■Advertising
Yao Ming sues Coca-Cola
Chinese basketball player Yao Ming (姚明) is suing Coca-Cola for one yuan (US$0.12), accusing the soft drinks giant of using his image improperly, Chinese officials and state media said yesterday. The Houston Rockets center, a spokes-man for Pepsi, demanded the immediate recall of all Coca-Cola products and promotional materials bearing his image and name, the China Business Weekly said. Yao also "demanded an open apology on nationwide media," the newspaper said. Coca-Cola said it had a contract with the Chinese Basketball Association to use the image of any athlete on the national team, including Yao. A spokes-woman said the company would not pull products carrying Yao's image.
■ Automobiles
Mazda cutting luxury line
Japanese automaker Mazda Motor will withdraw from the luxury passenger car market by stopping produc-tion of its Millenia model by the end of the year and halting sales by the end of next year, a report said yesterday. The move is designed to concentrate the company's resources on small and mid-size passen-ger vehicles and sports cars, the Nihon Keizai news-paper said. Mazda released three upmarket models in the early 1990s but at their peak sales only reached around 35,000 annually. It halted two of the models in 2000 and only 1,300 of the remaining model, the Millenia, were sold last year, the newspaper said. Mazda officials declined to com-ment on the report.
■ Automobiles
Workers return to Tianjin
Toyota Motor Corp has told 12 of its Tianjin, China-based employees who had temporarily returned to Japan to go back, as concern eases about the spread of SARS. Toyota has told the emplo-yees, who returned to Japan for pro-tection from the epidemic, to go back to China this week, according to spokes-man Shinya Matsumoto. Toyota makes Vios compact cars for the Chinese market at its plant in Tianjin.
■ Piracy
Malaysians seize fake DVDs
Malaysian police have seized some 1.5 million copies of pirated DVDs worth more than 22.5 mil-lion ringgit (US$5.9 million) in a major raid carried out in Kuala Lumpur, local media reported yesterday. Mon-day's pre-dawn raid had crippled what is believed to be the country's biggest distributing syndicate of pirated DVDs and VCDs, a deputy police chief said. Three men in their 20s were also arrested after officers discovered the DVDs in cardboard boxes in a vacant shop lot, officials said.
■ Canada
Beef imports may be cut
Canada might cut some imports of Australian and New Zealand beef to help the domestic beef industry which is reeling from lost exports to several countries in the wake of the mad cow disease crisis. The question was raised in parliament on Monday by the leader of the opposition, Stephen Harper. He urged the government to "temporarily suspend the over-quota import of foreign beef and allow Canadian producers to fill the entire demand of the Canadian market."
Agencies
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source