■FINANCE
Hong Kong investors protest
Investors in Lehman Brothers in Hong Kong held their second protest in a week yesterday, accusing local banks of misleading them about investment products backed by the failed US investment bank. Holding signs that said “Return my blood money” and “Crafty salesmanship, sugarcoated poison,” about 400 people marched through Hong Kong’s central financial district to nearby government headquarters. The protesters said the banks that sold them Lehman-backed bonds didn’t properly explain the products to them and urged the Hong Kong government to better regulate investment products. Hong Kong’s Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau said yesterday that regulators would investigate the allegations of misleading salesmanship.
■STEEL
Sinosteel plans not final
Sinosteel Corp (中國中鋼), China’s second-biggest iron-ore trading company, said its decision to buy a stake in Australia’s Murchison Metals Ltd would depend on “market conditions.” Sinosteel this month won approval to buy up to 49.9 percent of Perth-based Murchison. But Sinosteel president Huang Tianwen (黃天文) said whether to proceed would depend on the price and the terms of the contract. Sinosteel controls Midwest Corp, an iron ore producer that neighbors Murchison in the midwest region of Western Australia.
■FINANCE
IMF ready to fight ‘anarchy’
The IMF needs to tighten its control over financial markets following the global economic crisis, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in an interview published yesterday. He said the IMF was “ready to do what is required if we are given the mandate,” saying the world faced “financial anarchy” now, just as it did in 1944 when the organization was set up in the aftermath of World War II. “We can have national or regional authorities, such as the European Union for example, but we need a global guarantor. An institution which monitors standards,” Strauss-Kahn told France’s Journal du Dimanche.
■SOUTH KOREA
Government to create jobs
The government plans to create at least 30,000 jobs in the public sector by the end of this year to support lower-income households struggling with the slowing economy. The government and state agencies will increase spending on projects such as roads, bridges and ports and expand job programs, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said in a statement yesterday. The number of people with jobs rose by 183,000 on average each month during the first eight months of this year, down from 282,000 in the same period last year, the statement said.
■COMPUTERS
Don’t forget to look at RAM
Laptop buyers should pay special attention to the amount of RAM installed in a computer. Two gigabytes (GB) should be the rock-bottom threshold, Germany’s Computerbild magazine said, as that is enough to work with Windows Vista. Those who must satisfy “memory hungry” applications like photo editors are best advised to go for a model with 3GB of RAM. The magazine tested eight laptop models costing around US$500 each. The portable computers were powerful enough to handle office applications. Once the tasks moved into photo and video editing tasks, however, the desktop PCs in the same price class were often faster.
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
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