■ Trade
Japan to lift ban on US beef
Japan will continue with its plans to resume imports of US beef despite the discovery of the second case of mad cow disease in the US, the agricultural ministry said yesterday. A spokesman at the ministry's consumer safety department said a second US case of BSE was factored in when Japan agreed with the US last October on a policy to work toward resumption of imports. Officials have not yet established a schedule for lifting the ban, which is expected sometime this year. Japan can ensure food safety by limiting imports of beef to that from animals slaughtered at the age of under 20 months and strictly rule out risky parts, such as the brain, the ministry official said.
■ Electronics
Sony to close TV factory
Sony Corp, the world's second-biggest consumer electronics maker, will eliminate 650 jobs at two television factories in Wales, as demand for the bulkier TV sets falls with the introduction of flat-panel TVs. Sony will close a factory in Bridgend, which makes cathode-ray tubes, and halt production of CRT televisions at its Pencoed plant by the fiscal year ending March 31, citing falling demand, the Tokyo-based company said today in a faxed statement. The job cuts will eliminate about 60 percent of staff at the two factories. Financial details of the job cuts were not disclosed. The company will also stop production of CRT televisions "by autumn" at its factory in Barcelona, Spain, and focus on making TVs using liquid-crystal, plasma and rear-projection technology, spokeswoman Mina Naito said.
■ Publishing
`Harry Potter' orders take off
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, the British publisher of Harry Potter, said sales of J.K. Rowling's children's books have grown as the company prepares to release the latest volume in the series next month. "The build-up to publication has already stimulated increased sales of the earlier books in the series," London- based Bloomsbury said in a Regulatory News Service statement yesterday. The sixth book in the Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, will be published simultaneously in Britain and the US on July 16.
■ Lawsuits
Intel `broke antitrust laws'
Advanced Micro Devices Inc's Japan unit said yesterday that it has filed two lawsuits against Intel Corp's Japanese unit for US$55 million in damages. Under the lawsuits, AMD Japan accuses Intel of violating Japan's antitrust laws, and says Intel's trading practices have caused damage to AMD. In March, the Fair Trade Commission ruled that Intel's Japan unit was violating antitrust laws in the methods it used to sell its computer chips. The government anti-monopoly body ordered the company to stop those practices. AMD earlier this week filed a broad antitrust suit against Intel in the US, accusing its rival of using illegal inducements and coercion to dissuade companies from buying AMD's computer chips.
■ Software
Microsoft in joint venture
Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, and India's Tata Consultancy Services Ltd has been selected by China for a joint venture to supply computer software services. The joint venture, based in Beijing, will start operations in early next year, Tata Consultancy said yesterday in a statement to the Mumbai stock exchange.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a