■ GOLD
Gold prices open higher
Hong Kong gold prices opened higher yesterday, benefiting from its appeal as a safe-haven investment amid a spike in oil prices and weakness in the US dollar, analysts said. The precious metal opened at US$865.35 an ounce, up from Thursday's close of US$857.25. Overnight in New York, the yellow metal hit an all-time high of US$870 an ounce after oil prices broke the symbolic US$100 mark for the second straight day on worries about tight supplies and US currency weakness. Oil struck a fresh all-time record of US$100.09 per barrel in early US floor trading but then settled back to close at US$99.18.
■ ELECTRONICS
TomTom shares plunge
Shares in navigation device maker TomTom NV fell sharply on Thursday after a major European electronics retailer issued a profit warning. TomTom's shares dropped 7.3 percent to 47.95 euros (US$70.35) in the wake of the warning by DSG International PLC, Europe's second-largest consumer electronics retail chain. "Demand for [personal] satellite navigation devices has been flat" in the fourth quarter at DSG's stores, spokesman Mark Webb said. "Historically, at least for the last 18 months, there's been fairly dramatic growth."
■ AIRCRAFT
Bombardier picks up orders
Bombardier Inc announced the sale on Thursday of four aircraft to Libyan Airlines and the Spanish government in deals valued at approximately US$136 million. The Libyan carrier signed a firm order for two CRJ900 NextGen regional jets. The order is a conversion of the two options taken with its initial order for three CRJ900 aircraft in June. All three previously ordered planes have been delivered. "With this order, we are continuing our fleet renewal program with state-of-the-art aircraft," Libyan Airlines chairman Tarek Arebi said. The world's third-largest aircraft manufacturer also announced that two more amphibious aircraft have been ordered by the Spanish government in a deal worth approximately US$60 million.
■ AIRCRAFT
Boeing in deliveries record
Boeing Co delivered 441 planes last year, nearly 10 percent more than the year before, and is expected to blow past a previous record when it announces last year's commercial jet order total. Rival Airbus SAS is on pace to beat Boeing on deliveries. As of Nov. 30, Airbus had delivered 410 planes. Chicago-based Boeing, which delivered 112 planes in the fourth quarter of last year, had predicted it would deliver 440 to 445 planes last year, while Airbus has projected it would deliver 450 to 460. Analysts also expected Airbus to come out ahead of Boeing on orders.
■ MUSIC
US album sales hit hard
US album sales plunged 9.5 percent last year from 2006, as the beleaguered recording industry marked another weak year of sales despite a 45 percent surge in the sale of digital tracks, figures released on Thursday showed. A total of 500.5 million albums sold as CDs, cassettes, LPs and other formats were purchased last year, down 15 percent from 2006's unit total, said Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks point-of-purchase sales. The shortfall in album sales drops to 9.5 percent when sales of digital singles are counted as 10-track equivalent albums. The number of digital tracks sold, meanwhile, jumped 45 percent to 844.2 million.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2