Fourteen people charged over theft of Catcher secretsStaff writer, with CNAFourteen people have been charged with stealing classified information from their former employer, Apple supplier Catcher Technology Co, to pass on to their new employer in China, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said on Friday. The 14 people are suspected of contravening the Trade Secrets Act (營業秘密法) and the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法), prosecutors said. They were charged with offenses related to breaching the trust of their former employer and leaking business secrets, prosecutors said. Before Cheng and the rest of the team left Catcher for Luxshare, they stole large amounts of R&D and management secrets, prosecutors said. Catcher said in a statement that it would pursue legal action against the 14 people, and reinforce its protocols to safeguard trade secrets and intellectual property.

US bill reinforces Taiwan defense tiesANNUAL DEFENSE ACT: The bill, which still requires approval in the Senate, would require the US president to invite Taiwan to the 2024 Rim of the Pacific exercisesStaff writer, with CNA, WashingtonThe US House of Representatives on Thursday passed an annual defense policy bill with provisions to reinforce the country’s partnership with Taiwan, including requiring the US president to invite the nation’s military to join US-led drills in the Asia-Pacific region. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, which authorizes annual programs and spending for the US Department of Defense and other US national security programs, was passed by 329 yes votes, while 101 representatives voted against the bill. Photo: ReutersThey included the Taiwan Peace and Stability Act, which focuses on enhancing deterrence measures in the Taiwan Strait; the Taiwan Fellowship Act, which is to give US policymakers the opportunity to live and work in Taiwan; and the Arms Exports Delivery Solutions Act, which seeks to track and expedite deliveries of US arms sales to Taiwan amid growing cross-strait tensions. The defense authorization act also requires the US government to assess Taiwan’s air defense capabilities and recommend ways to improve them, while requiring regular updates on the status of deliveries of US military assistance to Taiwan and efforts to expedite such deliveries. On June 16, the US Senate’s Armed Services Committee passed its own version of the defense authorization act, but the legislation is pending approval from the full Senate.

Shortly after in May 2019, the then-newly appointed NCC acting chairperson said the commission would propose a bill for regulating OTT media services. On an aspirational level, some stakeholders perhaps see the bill as a legal instrument specifically for streaming services to potentially stem piracy. Both the bill unveiled in June 2020 and the new bill, as presented in NCC statements, refer to this objective. For understandable reasons, the government has been careful about how “local content requirements” are worded. The existence of “made in Taiwan” content on Netflix and Disney+, again in the absence of government requirements, also suggests otherwise.

ChipMOS joins investment program, pledging NT$12.5bn to raise capacityBy Lisa Wang / Staff ReporterChipMOS Technologies Inc (南茂科技) has pledged to invest NT$12.5 billion (US$418.2 million) in expanding capacity in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced yesterday as it approved the driver IC and memorychip tester and packager’s application to participate in a government incentive program. The capacity expansion would help ChipMOS explore new business opportunities in the 5G and automotive fields, the ministry said in a statement. A ChipMOS Technologies Inc plant is pictured at the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan on Sept. 27, 2019. Photo: Yang Chin-cheng, Taipei TimesIt would be the firm’s second investment through the Invest Taiwan initiative, it added. Part of the investment would also be allocated to build solar energy facilities, it said.

S&P forecasts 2.8% GDP growth amid export jittersBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterS&P Global Ratings yesterday kept its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year at 2.8 percent, in contrast to last year’s 6.6 percent growth, as global inflation and geopolitical tensions hit export sectors while a recovery in domestic demand stalls. Persistent high inflationary pressure due to energy and raw material price increases, and supply chain disruptions pose the biggest challenge for Taiwanese companies and is squeezing their profit margin, Taiwan Ratings said. Taiwan’s export growth over the past couple of months and growing capital expenditure are showing signs of a slowdown, as economic uncertainties intensify, it said. Separately, Fitch Ratings said on Monday that the operating environment and credit profiles of local banks remained stable, despite interest rate hikes that affect property-related lending. Regulatory tightening in property loans since December 2020 would tame loan growth over the next 18 months, it said.

Ukrainian cricket administrators seek membership in ICCReutersThe chief executive of Ukraine’s cricket board said it “ticks all the boxes” to become an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and that the game would not survive if it is denied entry. The Ukraine Cricket Federation (UCF) has been organizing cricket for the past two decades and has a pool of 15,000 students, most of them Indian, at the senior level. Its chief executive, Kobus Olivier, told reporters that it met all the ICC requirements before Russia invaded. If the ICC rejects its membership application the consequences for the game in Ukraine would be dire, Olivier said. ICC membership would make the UCF eligible for government funding and could attract new sponsors.

Gross margin rose to 55.8 percent, up 2.44 percentage points from 53.36 percent in the first quarter and ending four consecutive quarters of declines, said the leading maker of optical lens modules, which also produces VCMs and sleep monitoring systems. In the second quarter of last year, gross margin was 60.29 percent, company data showed. Nonoperating gains contributed NT$2.17 billion, including foreign exchange gains of NT$1.79 billion, Largan said. In the first half of this year, Largan’s revenue totaled NT$19.81 billion, down 10 percent from NT$21.93 billion a year earlier. It reported net profit of NT$10.46 billion, up 26 percent year-on-year, or earnings per share of NT$78.36, and gross margin of 54.55 percent.

TPP urges Chen to review himselfBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislative caucus yesterday urged Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) to submit a self-review report on his COVID-19 prevention performance before he resigns to run for Taipei mayor. The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Central Executive Committee yesterday nominated Chen, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), as the party’s Taipei mayoral candidate. TPP Legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) said that about 20,000 to 30,000 local COVID-19 cases are still being reported every day, but Chen is “running away” from his job without finishing it, which was irresponsible. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Tsai Pi-ru, third right, eats shaved ice with Yunlin County Commissioner Chang Li-shan, second right, and party Chairman Ko Wen-je, right, in Yunlin on Sunday. TPP legislative caucus office director Chen Wan-hui (陳琬惠), who is running for Yilan County Commissioner, said of a local government head should be trustworthy, responsible and put people first.

Japanese horseradish farmers fear for future amid climate changeWasabi, essential for sushi, is usually grown along streams in narrow valleys, leaving farms prone to disastersBy Irene Wang / Reuters, TOKYOMasahiro Hoshina, a Japanese farmer, starts worrying about typhoon season months before it begins, haunted by memories of the heavy rains and landslides that washed away wasabi farms during one 2019 storm. It’s getting stronger,” said the 70-year-old farmer in Okutama, west of downtown Tokyo. The need for replanting and careful tending meant it’s taken nearly three years for sushi farms there to recover. Wasabi Farmer, Masahiro Hoshina, 72, in May grates a harvested wasabi root on a slat for his lunch, at his house in Okutama Town, Tokyo, Japan. “In the past, we served all the cold soba noodles with a piece of raw wasabi, but now we can no longer do that,” Onishi said.

Euro edges closer to US dollar parity‘DIRECT EXPOSURE’: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine worsened the eurozone’s growth outlook, weighing on the euro, while the Fed’s rate hikes have boosted the US dollarBloombergEurope’s common currency yesterday edged closer toward parity with the US dollar as energy concerns and the risk of recession weighed on the outlook for the eurozone, while risk aversion fueled a broad rally in the greenback. The euro dropped as much as 1.3 percent to US$1.0005, eclipsing its low from last week. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index has jumped as much as 1.2 percent so far this week. “Often people would look at a weaker euro and say that’s good for exports,” McKeown said. The bank is pricing the euro to move in between a range of 0.95 to parity against the US dollar, he said.

Even among respondents who identified with the TPP, only 2 percent said that they would cast their ballot for the party’s candidate. In comparison, Yilan County Commissioner Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), who is seeking re-election, garnered the support of 71 percent of respondents who identified with the TPP. These results show a number of trends:First, apart from the TPP’s chairman, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), no TPP candidates have the support of the majority of respondents who identify with the party. People who identify with the TPP seem to be extremely pragmatic when it comes to elections — they would rather vote for KMT candidates who have a strong chance of winning than for their own party. It looks as though TPP candidates in the mayoral and county commissioner elections will not only fail to act as “mother hens” who can consolidate votes for their party, but they will be sidelined by strategic voting among TPP supporters.

Tainan man arrested over threats against Tsai on PTTCOPYCAT THREAT? “If it was me I would also want to shoot and kill President Tsai Ing-wen,” the man allegedly wrote on Professional Technology Temple (PTT), the nation’s largest online bulletin board system. A screen grab shows a message posted by a man claimed to kill President Tsai Ing-wen. Photo courtesy of Tainan PolicePolice said that the man is also suspected of making threatening comments on PTT about Abe and the man suspected of killing the former Japanese leader in Naha, Japan, on Friday. Police said they ruled out the possibility that the man would seek to harm Tsai.

Team successfully tests domestically made rocketGREAT PROGRESS: The HTTP-3A is the first hybrid rocket in the world to have guidance and control technology — a major technological breakthrough, the ARRC director saidBy Wu Po-hsuan, Tsai Chang-sheng and William Hetherington / Staff reporters, with staff writerResearchers from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University’s Advanced Rocket Research Center (ARRC) yesterday successfully tested the second-stage propulsion system of a domestically designed rocket. The HTTP-3A hybrid sounding rocket launches yesterday from a site at Syuhai Village in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township. Researchers from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University’s Advanced Rocket Research Center (ARRC) yesterday successfully tested the second-stage propulsion system of a domestically designed rocket. “The HTTP-3A is the world’s first hybrid rocket with guidance and control technology. The launch allowed the team to test its self-developed, six degrees of freedom mission-analysis simulator, called ZIYASim, he said, adding that it was the first successful rocket launch at the launch site.

Flags to fly at half-mast to honor Abe‘FOREVER MISSED’: Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe had planned to visit Taiwan and address the legislature, Legislative Speaker You Si-kun saidStaff writer, with CNAPresident Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday ordered public institutions to fly the nation’s flag at half-mast tomorrow to honor former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was killed on Friday after being shot during a campaign event in western Japan. All Taiwanese flags at government buildings and public schools across Taiwan will be flown at half-mast for one day to honor Abe’s decades-long contributions to promoting bilateral ties between Taiwan and Japan, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said in a statement. The move is also intended to show that Taiwan stands with Japan in firmly defending freedom and democracy, Chang said, adding that Abe was a staunch supporter of Taiwan. A woman looks on as a man writes a message on a wall along Taipei’s Qingcheng Street, near the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association headquarters, to commemorate former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead on Friday. Abe died on Friday evening, at the age of 67, hours after being shot twice during an election campaign in Nara, Japan.

Commodities slump to give India relief from inflationBloombergIndia’s policymakers and consumers would be cheering a steep slump in commodities, especially palm oil, which could bring about a few months of “surprisingly low” food inflation. India is the world’s biggest buyer of edible oils and relies on imports for about 60 percent of its needs. Palm oil, which rallied after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and as Indonesia temporarily banned exports, has plunged 40 percent from a record close in April. The average retail prices of edible oils in India have dropped as much as 8 percent in the past month, government data showed. The sharp declines in palm oil, wheat, sugar and rice are good news for inflation, ING Group said.