■ 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 HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from