■ Telcos
Vodafone, Google join forces
Vodafone Group PLC, the world's largest mobile phone network operator, said yesterday it had agreed with Google to develop maps for mobile telephones. The company said it will, in conjunction with Google Maps, provide easy-to-use maps and local listings, as well as local search and navigation capabilities. "Vodafone sees Google Maps as a new milestone in the relationship that both companies are developing. It is a prime example of how Vodafone, through its location service and distribution scale, can complement Google's products and unlock mass-market access to exciting services," said Frank Rovekamp, global chief marketing officer of Vodafone.
■ Electronics
LG sues China's TTE
LG Electronics Inc, South Korea's second-largest electronics maker, sued China's TTE Corp and Hong Kong subsidiary TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings Ltd (TCL多媒體科技控股) for alleged infringement of TV patents. LG Electronics filed a complaint against the two companies in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Saturday, claiming they infringed on four digital TV patents, the Seoul-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. LG filed the complaint after discussions that began in 2005 collapsed, the statement said.
■ Automobiles
Toyota to build India factory
Toyota Motor Corp plans to build a new factory in India by 2010 to produce small cars as it tries to tap the growing automobile market in developing countries, a report said yesterday. Japan's biggest automaker plans to spend ?40 billion (US$330 million) to ?50 billion on the plant, which will be built near the company's first assembly plant in Bangalore, the Nikkei Shimbun reported, without saying how it got the information. With car sales slowing in developed markets like the US and Japan, companies are increasingly turning to developing areas like Brazil, China, Russia and India to ramp up production closer to growth markets.
■ Finance
Inflation forecast lowered
Australia's central bank on Monday lowered its inflation forecast, signaling that key interest rates were unlikely to be increased from their current six-year high of 6.25 percent, analysts said. The Reserve Bank of Australia said in its quarterly statement on monetary policy that underlying inflation was expected to ease to 2.75 percent at the end of this year and through 2008, from around three percent. It forecast that the headline rate of annual inflation will be below 2 percent in the middle of this year, the annual rate having been 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.
■ Internet
MySpace adds filter
News Corp's social networking Web site MySpace said it started using a program that blocks videos containing unauthorized content from its pages. The filter uses digital fingerprint technology to screen videos uploaded by users on their MySpace pages and remove them if they are protected by copy-rights, MySpace said in an e-mailed statement. MySpace is taking measures against illegal downloading after YouTube was ordered by Viacom Inc to take down more than 100,000 unauthorized clips earlier this month.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2