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■ Semiconductors
Intel cuts processor prices
Intel Corp cut prices on some desktop chips by as much as 40 percent ahead of the introduction of new products. The Pentium 960 will sell for US$316 in batches of 1,000, down from US$530, according to a price list provided by the company. New chips called Core 2 Duo will cost as much as US$999 each and be the highest-priced. Core 2 Duo, which will be released this quarter, is a replacement for the six-year-old Pentium 4 design at the top of Intel's product range.

■ Beef
Japan may ease US ban
Japan is expected to approve a partial resumption of imports of US beef on Thursday, the national Yomiuri newspaper said yesterday, without citing sources. The news came with Japanese inspectors set to return home today from a month of monitoring US meat processing plants -- a condition Japan requested last month when it agreed in principle to resume imports. An Agriculture Ministry official denied that a date had been set. "Nothing has been decided" as to the timing of the resumption, ministry official Katsuaki Sasaki said. Japan is making final preparations for the resumption of US beef imports, which were banned over mad cow disease fears. Japan lifted the ban late last year, but then re-imposed it in January after inspectors found a shipment containing banned animal parts.

■ Banking
HSBC to top Central America
Britain's biggest bank, HSBC, is to become the largest banking group in Central America with the US$1.77 billion acquisition of Panama-based Grupo Banistmo. The acquisition will take HSBC, which operates in 76 countries, into another five -- Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia, El Salvador and Nicaragua. It will also consolidate HSBC's operations in Panama, where it has had a presence since 1972. HSBC's operations in Latin America have been growing much faster than its British and US businesses. The bank has been building its presence in Central America through a series of takeovers in recent years.

■ Game consoles
Xbox 360 taking off in Asia
Microsoft Corp is confident of further expansion in Xbox 360 sales in Asia and sees opportunities in a planned launch in India later this year, Alan Bowman, general manager of entertainment and devices for the Asia-Pacific and Greater China, said on Friday. Bowman, speaking in a telephone interview from Sydney, said Microsoft sold 5 million units of the Xbox 360 worldwide since its initial launch last year, with Asia-Pacific sales accounting for 400,000 units. The company expects to sell another 8 million to 10 million units over the next year globally, Bowman said, adding that sales in Asia would likely continue to hold a similar proportion of total sales.

■ Finance
John Mack called to testify
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has requested testimony from John Mack, chief executive of Morgan Stanley, as part of an investigation into possible insider dealing, the Wall Street bank said on Friday. Mack's testimony is being sought by regulators probing the hedge fund Pequot Capital, as the US Congress also ratchets up a review of the billion-dollar hedge fund industry. The US securities regulator has been reviewing trading at Pequot Capital. Mack, one of Wall Street's best known executives, was temporarily Pequot's chairman before he was appointed Morgan Stanley's CEO last June.


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