■ Pharmaceuticals
Generic Viagra banned
A Chinese court has upheld the validity of drug maker Pfizer Inc's patent for Viagra, ordering two companies to stop sales of generic versions of the erectile dysfunction treatment and pay compensation for trademark infringements, a court official said yesterday. The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court ordered Beijing Health New Concept Pharmacy Co to stop sales of blue pills similar to Viagra, a court official said. The court told Lianhuan Pharma-ceutical Co, based in Jiangsu Province, to stop making the pills and to pay Pfizer 300,000 yuan (US$38,000) in damages, the official said.
■ Aviation
Virgin America hits wall
The US government blocked the path of startup airline Virgin America on Wednesday, ruling that the company must change its ownership and corporate structure before it can receive an operating certificate. Under the law, a US airline must be 75 percent owned and controlled by Americans and the Department of Trans-portation said Virgin America does not currently meet that requirement. Virgin America is based in California and had planned to begin flights next year. The airline has 14 days to object to the department's action.
■ Aviation
New budget carrier
Vietnam's first budget carrier, Pacific Airlines, will start operations in February and hopes to cash in on a growing tourism sector, officials said on yesterday. Pacific Airlines, currently a full cost carrier, will become a low-cost company offering domestic and international flights, the airline's managing director Luong Hoai Nam said. "This is a step towards the country's airlines integration into the regional and international markets," he said. The company will start with flights between Hanoi, central Danang and southern Ho Chi Minh City, as well as two routes from the southern business capital to Taipei and Kaohsiung, he added.
■ Online shopping
iPod hit by slowdown
Swarms of online shoppers armed with new iPods and iTunes gift cards overwhelmed Apple's iTunes music store over the holidays, prompting error messages and slowdowns of 20 minutes or more for downloads of a single song. Frazzled users began posting urgent help messages on Monday and on Tuesday on Apple's technical forum for iTunes, complaining they were either not allowed into the store or were told the system couldn't process their request to download songs and videos. It was not immediately clear how many people were affected by the slowdowns.
■ Automobiles
Ex-FBI director to help
DaimlerChrysler said on Wednesday it had hired former FBI director Louis Freeh to assist an internal probe stemming from allegations of bribing officials in some countries. "We've hired Louis Freeh as an outside consultant," said Han Tjan, director of corporate communications. DaimlerChrysler had revealed in 2004 that it was being probed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission with regard to its compliance with the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act following a complaint by a former employee. The investigation centers on accusations that the company operated secret bank accounts for use in bribing foreign officials, including in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
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
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
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