■ Forex
Exporters want won action
South Korean exporters called yesterday for swift government action to curb the rising won. Five business groups, led by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), warned that the won's strength against the greenback was hurting exports. "The government must take quick steps to prop up our global competitiveness. The pace of the won's appreciation is too steep," they said in a joint statement. The won rose 2.3 percent against the US dollar last year but has jumped more than 8 percent so far this year. "The government is ready to discuss an increase in the foreign exchange stabilization fund," Budget Minister Byeon Yang-kyoon told reporters.
■ Computers
HP unveils new notebooks
Hewlett-Packard Co unveiled laptops with spiffier designs as well as more powerful processors on Tuesday. Six of seven new HP notebooks will run on dual-core chips from either Intel Corp or Advanced Micro Devices Inc, and a business-targeted model allows users to swap the cellular broadband module if they switch carriers. The offerings include two consumer lines that come in a glossy, piano-black finish with inlaid patterns, a departure from plain black exteriors. Some models have a built-in Webcam or more powerful graphics cards. The new computers will be available later this month, HP said.
■ Health
DuPont sued over Teflon
A lawsuit representing millions of owners of Teflon coated cookware was filed in US District Court in Des Moines, Iowa, seeking to combine complaints from 16 US states into one master case. The suit, filed on Monday, claims that DuPont Co failed to disclose possible health risks from using the nonstick cookware. It also claims DuPont continued to tell the government and consumers for years that Teflon was safe even though its own studies showed the material could become toxic when heated at temperatures easily reached when a typical stovetop is set on high. It asks the court to require DuPont to create a fund for independent research into whether Teflon is harmful; to replace all existing Teflon cookware products or pay owners compensation; and to stop making, selling and distributing Teflon coated products.
■ Beverages
Coke Japan recalls bottles
The Japanese unit of US beverage giant Coca-Cola Co will expand a recall to withdraw 2.37 million bottles of soft drinks laced with iron powder, company officials said yesterday. Earlier this month the subsidiary had announced a withdrawal of 570,000 bottles of six soft drinks manufactured between March 26 and March 30 at a factory in central Japan. It said it will expand the recall to 27 beverages and include drinks manufactured before March 26. The company said that the bottles may contain a small amount of iron powder which would not be harmful if injested.
■ Automobiles
Toyota's profits rise 17.2%
Toyota Motor Corp yesterday reported a 17.2 percent jump in annual net profits to a record ¥1.37 trillion (US$12.35 billion) as it won more market share from struggling US rivals. Toyota said revenue rose 13.4 percent in the year to March to ¥21.04 trillion, also an all-time high. Operating profit increased by 12.3 percent to ¥1.88 trillion. In the current year, however, Toyota forecast a drop in net profits to ¥1.31 trillion.
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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