■ STEEL
Posco, Venezuela in talks
Posco, Asia’s third-largest steelmaker, met Venezuela’s deputy minister of basic industries to discuss the possible construction of a stainless-steel mill. The two sides will meet again next month to discuss the project, Venezuelan Deputy Minister Jesus Paredes said in a statement on Friday on the Ministry of Basic Industries and Mining Web site. Other companies may also present proposals for the factory, which would open in 2011, the ministry said. A Posco project would mark a return to the country for the Pohang, South Korea-based company, which closed a Venezuela iron-ore plant in 2002 and took a US$47 million loss because of cost overruns, a worsening business climate and declining steel prices.
■ COPPER
Chile’s annual output slips
Chile, the world’s biggest supplier of copper, produced 6.1 percent less of the metal in April than a year earlier, a government-owned researcher said. Output fell to 427,200 tonnes from 454,900 tonnes in April last year, a report published on Friday by the state-owned Chilean Copper Commission in Santiago showed. Chile’s National Statistics Institute, which is also run by the government, said last month that the country’s overall copper output fell 5.6 percent to 435,132 tonnes in April from 460,819 tonnes a year earlier, without breaking out production by company or by mine.
■AVIATION
Japan Airlines closes facility
After nearly 40 years, Japan Airlines says it will stop using the Grant County, Washington, International Airport for training early next year because of the high price of fuel. The airline intends to close the Moses Lake-based 747-400 training department facilities in March. Japan Airlines executive assistant for administration Brenda Martinez cites both the cost of fuel to train on a four-engine aircraft and the costs to bring trainees and flight instructors to Moses Lake.
■ LABOR
Reliance to open US plant
An India-based company plans to open its first North American plant in North Carolina and create more than 200 jobs in the area over the next five years. Reliance Industries USA Inc said on Friday it plans to invest US$215 million in a plant in Kinston, where 204 people will eventually be employed. The company makes resin used in the manufacture of plastic containers and specialty polyester yarns. US State Department of Commerce spokesman Charles Winkler said the company could get as much US$2.2 million in benefits if it meets all the requirements in its state contract.
■ PATENT RIGHTS
Court raises Microsoft fine
A US district court judge in San Diego ruled that Microsoft Corp must pay Alcatel-Lucent US$511.6 million for infringing on two patents in the latest move in a five-year-old patent scuffle between the two firms. In April, a jury ordered Microsoft to pay Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent US$357.7 million for infringing on a patent that covers how users select a calendar date from a menu in certain programs, including Microsoft Outlook and Windows Mobile. It also ordered Microsoft to pay US$10.4 million for infringing on an Alcatel-Lucent patent related to the use of a stylus on a tablet computer. Judge Marilyn Huff denied Microsoft’s request for reconsideration of that jury’s decisions on Thursday and raised the amount of damages the court awarded Alcatel-Lucent to include prejudgment interest meant to compensate for how long it took to resolve the matter.
TECH EFFECT: While Chiayi County was the oldest region in the nation, Hsinchu county and city, home of the nation’s chip industry, were the youngest, the report showed Seven of the nation’s administrative regions, encompassing 57.2 percent of Taiwan’s townships and villages, became “super-aged societies” in June, the Ministry of the Interior said in its latest report. A region is considered super-aged if 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older. The ministry report showed that Taiwan had 4,391,744 people aged 65 or older as of June, representing 18.76 percent of the total population and an increase of 1,024,425 people compared with August 2018. In June, the nation’s elderly dependency ratio was 27.3 senior citizens per 100 working-aged people, an increase of 7.39 people over August 2018, it said. That
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
EARLY ARRIVALS: The first sets of HIMARS purchased from the US arrived ahead of their scheduled delivery, with troops already training on the platforms, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said it spotted 35 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and bombers, flying to the south of Taiwan proper on the way to exercises in the Pacific, a second consecutive day it has reported such activities. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the missions, reported just days before tomorrow’s US presidential election. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Its arms sales to Taipei include a US$2 billion missile system announced last month. The MND said that from 9am yesterday,
A Control Yuan member yesterday said he would initiate an investigation into why the number of foreign nationals injured or killed in traffic incidents has nearly doubled in the past few years, and whether government agencies’ mechanisms were ineffective in ensuring road safety. Control Yuan member Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) said in a news release that Taiwan has been described as a “living hell for pedestrians” and traffic safety has become an important national security issue. According to a National Audit Office report released last year, more than 780,000 foreign nationals were legally residing in Taiwan in 2019, which grew to more than