■ Internet
Yahoo to offer Internet calls
Yahoo Inc will upgrade its instant messenger service to let computer users make phone calls as competition heats up in the growing market for Internet calling. Calls in the US will cost US$0.01 a minute. Calls to 30 other countries will be priced at less than USS$0.02, Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo said in a statement. Customers will be able to buy a phone number for US$2.99 a month that lets them receive calls on personal computers. Yahoo, the most-visited Internet site, is introducing the features within the next week.
■ Electronics
Sanyo to sell financial arm
Struggling Japanese electronics maker Sanyo Electric is in final stages of talks with Goldman Sachs to sell a bulk of its 52 percent stake in debt-ridden Sanyo Electric Credit, its key financial arm, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said yesterday without naming sources. As for the money-losing home appliances division, Sanyo is considering setting up a new joint venture with China's biggest home appliance maker Haier Group (海爾) to transfer production, the economic daily said. Sanyo would not confirm the report.
■ Development
Intel invests in Malaysia
Intel Corp will invest US$230 million in Malaysia to set up a test and assembly facility and a design and development center. The latest investment will add 2,000 jobs at Intel's operations in Malaysia, chairman Craig Barrett said in a press release. Barrett, 66, is in Malaysia on a trip to Asia this week that includes India, and Beijing and Chengdu in China. The company earlier this week pledged investments of more than US$1 billion in these two countries. Intel currently has 10,000 employees in Malaysia, the company's biggest operational site outside the US.
■ Mining
Gold soars to 24-year high
Gold galloped to a new 24-and-a-half-year high yesterday on continued fund buying as the yellow metal, backed by strong fundamentals, outperformed traditional assets such as stocks and bonds. But analysts said that gold remained very vulnerable to fund liquidation after it made steep gains in recent weeks on the back of inflation concerns, high oil prices and fund interest in gold and other commodities. Spot gold had risen to between US$518.00 and US$518.60 an ounce, against between US$513.90 and US$514.70 last quoted in New York on Wednesday. Earlier, gold hit US$518.50 an ounce, its highest since April 1981.
■ Oil
CNOOC eyes Yukos' assets
China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) has expressed interest in acquiring US$10 billion of assets in dismembered Russian oil group Yukos, state press reported yesterday. "Cooperation with Yukos not only depends on the companies' intentions but it also needs a high degree of government policy and coordination," CNOOC chairman Fu Chengyu (傅成玉) was quoted as saying in the official Shanghai Securities News. Fu visited Russia in August following CNOOC's unsuccessful bid for California oil group Unocal, the newspaper said, but it was unclear if he had met with any Yukos officials. Neither did the report say whether negotiations between the two companies had begun, but alleged Fu was interested in non-core assets.
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