U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced that three people have been indicted for misclassifying Chinese honey as rice fructose in order to avoid more than $1 million in antidumping duties. The three defendants, Chin Shih Chou (Taiwan), Qiao Chu (China), and Wei-Tang Lo (California) represented a number of honey importation companies in executing the scheme. They mislabeled shipping containers filled with the Chinese honey to avoid a $2.63 per kilo antidumping duty. Once the containers of honey passed through customs, they were forwarded to a warehouse, washed of all markings, and relabeled as amber honey, and sold to domestic producers.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has announced that Jeng "Jay" Shih and his New York company, Sunrise Technologies and Trading Corporation, pleaded guilty on October 7, 2011 to conspiracy to illegally export U.S.-origin computers from the U.S. to Iran through the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Under the terms of the plea and related BIS civil and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) settlements, Shih and his company will forfeit $1.25 million.

Asus, which turned heads at Computex in May with the UX21, based on Intel’s Ultrabook platform, is now on track for a late-October debut in stores with prices that “should be under $1,000,” Tammy Lin, marketing specialist, told us in New York on a media tour touting new tablets and notebooks. Asus had originally planned to have Ultrabooks in stores in September. The company is planning 10-, 12- and 13-inch models based on the second-gen Intel Core i5 processor, Lin said, but pricing and feature details aren’t yet available, she said.

On April 21, 2011, the Justice Department announced that three individuals and two companies were indicted on charges of illegally exporting millions of dollars worth of computer-related equipment from the U.S. to Iran via the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

MSI Computer is poised to spin off its consumer PC business as it seeks to expand the brand at retail, Andy Tung, vice president of sales, told us.

Asus jumped into the growing tablet market Tuesday, as expected, bowing four models at a news conference in Las Vegas that kicked off CES. The Windows 7-based Eee Slate EP121, expected to ship by Jan. 31, was “designed for users who require a highly portable handheld device that can also run standard office software while multitasking with other applications,” Asus said. It’s powered by an Intel Core i5 dual-core processor and features a 12.1-inch LED-backlit display with a 1280 x 800 resolution and a wide 178-degree viewing angle, it said. The Slate will cost $999 for a 2-GB DDR3 RAM version and $1,099 for a 4-GB DDR3 RAM version. The Eee Pad Slider, expected to cost $499-$799 depending on configuration when it arrives in May, comes with a 10.1-inch touch screen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and dual digital cameras, including a 1.2-megapixel camera in front and a 5-megapixel one in the rear. It’s powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 2 mobile processor with a dual-core CPU and GeForce GU. Asus will make an optional docking system available for the Transformer that Chairman Jonney Shih demonstrated turns the tablet into a notebook computer with QWERTY keyboard for desktop use. The docking system also extends battery life on the tablet to up to 16 hours, he said. The Eee Pad Transformer, expected to sell for $399-$699 depending on the configuration when it ships in April, also features a 10.1-inch touch screen, Tegra 2 chipset and the same dual cameras as the Slider. A built-in mini-HDMI port allows for “easy connections to external displays showing off full 1080p HD video playback,” Asus said. It didn’t say how much the docking system will cost. The Eee Pad MeMO features a 7.1-inch touch screen and will cost $499-$799 when it ships in June, Asus said. The Slider, Transformer and MeMO run on Google’s Android Honeycomb operating system.

The International Trade Administration has issued the final results of its antidumping duty administrative review stainless steel sheet and strip in coils (SSSSC) from Taiwan (A-583-831) for the period July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009.

There have been some changes in China’s media and information control system, but access is still difficult and more changes are needed, witnesses said during a hearing by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on Thursday. The Chinese government is worried about the increasing use of online tools like Twitter and is expected to monitor content even more closely, they said. Established in 2000, the commission has twelve members appointed by Congressional leaders from both parties.

There have been some changes in China’s media and information control system, but access is still difficult and more changes are needed, witnesses said during a hearing by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on Thursday. The Chinese government is worried about the increasing use of online tools like Twitter and is expected to monitor content even more closely, they said. Established in 2000, the commission has twelve members appointed by Congressional leaders from both parties.

GPS company Garmin teamed with Asustek Computer to launch co-branded smartphones featuring location-based services, the companies said. The partnership, called Garmin-Asus, will launch a product line of Nuvifone series phones, starting with Nuvifone G60 in the first half of 2009. Converged devices are an emerging opportunity, Garmin CEO Min Kao said. Garmin-Asus plans to produce phones with multiple operating systems, including Windows Mobile, Linux and Google’s Android platform, said Jonney Shih, chairman of Asustek. The phones will feature LBS functions like location-tagged photos and geo-directed social networking.