■ Semiconductors
Executives plead guilty
Three South Korean executives from Samsung Electronics Co agreed to plead guilty and serve jail time in California for participating in a conspiracy to fix the price of computer memory chips, the US Justice Department said on Wednesday. Each executive agreed to pay a US$250,000 fine, cooperate with US authorities on the investigation and serve prison sentences ranging from seven to eight months for their role in a scheme to raise prices for dynamic random access memory (DRAM) from 1999 to 2002. A federal judge in San Francisco must still approve the deal. Samsung, the world's largest maker of DRAM chips, said in a statement on Wednesday that the company was "strongly committed to fair competition and ethical practices and forbids anticompetitive behavior."
■ Automobiles
GM reaches deal with union
General Motors Corp on Wednesday agreed to an early retirement deal for more than 125,000 hourly workers, a key element in its massive restructuring plan. Subject to bankruptcy court approval, the deal with GM's main union and its bankrupt former parts subsidiary Delphi Corp could help avert a potentially crippling strike at Delphi, which faces a March 30 deadline to void its union contracts. The agreement also will facilitate plans by the world's largest automaker to eliminate 30,000 workers by 2008 as it attempts to cut costs after posting a US$10.6 billion loss last year. Union members at both GM and Delphi who are already eligible to retire with full benefits will be offered a US$35,000 cash bonus to do so, the United Auto Workers (UAW) said in a statement. GM workers who are within three years of eligibility will be offered monthly payments until it is time for them to retire with full benefits. All other GM employees will be offered a buyout of up to US$140,000 in exchange for giving up retirement health care and other benefits, the union said.
■ Trade
EU adopts shoe duties
The European Commission yesterday formally approved the introduction of anti-dumping duties on leather shoes imported from China and Vietnam, a plan that has generated protests by both Asian countries. "The European Commission has adopted proposals by European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson to impose a provisional anti-dumping duty on leather shoes from China and Vietnam," it said in a statement. Brussels has said it found evidence of state intervention helping shoemakers in China and Vietnam and it will impose duties of 16.8 percent on shoes from Vietnam and 19.4 percent from China to be phased in over five months from April 7. Sports shoes and footwear for children will be exempted from the duties. China has said it might consider a complaint to the WTO.
■ Trade
US, EU agree on tariff cuts
The US and EU on Wednesday agreed to cut several tariffs for US farm and industrial goods being exported to 10 EU member states which joined the bloc in 2004. The EU will reduce tariffs on some goods, such as chemicals and fish, and expand tariff quotas for other US exports like boneless ham, poultry and chocolate, the US Trade Representative's office said. The changes will go into effect no later than July 1.
The deal was signed in Geneva by the US and EU ambassadors to the WTO.
RESTRAINTS: Should China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, China would be excluded from major financial institutions, the bill says The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the PROTECT Taiwan Act, which states that Washington would exclude China from participating in major global financial organizations if its actions directly threaten Taiwan’s security. The bill, proposed by Republican Representative Frank Lucas, passed with 395 votes in favor and two against. It stipulates that if China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, the US would, “to the maximum extent practicable,” exclude Beijing from international financial institutions, including the G20, the Bank for International Settlements and the Financial Stability Board. The bill makes it clear that China must be prepared
PEACE AT LAST? UN experts had warned of threats and attacks ahead of the voting, but after a turbulent period, Bangladesh has seemingly reacted to the result with calm The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) yesterday celebrated a landslide victory in the first elections held since a deadly 2024 uprising, with party leader Tarique Rahman to become prime minister. Bangladesh Election Commission figures showed that the BNP alliance had won 212 seats, compared with 77 for the Islamist-led Jamaat-e-Islami alliance. The US embassy congratulated Rahman and the BNP for a “historic victory,” while India praised Rahman’s “decisive win” in a significant step after recent rocky relations with Bangladesh. China and Pakistan, which grew closer to Bangladesh since the uprising and the souring of ties with India, where ousted Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina
Taiwanese trade negotiators told Washington that Taipei would not relocate 40 percent of its semiconductor production to the US, and that its most advanced technologies would remain in the nation, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said on Sunday. “I told the US side very clearly — that’s impossible,” Cheng, who led the negotiation team, said in an interview that aired on Sunday night on Chinese Television System. Cheng was referring to remarks last month by US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, in which he said his goal was to bring 40 percent of Taiwan’s chip supply chain to the US Taiwan’s almost
The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) yesterday released the first images from its Formosat-8A satellite, featuring high-resolution views of Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), Tainan’s Anping District (安平), Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor (興達港), Japan’s National Stadium in Tokyo and Barcelona airport. Formosat-8A, named the “Chi Po-lin Satellite” after the late Taiwanese documentary filmmaker Chi Po-lin (齊柏林), was launched on Nov. 29 last year. It is designed to capture images at a 1m resolution, which can be sharpened to 0.7m after processing, surpassing the capabilities of its predecessor, Formosat-5, the agency said. It is the first of TASA’s eight-satellite Formosat-8 constellation to be sent into orbit and
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