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■ Technology
Teco gets huge LCD order
Teco Electric & Machinery Co (東元電機) received orders to produce about NT$6 billion (US$191 million) of liquid-crystal display televisions for US-based ViewSonic Corp, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing Teco Chairman Theodore Huang (黃茂雄). The Taiwanese home-appliance maker is expected to start shipments of the 200,000 LCD TVs, including the 32-inch, 37-inch and 40-inch models in September, the Taipei-based paper said, citing Huang. Teco plans to turn out 300,000 LCD TVs this year, and is targeting annual production of 1 million units within three to five years, enabling the company to be among the world's top five LCD TV makers, the paper said, citing Huang.

■ Industry
Low-cost loans offered
Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs, in a bid to boost exports, plans to offer local manufacturers NT$6 billion (US$191 million) of low-cost loans to help them acquire international brands and overseas distributors, a Chinese-language business daily reported, citing an official. The ministry will lend as much as NT$300 million to each company that qualifies to help them acquire suitable businesses, the paper said, citing Huang Chih-peng (黃志鵬), director general of the ministry's Board of Foreign Trade. The targets must either be among the top 10 distributors in a foreign country or an international brand with more than 11 years of history. An official announcement regarding the plan will be made by the end of next month and the ministry expects to start offering loans from August, the paper said.

■ United States
IRS to close walk-in centers
The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said on Friday that it planned to close nearly a fifth of its walk-in centers where people can receive help with their tax issues. The agency said it would close 68 of 400 Tax Assistance Centers sometime in the early autumn in an effort to become more efficient, as an increasing number of people use the Internet and person-to-person phone services for assistance. "We've been seeing change in taxpayer usage through the years," the commissioner of the IRS, Mark Everson, said in a telephone interview on Friday. "We've improved our access in ways where people get the best service." According to the IRS, more than half of all returns were filed electronically this year. While nearly 7.9 million people used the walk-in centers last year, that number has dropped 19 percent since 2002, the agency said.

■ United States
Philanthropist arrested
A wealthy philanthropist with a net worth of almost US$1 billion has been arrested on charges that he used money from an investor in his investing business "as a personal piggy bank" to pay personal expenses and make charitable donations, prosecutors said. Alberto William Vilar was accused in a criminal complaint filed in US District Court in Manhattan with engaging in business practices that were fraudulent, deceptive and manipulative. He was arrested on Thursday and is being held without bail, prosecutors said. US Postal Inspector Cynthia Fraterrigo charged in the complaint that Vilar improperly used money from an individual who invested US$5 million in Vilar's firm, Amerindo Investment Advisors Inc. Vilar, according to the complaint, had a personal net worth of about US$950 million in December.

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