■ Electronics
EA to release phone games
California-based computer game maker Electronic Arts will soon begin offering games for mobile phones. Among the titles in planning are "FIFA 06" soccer and "SimCity," the company announced recently. Additional games to be made compatible with mobile phones are "Need for Speed Most Wanted" and "The Sims 2." These games are expected to be released by the end of the year. The service providers will likely follow. Each game title will likely cost about US$5.
■ Hospitality
Luxury hampers on offer
A five-star hotel in Hong Kong was yesterday offering what may be the world's most expensive Christmas hamper with a HK$1 million (US$129,000) price tag. The hamper offered by the Ritz-Carlton includes champagne, caviar, cigars, diamond jewellery, vouchers for a stay in the hotel's presidential suite and a flight by a Gulfstream jet to Bali. The hamper is believed to be the most expensive ever offered in Hong Kong -- where the top-priced hamper last year was a US$48,888 offering from Sogo. It may also be the most expensive commercial hamper anywhere, although there is no such category in the Guinness Book of World Records. The basic ingredients of the Ritz-Carlton hamper are Krug champagne, caviar and Cuban cigars, along with vouchers for a three-day, two-night stay at the Ritz-Carlton's presidential suite. Buyers will have exclusive use of a Rolls Royce limousine and a gourmet dinner for six on the final night.
■ Electronics
Hitachi plans India offices
Hitachi Ltd, Japan's largest electronics maker, will open outsourcing centers in India to provide software development and system support services to Japanese clients in the US and Europe, the Nikkei English News reported yesterday. The Tokyo-based company will partner with Satyam Computer Services Ltd and Intelligroup Inc to open offices in Bangalore and Hyderabad, with 200 employees, the report said, citing company officials it didn't identify. The company expects to hire up to 1,000 employees in two years, it said. Hitachi plans to increase the share of overseas revenue in its information and communications business to 40 percent by 2007, according to the report.
■ Auto industry
Toyota profits to hit record
Toyota Motor Corp's net profit for the year to March next year is expected to hit a record US$10.4 billion thanks to brisk sales and a weak yen, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported yesterday. Toyota is scheduled to announced its interim earnings report on Friday. The company is likely to report a group net profit of ¥1.2 trillion (US$10.4 billion), an all-time high for the fourth consecutive year, up 2 percent from the previous year, the paper said. Operating profit is expected to increase 5 percent to a record ¥1.75 trillion for the year on sales seen to gain 8 percent to about ¥20 trillion, the business daily said. The exchange rate is currently running around ¥115 to the dollar, against the company's assumed rate of ¥105. If the current rate continues until year's end, Toyota is expected to enjoy a foreign exchange gain of some ¥100 billion, it said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
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