The company will "definitely go into" China with a Taiwanese chipmaker by as early as 2012 and seek support from the China government, said Elpida's president Yukio Sakamoto in an interview. It is also accelerating plans to add a second manufacturing plant at Rexchip Electronics.

Germany's upper house is unlikely to pass cuts to solar incentives on Friday, so a mediation committee would be needed to resolve the matter, government sources told Reuters on Thursday.

Protesters in Taiwan's capital scuffled with police on June 3 and threw chairs at an official building where discussions were under way on a proposal for a referendum on a planned trade pact with China. The administration of President Ma Ying-jeou has been pushing for the pact, known as the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, saying it will boost growth and employment.

North Korea's ban on all ties could also bar South Korean aircraft from North Korean airspace, adding fuel cost and time to many international flights. Tensions on the peninsula are hitting the currency and stock markets of Asia's fourth-biggest economy.

South Korea's won fell the most in more than a year and the nation's stocks slumped following a report by a defector group that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il ordered the military to prepare for conflict.

Many South Koreans joke they inhabit "the Republic of Samsung." But a one-time insider at the powerful Korean conglomerate has launched a scathing attack on his former employer, saying Korean politicians and media turn a blind-eye to the company's misdeeds.

The bill that could raise the admissions bar locally and send Taiwan students to offshore schools has finally received approval in parliament, after legislators grabbed one another's arms and necks.

Chinese authorities may announce a currency policy change before the second US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in May.

President Ma Ying-jeou argued Taiwan had no option but to sign the pact with China. Tsai Ing-wen, leader of the opposition DPP, insisted Taiwan would do better to negotiate with China slowly through existing WTO structures. Tsai also accused Ma of upsetting the regional balance of power, alarming Japan and South Korea...

Beijing residents and developers will be able to apply for government subsidies totaling 200 million yuan to install solar water-heating systems in residential and public buildings.

China-based Huawei is considering negotiating a "mitigation agreement" with the US government - as Alcatel of France did when it bought Lucent in 2006 - in order to show its willingness to co-operate with the US. It is making the lobbying push in preparation for a potential bid for a unit of Motorola.

Several scholars, rights activists and journalists working on China and Taiwan issues have reported that their Yahoo e-mail accounts have been hacked into, in the latest internet incident involving China since Google's decision to stop censoring its Chinese site.

Hwang Chang-gyu, former president of Samsung Electronics, was named to a government committee to oversee national research and development projects, officials said yesterday.

"Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service and blaming China in insinuation for alleged hacker attacks," said a government official.

Renewable energy investment may rise by 23% this year as government stimulus funds mainly in the US and Europe are spent wind turbines and solar panels.

Applied Materials has ramped up its lobbying effort during the last three months of 2009, spending close to a half-million dollars trying to sway lawmakers on energy policy and other issues.

The Obama administration has declassified some general information about the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), a sweeping program that protects the government and critical civilian networks from cyberattacks.

The hackers who broke into Google two months ago have gone after more than 100 companies, according to an estimate by security vendor Isec Partners.

Anyone who buys an electric car will be able to take advantage of a subsidy of up to 5,000 pounds (US$7,684) under plans to be set out by the government.

Putting all this into long-term perspective, the current problem offers a glimpse of the likely more massive labor shortage issue that China is set to face in the next few decades as its single-child policy keeps accelerating the aging of its still-enormous population.

"Foreign firms have expressed a willingness to increase investment or make new investments in Taiwan" once the island signs the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with China to remove bilateral tariffs, Ma told reporters at a news briefing to promote the pact. He didn't make any forecasts about the potential value of such investments.

China says its dispute with US search giant Google should not be linked to Beijing's relations with Washington.

Under the terms of the agreement, government officials said Samsung must build four manufacturing plants in Ontario, promising 16,000 direct and indirect jobs over the next five years.

Chinese authorities have signaled that bank lending would slow significantly in 2010, the latest in a series of moves intended to forestall inflation and stave off bubbles in the stock and property markets.

China has said its economy expanded by 8.7% in 2009, exceeding even the government's own initial expectations.

Google's struggles here - wrestling both with political compromises and with threats to its intellectual property - raise the question: How much hassle are China's consumers worth?

China was fast with its stimulus program...even though the country has been climbing nicely out of recession, the government still plans to spend the full US$600 billion of stimulus money.

Yahoo has given its support to rival Google, denouncing an alleged cyber attack originating in China against Google's network infrastructure.

China's exports probably ended a 13-month slide in December, aiding an economic rebound that has so far depended on government stimulus measures and a credit-fueled building boom.

A recent research by SEMI indicates China is committed to narrow the gap between its IC production and consumption. "In addition to investments in the macro economy, the Chinese government also remains the biggest investor in the semiconductor industry in China..."

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government is mulling plans to buy a stake in South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor, according to Dow Jones.

Taiwan's main opposition Democratic Progressive Party has said the government has failed to attract large amount of Chinese investment to bolster the island's economy.

The World Trade Organization has ruled that China's practice of funneling media imports to state-owned companies violates international trade laws. The ruling was a result of complaints filed by a number of US media companies, which contend that China's practices illegally restrict business opportunities.

China streaked ahead of its western and Asian rivals at the weekend by unveiling the world's fastest long-distance passenger train service. The improvement illustrates how China's huge investment in infrastructure is dramatically shrinking the country.

Taiwan Stock Exchange Chairman Schive Chi said Chinese companies may list on the island as early as 2010. "When the ECFA is signed with China next year, it's a good opportunity for Chinese firms to list in Taiwan and we aim for that to happen in the next year..."

Rich states meet emissions targets by paying poor countries to do the cutting, under Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism. However, rich countries account for most of the past emissions that now fill the air, but less than half the world's current emissions.

The Korean government and private sector will jointly inject 58.4 billion won (US$50.5 million) over the next three years into building up the local semiconductor manufacturing equipment sector, according to government officials.

South Korea expects exports in 2010 to grow 12.9% from this year on a global economic recovery and imports to rise 21.5%, producing an estimated US$20 billion trade surplus, the government said.

Passenger car sales at Ford Motor's China joint venture will likely rise by close to 50% in 2009, partly due to government incentives for purchases of small vehicles, according to Nigel Harris, general manager of the joint venture.