■ Computers
Connors departs Microsoft
Microsoft Corp chief finan-cial officer John Connors is leaving to join venture capi-tal firm Ignition Partners LLC. Microsoft has yet to name a replacement, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Connors, a 16-year Microsoft veteran and finance chief for five years, orchestrated last year's US$75 billion payment to shareholders through a one-time payment, stock buy-backs and a higher divi-dend. On his watch, annual sales almost doubled to US$36.8 billion in the year ended in June and cash and short-term investments surged to US$64.4 billion.
■ Finances
HK floats sales tax idea
Hong Kong's government plans to propose a new sales tax in the next few months as a way to raise revenues to help plug its budget deficit, the Hong Kong Economic Journal newspaper reported yes-terday. Financial Secretary Henry Tang (唐英年) will reveal details of the new tax in his March budget and the government will begin consulting the public in April or May, the paper said. Last fiscal year, the territory recorded a budget deficit of HK$40.1 billion (US$5.2 billion). Activists and small businesses have already voiced opposition to a new sales tax, which they said would mostly affect the poor and drive up costs.
■ IPR
Web-site operators cleared
A South Korean appeals court yesterday acquitted the operators of a Korean-language Web site that allows users to share songs free of charge. Yang Jung-hwan, 31, and his bother, Il-hwan, 35, created Soribada, South Korea's most popular music-swapping Web site, in 2000. Prosecutors indicted them in 2001 on charges of aiding and condoning copy-right violations, a crime punishable by up to five years in jail. An appeals panel at the Seoul Central District Court said those who download songs through Web sites such as Soribada violate copy rights but the Yangs should not be held responsible for copy right infringements that took place on Soribada.
■ Accounting
Chinese audit finds errors
An official audit of 181 Chinese state-owned enter-prises (SOEs) found that 120 submitted incomplete financial information, while 13 falsified records outright, state press reported yester-day. "The key trouble-makers are financial intermediaries," Xinhua news quoted Meng Jianmin, an official with the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Com-mission, as saying. "The 181 SOEs have hired more than 300 such institutions to operate their financial busi-nesses and a great propor-tion of these intermediaries are actually not [meeting] their duties," Meng said at a recent accountancy asso-ciation meeting. "Some are even helping the SOEs to conceal facts."
■ Entertainment
Disney eyes video games
Walt Disney Co said it's considering an expansion in the video-game business. "A growth business we need to look at is video games," Dis-ney president Robert Iger said on Tuesday at a confer-ence in Phoenix. Disney is developing games that carry Disney, ESPN and non-Disney brands for current game consoles. It's also targeting portable handheld devices and online games, he said. "I'm not suggesting a major acquisition of a publisher is imminent," Iger said. "But we're looking at a variety of opportunities, primarily at the developer level."
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a