■ 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.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued a sea alert for Typhoon Fung-wong (鳳凰) as it threatened vessels operating in waters off the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), the Bashi Channel and south of the Taiwan Strait. A land alert is expected to be announced some time between late last night and early this morning, the CWA said. As of press time last night, Taoyuan, as well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties had declared today a typhoon day, canceling work and classes. Except for a few select districts in Taipei and New Taipei City, all other areas and city
VIOLATION OF NORMS: China’s CCTV broadcast claimed that Beijing could use Interpol to issue arrest warrants, which the MAC slammed as an affront to order The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for attempts to intimidate Taiwanese through “transnational repression.” The council issued the remarks after state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) yesterday during a news broadcast aired a video targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋), threatening him with “cross-border repression” and saying: “Stop now, or you will be next,” in what Taipei officials said was an attempt to intimidate not only Shen, but also the broader Taiwanese public. The MAC in a statement condemned the threat, accusing Beijing of trying to instill fear and self-censorship among Taiwanese and
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