■ Internet
Anti-spam sham uncovered
A Web site promoting a purported registry to stop unsolicited e-mail, or spam, is in fact a sham that probably harvests e-mail addresses for more spam, US regulators said Thursday. "There is no `National Do Not E-mail Registry,'" the Federal Trade Commission said, warning that a Web site at unsub.us tricks Internet users into providing their addresses. The site "mimics the language, look, and navigation of the Web site for the National Do Not Call Registry, which is aimed at stopping telemarketing calls. "The FTC is concerned that the unsub.us site could be part of a high-tech scam that uses a deceptive Web site to trick consumers into disclosing their e-mail address or other sensitive personal information," the agency said. "This site may be a ruse to collect valid e-mail addresses to sell to spammers. The result could be even more spam for consumers who sign up for this `registry.'
■ Music Industry
EU investigates merger
The EU commission Thursday opened an in-depth investigation into the proposed merger between Sony and Bertelsmann's recorded music businesses. The media groups hope to create the world's second-largest record company but the deal will be subjected to a four-month inquiry. Sony and Bertelsmann's BMG will argue that rampant internet piracy and declining sales have made consolidation imperative for the music industry. But Brussels has taken a dim view of record industry deals. A proposed merger between Time Warner's music arm and EMI fell foul of the EC four years ago, while an attempted link-up between EMI and BMG suffered the same fate soon after.
■ Internet
FCC avoids making rules
US regulators on Thursday decided to exempt from government rules a fledgling service that enables phone calls to travel over the Internet -- at least for now. The Federal Communica-tions Commission voted 4-1 in a case involving Free World Dialup, a service that allows users to make phone calls for free over computers. Still, FCC policymakers left open the possibility that Internet calling could be regulated in the future, especially for services that charge fees to customers. The agency also voted to open a review as to what, if any, regulations should govern Internet telephony and related services in the future. The Computer and Communications Industry Association hailed the FCC action, saying it avoids potentially crippling regulation of an emerging technology.
■ Macroeconomics
Statistics indicate recovery
Large Japanese firms are estimated to have boosted capital spending by 2.1 percent in the three months to December from the previous quarter as the economic outlook improved, the government said yesterday. Spending on factories, equipment, machinery and offices was expected to rise 1.2 percent, after adjustment for seasonal factors, in the year to March from a year earlier, the first gain in three years, the Cabinet Office said. The December quarter data provides the final piece in the puzzle before Wednesday's announcement of GDP for the period. "Capital expenditure by the service sector has increased the most while the greatest decline was in real estate," said Cabinet official Chiaki Yamaguchi.
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 —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
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