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Taiwan Firm Drops a Slander Claim

According to Xinhua news agency, a slander claim against two Shanghai journalists and their newspaper was dropped by a Taiwanese firm. It first said that workers at a plant manufacturing iPods were mistreated, but now Shenzhen-based Foxconn, which manufactures iPods for Apple Computer, and the China Business News had apologized to each other for the trouble caused by the lawsuit.

Foxconn International Holdings is an arm of Taiwan`s Hon Hai Precision Industry. In a mutual statement the two sides also agreed to join forces in order to protect workers` rights. Hongfujin Precision Industry, a wholly-owned Foxconn subsidiary, had sued over a June 15 report in the newspaper that accused the company of violating workers` rights by forcing them to work overtime for low wages.

The suit, one of the biggest insult cases filed in China against reporters, had sparked concern about journalists` rights. Apple said last month that Foxconn let employees at the China plant work longer hours than allowed by Apple`s code of conduct and that it had taken steps to resolve the issue.