■ Production
Plasma displays in demand
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co will start making plasma display panels for TVs two months earlier than planned to meet growing demand in north America, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported. Osaka-based Matsushita plans to start the panel production at its plant in Amagasaki in the western prefecture of Hyogo in September, the newspaper said without citing source of its information. Previously it planned to start in Novem-ber. Together with Matsu-shita's existing three plasma-panel display plants, the company plans to raise annual production to 3.3 million units later this year, from 1.8 million units now, the report said.
■ Legal Issues
Deutsche Telekom to pay
Deutsche Telekom has agreed to pay US$120 million to US plaintiffs alleging the company gave misleading information surrounding its June 2000 public share offering. The company said in a statement released late Friday it was not conceding any wrongdoing in the agreement, which still has to be approved by a US District court in New York. No one was immediately available for comment at Deutsche Telekom on Saturday. "No inference of accounting errors or disclosure viola-tions may be drawn from the fact of or terms of the agreement," the statement said. Deutsche Telekom faces similar lawsuits in German courts brought about by shareholders charging the company covered up risks and sold the stock at too high a price during the same June 2000 offering. Those proceedings are to resume in June.
■ Software
Windows XP changes in EU
Microsoft Corp has agreed to find another name for the stripped-down version of the operating system it was ordered to sell in Europe and had labeled "Windows XP Reduced Media Edition." Industry analysts thought the name would discourage sales of the antitrust-driven European version. But the company says it was simply intended to distinguish clearly between the full-fledged operating system and the version the EU's antitrust ruling requires -- without Windows Media Player and related functions. The EC asked the company to change the name, Microsoft spokeswoman Stacy Drake said on Friday. The Reduced Media Edition name "was descriptive of the product and reduced potential confusion in the market-place," Drake said. "How-ever, in the spirit of com-promise, we have agreed to make the change." A new name has not yet been chosen.
■ Airlines
Virgin rejects takeover
British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Group yesterday rejected a A$1.99 billion (US$1.54 billion) takeover offer by ports conglomerate Patrick Corp for the no-frills Australian airline Virgin Blue. Patrick, which holds a 45.95 percent stake in the carrier esta-blished by Branson in 2000, launched a surprise take-over bid on Friday, offering A$1.90 per share in cash for the shares it does not already own. But minority stockholder Virgin Group said the offer was too low, and that its Swiss invest-ment arm, Cricket SA, bought 5.1 million more Virgin Blue shares on Friday at an average price of A$2.04 "It is Virgin Group's view that Virgin Blue Holdings has much greater value than that indicated in the price being offered by Patrick Corp," Virgin Group said in a statement. Cricket SA's purchase brought Virgin's stake in the discount carrier to 25.1 percent.
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
CLOSER TO CHINA: The upgraded Type-12 missile has a range of about 1,000km, compared with the original model’s range of 200km, and can reach mainland China Japan is preparing to deploy its first batch of domestically developed long-range missiles, with their launchers arriving at an army camp yesterday, as the country accelerates its offensive capability in response to rising challenges in the region. The upgraded Type-12 land-to-ship missiles are to be deployed at Camp Kengun in Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto by the end of this month, completing the process of deployment, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said without giving details. Army vehicles carrying the launchers and other equipment arrived past midnight in a highly secretive mission criticized by residents. Dozens of people stood outside of the
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