■ TECHNOLOGY
Gates aids Israeli firms
Microsoft CEO Bill Gates on Wednesday signed a US$1.4-million agreement with Israel to encourage Israeli start-up companies and pledged to connect tens of thousands of Israeli children to the Internet, Israeli media reported. "It's no exaggeration to say that the kind of innovation going on in Israel is critical to the future of the technology business," Gates, who is on a brief visit to Israel, told a news conference in Tel Aviv with Acting Israeli Finance Minister Ehud Olmert. "So many great companies have been started here," he said, adding Israel had been "fairly unique," along with the US, in creating new products, patents and copyrighted software. Gates also said the vibrant local high-tech sector will play an important role in the global marketplace and pledged to strengthen cooperation with the country.
■ TECHNOLOGY
Data transfer record set
A Japanese company has developed technology to transmit a two-hour movie in 0.5 seconds, the world's fastest speed achieved with fiber-optic cables in the field, it said yesterday. Kansai Electric used fiber-optic cables on power-transmitting steel towers to achieve the speed of one terabit per second, which is more than 100 times faster than inter-city data transmissions currently in use, a spokesman said. The company, Japan's second-largest power supplier, has not decided when to put the technology into practical use but said it was possible that it would come in 2010 or later, he said.
■ TECHNOLOGY
Volkswagen to sell IT unit
Volkswagen, Europe's biggest car maker, has put its IT services unit Gedas up for sale and entrusted French bank Lazard with the auction, the Financial Times Deutschland reported yesterday, quoting "well-informed sources." Already a number of potential buyers had expressed interest in Gedas and submitted non-binding offers, the newspaper said. Among the possible bidders were Deutsche Telekom's IT unit T-Systems, IBM, EDS, British private equity firm Apax, an unnamed Indian IT group and US services provider ACS, FT Deutschland said. The newspaper said bids ranged between 250 million and 500 million euros (US$302-605 million). Gedas had annual sales of 567 million euros last year and employed a workforce of 4,900.
■ REAL ESTATE
HK retail rents top in Asia
Hong Kong has the highest retail rents in Asia and the world's second-highest after New York, overtaking the prestigious Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris, a study said yesterday. Retail rents in the Causeway Bay shopping district on Hong Kong Island rose 90 percent to US$11,653 per square meter in the 12 months to June, according to a study by property consultant Cushman and Wakefield Healey and Baker. Fifth Avenue in New York, meanwhile, remained the world's most expensive retail district at US$13,993 per square meter, while Paris' Avenue des Champs Elysees came third at US$8,024, according to the study that looked at 237 shopping locations across 47 countries. New Bond Street in London remained in fourth place at US$6,753, while Ginza in Tokyo made a jump from its ninth place ranking last year to fifth, at US$5,578.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source