■ Deutsche bank
CEO Ackermann charged
Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann has been charged with embezzlement tied to payouts for Mannesmann AG executives when the German wireless company was bought by Vodafone Group Plc, the prosecutors office in Dusseldorf, Germany said. Four other managers including former Mannesmann CEO Klaus Esser and IG Metall union head Klaus Zwickel have also been charged with embezzlement, Hans-Reinhard Henke, the head prosecutor in Dusseldorf, told reporters at a briefing. The regional court will now give the accused time to respond to the charges and will then decide whether to open criminal proceedings. The charges could lead to a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment for the managers, including Ackermann, who was on Mannesmann's supervisory board at the time.
■ Mobile Phones
New models released
NTT DoCoMo Inc, KDDI Corp, and J. Phone Co have cut prices for their mobile phones fitted with cameras by as much as 80 percent after a surge in inventories following the release of new models, Nikkei English News reported. Some cellphone models released last year are on sale for 1 yen, Nikkei said, without citing anyone. Some large retailers are selling KDDI's au-brand video-camera model at 70 percent below the brand's introductory price last year, the report said. KDDI is Japan's second-largest mobile phone operator. NTT DoCoMo's D251i handsets are selling below ¥5,000 (US$42), down 80 percent since they were introduced last July, the newswire said. Models introduced last July by Vodafone Group Plc's J-Phone Co are selling between ¥1 and ¥100, it said.
■ US accord
Singapore firms benefit
Singapore's recent agreement with the US to eliminate tariffs on most of their two-way commerce will save companies up to S$300 million (US$178 million) a year, a Singaporean trade official said. Chemicals companies will be the biggest beneficiaries, saving S$178 million in tariffs, followed by an estimated S$54 million gain for minerals suppliers and a S$48 million advantage to electrical and electronics companies, Tommy Koh, Singapore's chief negotiator for the US free-trade agreement, said in a speech. "Those who'll benefit the most will be US multinationals based in Singapore," said Koh. US companies, such as Agilent Technologies Inc and Hewlett Packard Co, account for 60 percent of Singapore's shipments to the US, the city-state's biggest export market.
■ Cordless Phones
China may release service
China may allow Little Smart, a pilot cordless phone service operated by the country's two biggest fixed-line carriers, to go nationwide in May, Beijing's Morning Post reported, without citing sources. That would allow China Telecommunications Corp and China Netcom Communication Group Corp to set up networks in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities, the newspaper said on its Web site. China so far has limited Little Smart, which is cheaper than regular cellular service, to smaller centers. Licensing it in wealthy cities such as Guangzhou will increase competition for the country's mobile duopoly, China Mobile Communi-cations Corp. and China United Telecommunications Corp.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
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