 2.4 Flexium shares they hold, Flexium said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange today. Kinsus, which makes electronics components, said in a separate statement that its board also approved the acquisition. Kaohsiung, Taiwan-based Flexium has capital of NT$1.1 billion (US$34.9 million), compared with NT$2.22 billion of Kinsus, according to the Flexium filing.

■ More research subsidized
The Ministry of Economic Affairs approved 20 research projects Friday proposed by local small- and medium-sized businesses, officials said. The ministry will subsidize a total of NT$45 million (US$1.43 million) for these projects as an incentive to encourage small- and medium-sized businesses to enhance their research and development capabilities, the officials said. At the same time, the businesses will funnel another NT$82 million into the projects, they said.

■ China Air gets new schedule
China Airlines (華航), the nation's largest air carrier, will implement a new summer schedule starting tomorrow with new aircraft added and flights increased, the company said in a statement. New services include inaugurating the Taipei-Chiang Mai route, and increasing flight frequencies to Seattle, Houston, Frankfurt, Seoul and Honolulu. Meanwhile, new or larger aircraft will be used on Amsterdam, Nagoya and Fukuoka services due to the introduction of B747-400 and A330-300 aircraft. After taking delivery of one new freighter in January and one passenger jet this month, the carrier plans to introduce another eight new aircraft this year.

■ Steel plant to be built
Formosa Heavy Industries Corp (台塑重工) and China Steel Corp (中鋼) will cooperate in building a NT$120 billion (US$3.8 billion) steel plant in central Taiwan, a Chinese-language newspaper said, citing unidentified company officials. China Steel, Taiwan's largest steel maker, will provide technical support for the Formosa plant and invest NT$6 billion, or 5 percent, in the project, the Taipei-based paper said, citing officials from both companies.

■ NT dollar trades lower
The New Taiwan dollar traded lower against its US counterpart, as foreign investors continued offloading of Taiwan stocks. The NT dollar fell NT$0.036 to close at NT$31.50 against the US dollar on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$668 million, down from US$966 million the previous day.

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