China Mobile picks Taiwan firm to supply electronic readers

September 1st, 2009 Taiwan politician: China has canceled exchangesTAIPEI, Taiwan — A Taiwanese party spokeswoman says China has cancelled or postponed several visits and exchanges with Taiwan, likely to show its anger over the Dalai Lama's visit to the island. Chen Shu-rong of the ruling Nationalist Party says cancelled events include a visit by senior Shanghai Communist Party official Yang Xiaodu.

August 31st, 2009 TAIPEI/BEIJING - Taiwan and China launched regular direct flights Monday, ending Taipei's six-decade ban on air links with the mainland imposed at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Taiwan and Chinese airlines will operate a total of 270 round-trip flights per week, up from the current 108 charter flights.

August 27th, 2009 Taiwan's government OKs Dalai Lama to visit TaiwanTAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwanese President Ma Ying jeou says his government has agreed to a visit by the Dalai Lama to comfort survivors of a devastating typhoon. Such a visit is likely to anger China, which considers the Buddhist spiritual leader a "splittist" for promoting Tibetan autonomy.

August 19th, 2009 TAIPEI - Taiwan, in a major policy change, will stop seeking to join the UN at the upcoming UN General Assembly but will try to join some UN organisations, a newspaper reported Wednesday. In line with President Ma Ying-jeou's call for diplomatic truce with China, along with pragmatic reasons, Taiwan will stop mobilising its diplomatic allies to ask the UN General Assembly to discuss Taiwan's membership but will seek to join some UN organisations, the United Daily News said.

August 17th, 2009 BEIJING - Air China President Cai Jianjiang has said that it will begin regular scheduled flights between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan from Aug 31. Jianjiang said that Taiwan's civil aviation authority granted a business license to Air China on Aug 13, and the carrier's branch was also established in Taiwan.

August 14th, 2009 TAIPEI - The death toll in Typhoon Morakot that devastated Taiwan Aug 7 could cross 500, officials said Friday. Latest reports say at least 380 people are feared dead following an Aug 9 mudslide in Hsiaolin village in southern Taiwan in the wake of the typhoon.

July 6th, 2009 LONDON - A mobile firm has come up with a novel way of finding an employee, it asks people to apply for a top job by text. All those applying for the job need to express themselves in only 40 words, to show they are right for the marketing post at content provider Teimlo.

July 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government has banned the import of Chinese handsets that do not have the international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) - a unique 15-digit security code - with immediate effect, a union minister said Thursday. "The government has prohibited the import of mobile handsets without IMEI number or with all zeroes in its place with immediate effect, Minister of State for Telecommunications Gurudas Kamat told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

June 10th, 2009 USA Today to introduce digital edition, for a feeNEW YORK — The new publisher of USA Today plans to introduce an electronic replica of the printed newspaper and charge readers for it. The new version will be sent by e-mail to readers beginning Aug.

April 24th, 2009 2 China tourists killed by falling crane in TaiwanTAIPEI, Taiwan — The Taipei mayor says a falling crane from a high-rise building under construction has crushed a bus in Taiwan's capital. He says two Chinese tourists have been killed and three others seriously injured.

April 22nd, 2009 Taiwan president urges US to supply new weaponsTAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou on Wednesday called on the United States to supply it with new weapons systems, citing rival China's own military buildup. Ma's comments, in a videoconference with a Washington think tank, come despite rapidly improving relations between the democratic island and the communist mainland.

April 20th, 2009 China Mobile quarterly profit up 5.2 percentBEIJING — China Mobile Ltd., the world's biggest phone company by subscribers, said Monday its first quarter profit rose 5.2 percent but growth slowed due to China's economic slowdown and stronger competition. Profit for the three months ended March 31 was 25.2 billion yuan ($3.7 billion), compared with 24 billion yuan for the same period last year, the Beijing-based company said.

March 13th, 2009 TAIPEI - Taiwan is opposed to China's plan to extend its national railway network to Taipei, calling it unnecessary, according to a newspaper report Friday. According to the Taipei Times, both the Presidential Office and the Mainland Affairs Council have called China's plan unnecessary from both economic and political perspectives.

February 5th, 2009 TAIPEI - Taiwan plans to launch regular flights to China in the first half of 2009, an official said Friday. Lee Wen-lung, director of the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), told Broadcasting Corp of China that 'authorities' have instructed CAA to achieve normalization of air flights across the Taiwan Strait before summer.

January 15th, 2009 TAIPEI - Taiwan and China are expected to launch regular passenger and cargo flights in July, ending Taipei's six-decade ban on cross-strait air links with the mainland, a newspaper said Friday. The Commercial Times, quoting an unnamed official, said Taipei and Beijing plan to hold talks in late May to discuss opening regular flights and sign a pact.