■ECONOMICS
‘Free fall’ is over: Stiglitz
Nobel economics laureate Joseph Stiglitz said on Thursday the “sense of free fall” is over in the world economic crisis, while urging further efforts by rich countries to speed recovery. “There’s no longer the sense of free fall,” Stiglitz told reporters in Rome. “The rate of decline has slowed, but that should not be confused with recovery,” Stiglitz said after a two-day meeting of the so-called “Shadow GN” economists. “While it may be the case that the worst consequences of the freezing of credit are easing, it would be wrong to say that the global crisis is over,” Stiglitz said, urging “continued efforts by governments to stimulate economies and revive the financial system.” The group of experts “with no commitments other than that of being citizens of the world” met to compile recommendations for the G8 rich countries that will hold their annual summit in Italy in July. The initiative is led by Stiglitz and French economist Jean-Paul Fitoussi.
■GERMANY
Exports drop 15.8%
German exports plunged by 15.8 percent year-on-year in March as demand for goods from a leading global exporter slid further owing to the economic downturn, official figures showed yesterday. Imports by the biggest European economy fell by 11.6 percent, data showed. Germany’s foreign trade balance continued to show a surplus of 11.3 billion euros (US$15.1 billion), but that was down from 16.8 billion in March last year, the Destatis service said. The figure was nonetheless better than an average analyst forecast of 8.7 billion euros compiled by Dow Jones Newswires. For the first three months of this year, Germany showed a trade surplus of 26.9 billion euros, nearly half the previous year’s figure of 51.2 billion euros.
■TECHNOLOGY
Microsoft warns of copies
Microsoft said on Thursday that cybercriminals are already hawking booby-trapped versions of the just-released Windows 7 operating system software. “In the last few days we’ve seen reports of illegitimate distributions of the release candidate of our latest Windows operating system, Windows 7, being offered in a way that is designed to infect a customer’s PC with malware,” Joe Williams, general manager, Worldwide Genuine Windows at Microsoft, said in an interview posted on the company’s official Website. The US software colossus has touted anti-piracy protections it built into Windows 7 to thwart the spread of illegal copies of the operating system. Microsoft decried software piracy as a pervasive problem that costs the world economy more than US$45 billion annually and exposes users to risks of identity theft, system crashes and data loss.
■INSURANCE
AIG nears Tokyo deal
Ailing US insurance giant American International Group (AIG) is close to reaching a deal to sell its Japanese headquarters to Nippon Life for about US$1 billion, an industry source said yesterday. “The talks are in the final stages,” said the source, who asked not to be named. Nippon Life Insurance Co, Japan’s biggest life insurer and known as Nissay, aims to purchase the building in the heart of Tokyo as an investment but is not the only potential buyer, the source said. The US government has pumped US$180 billion into AIG to keep it afloat, the largest single recipient of federal bailout money, giving the US Treasury effective control of what had once been one of the world’s biggest insurers.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
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