■ Semiconductors
EU tariffs sought on Hynix
The European Commission plans to bring punitive tariffs against South Korean semiconductor maker Hynix Semiconductor Inc for selling chips below production cost, German business daily Handelsblatt said, citing unidentified people from Trade Commis-sioner Pascal Lamy's office. Hynix has received "bil-lions" worth of subsidies from the South Korean government, allowing the world's third-largest chip maker to sell direct random access memory, or DRAM, semiconductors below production cost, the paper said. A spokesman for Lamy declined to comment, the report said. Industry experts expect a tariff of as much as 30 percent on Hynix's chips, the paper said.
■ Asia
Domestic focus urged
Asia will have to rethink its export-oriented growth formula and look more at domestic consumption if it wants to continue climbing up the economic ladder, a regional economist said yesterday. Against the backdrop of a volatile global economy, Asia will have to rely less on exports which have been the mainstay of the region's economic growth over the past decade, said Yuwa Hedrick-Wong. "The way forward I think is we have to ignite our own consumption revolution in the region," said Hedrick-Wong, an economic advisor to credit card giant MasterCard International. "We must create a much more balanced structure platform for growth in the Asia-Pacific," he said at a briefing in Singapore outlining the challenges facing the region. Citing South Korea, he said the surge in domestic demand had generated positive spin-offs for the economy, particularly in developing the services sector.
■ Telecoms
FCC to let states decide
The US Federal Communi-cations Commission approved new rules to give states more authority over the US$125 billion US local-telephone market, dealing a setback to the Baby Bells and FCC chairman Michael Powell. The FCC voted 3 to 2 for guidelines giving state regulators final say over what parts of local carriers' phone networks must be leased to rivals at discounts. The Bells, whose shares fell, won't have to share new fiber-optic lines for Internet access. The vote undercuts Powell's attempt to enact the biggest changes in phone regulations since the 1996 Telecommunications Act. He wanted the FCC to relax rules forcing the big local carriers to lease equip-ment at discounts, saying they discourage investment. But state regulators argued the low rates spur compe-tition and help companies such as AT&T Corp enter the local market.
■ China
Anti-gum lotion sought
China is developing a chemical weapon, under a project dubbed the "863 Program" by the Ministry of Science and Technology, for deployment in the war on a scourge that blights its public squares -- chewing gum. Eight research insti-tutions have applied for the 1 million yuan (US$120,000) project to come up with a lotion over the next 18 months that will dissolve discarded chewing gum stuck to the ground, the China Daily reported yesterday. The Chinese chew some 2 billion pieces of gum per year, the paper quoted experts as saying, noting that nearly 600,000 globules of gum were discarded in Tiananmen Square during the seven-day National Day holiday last October.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
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