■TECHNOLOGY
Firm sues top tech firms
A Canadian company said on Thursday that it has filed suit against Acer (宏碁), Apple, Lenovo (聯想), LG Electronics, Sony, Toshiba and 14 other top technology firms, accusing them of patent infringement. WiLAN Inc, which describes itself as a technology innovation and licensing company, filed the suit on Wednesday against the 20 US and Asian companies in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. WiLAN accuses them of violating a patent it holds on Bluetooth technology, a wireless communications system that allows for hands-free calling among other uses. The firms named in the lawsuit are Acer, Apple, Atheros, Belkin, Broadcom, D-Link (友訊), Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Lenovo, LG Electronics, Marvell Semiconductor, Motorola, Personal Communications Devices, Sony, Texas Instruments, Toshiba and UTStarcom.
■MINING
Zijin extends takeover bid
China’s largest gold miner Zijin Mining Group Co (紫金礦業) said yesterday it has extended its US$500 million takeover offer for Australian mineral explorer Indophil until next month. Zijin had gained 32.19 percent of Indophil shares by Thursday and will extend the offer period to May 14 from April 16, the company said in a statement to the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges. The Chinese miner made the bid in December, seeking to gain access to Indophil’s stake in the Tampakan copper-gold project in the Philippines. Indophil directors have unanimously recommended the A$545 million (US$508 million) offer, which valued it at A$1.28 per share, as an “excellent outcome.”
■ITALY
Bank halts Amex issue
Italy’s central bank on Thursday ordered a stop to the issuance of new credit cards by American Express in the country until the company can improve compliance with laws combatting money laundering and usury. The Bank of Italy said there was concern that supplementary cards were being issued without sufficient checks to ensure they weren’t being used buy front men for money laundering operations. It also said there was concern that the way interest rates are calculated could violate anti-usury laws.
■GERMANY
February exports rebound
Official figures show that German exports rebounded in February — increasing by 5.1 percent on the month after declining in January. The Federal Statistical Office also said yesterday that exports were up a strong 9.6 percent on the year in February. February’s month-on-month rise beat economists’ 4 percent prediction. Still, January’s decline — the first since August — was revised downward to 6.5 percent from an initial estimate of 6.3 percent. Imports were up 0.2 percent on the month and 4.2 percent on the year in February. Germany’s foreign trade surplus stood at 12.6 billion euros (US$16.8 billion) — up from 8.9 billion euros a year earlier. The country is the world’s second-largest exporter after China.
■SOUTH KOREA
Bank keeps rate frozen
South Korea’s central bank yesterday froze its key interest rate at a record low for the 14th straight month, citing risks to the global economic recovery. At his first rate-setting meeting, the new Bank of Korea governor Kim Choong-soo and five policymakers left the benchmark seven-day repo rate unchanged at 2.0 percent for April. The bank said the domestic economy, Asia’s fourth largest, was sustaining its recovery trend.
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
‘MISGUIDED EDICT’: Two US representatives warned that Somalia’s passport move could result in severe retaliatory consequences and urged it to reverse its decision Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has ordered that a special project be launched to counter China’s “legal warfare” distorting UN Resolution 2758, a foreign affairs official said yesterday. Somalia’s Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday cited UN Resolution 2758 and Mogadishu’s compliance with the “one China” principle as it banned people from entering or transiting in the African nation using Taiwanese passports or other Taiwanese travel documents. The International Air Transport Association’s system shows that Taiwanese passport holders cannot enter Somalia or transit there. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) protested the move and warned Taiwanese against traveling to Somalia or Somaliland
SECURITY: Grassroots civil servants would only need to disclose their travel, while those who have access to classified information would be subject to stricter regulations The government is considering requiring legislators and elected officials to obtain prior approval before traveling to China to prevent Chinese infiltration, an official familiar with national security said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) in March announced 17 measures to counter China’s growing infiltration efforts, including requiring all civil servants to make trips to China more transparent so they can be held publicly accountable. The official said that the government is considering amending the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) to require all civil servants to follow strict regulations before traveling to China.
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