■ Electronics
MS plans RFID software
Microsoft Corp, the world's biggest software maker, plans to create software that can handle radio-frequency identification data for small and medium-sized businesses, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unidentified company official. RFID is being adopted by companies such as Metro AG and Wal-Mart Stores Inc to create wireless inventory tracking systems that may eventually replace bar codes, the paper said. International Business Machines Corp and Royal Philips Electronics NV are also planning a partnership to promote sales of chips using the new technology, the WSJ said. Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, aims to release the software in 2005 and estimates that it will cost around 60,000 euros (US$75,426) for 15 users, the Journal said.
■ Investing
Soros bets on weak dollar
George Soros, who once made a billion dollars betting on a drop in the British pound, said the US dollar may extend its decline this year even as stocks rise. When currencies drop they "tend to actually pick up speed," Soros said in a televised interview with Bloomberg News at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "Since the decline of the dollar in the short term is beneficial for the US economy, the authorities actually like it." The dollar has dropped 14 percent against the 12-nation European common currency in the past 12 months and 9 percent against the Japanese yen, buoying US exports while posing a threat to the economic recovery in Europe and Japan. Even with the dollar's decline, the 73-year-old Soros expects investors to keep putting money into US stock markets.
■ Electronics
Outsourcing upsets unions
Business and government leaders are concerned that as companies contract-out low-paid operations in the service sector to developing countries, higher-paid jobs are not being created instead, the Wall Street Journal reported citing participants in the World Economic Forum in Davos. Companies such as International Business Machines Corp, and Hewlett-Packard Co are taking advantage of the lower costs in employing workers in countries such as India and China, the paper said. Globalization advocates are also worried that the trend may cause a loss of support for free trade globally, the WSJ said. According to Brendan Barber, secretary-general of Trade Union Congress, a British labor confederation, around 2 million service industry jobs may be contracted out from wealthy countries in the next 5 years, the Journal said.
■ Automobiles
GM buys Daewoo plant
General Motors Corp bought an engine plant in China from Daewoo Motor Co to be used for cars the US company plans to make there, Yonhap News said, citing an unidentified Daewoo Motor official. The two companies last month signed an agreement on the sale of the engine plant in the northeastern port of Yantai and may receive approval from the Chinese government by the end of next month, the report said. The sale may be worth between US$60 million and US$70 million, it said. General Motors is planning to use the engines from the plant for its cars manufactured in China as well as those from General its Korean unit, GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co, the report said.
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
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