■ Energy
Oil prices to stay high
Several of the world's oil producers that are not members of OPEC might not be able to immediately ramp up their output to help bring down current high oil prices, OPEC president Purnomo Yusgiantoro said yesterday. He did not men-tion any of the non-member countries by name, but said they would need to increase investments before boosting output. "We realize that some non-OPEC members can't increase production in the short term, but we believe they can over the longer term," said Purnomo, who is also Indonesia's energy minister. OPEC, which accounts for 40 percent of the world's oil supply, decided to increase its output ceiling to 25.5 million barrels a day starting July 1, and to 26 million in August from 23.5 million currently. Non-member Russia has already said it can't increase its output anytime soon.
■ Software
Microsoft sells anti-virus fix
Microsoft Corp will sell an anti-virus product that can detect mutating computer bugs, which existing software fails to do, said Scott Charney, the com-pany's chief security strategist. Microsoft has been trying to block computer viruses from clients' machines after worms such as "Blaster" and "Beagle" escaped detection by existing software, slowing traffic and crashing customers' computers in the past year. The company said more of these viruses are expected. "There's a lot of room for innovation," Charney said. "We need to get the com-puter to a point where people would use it without a sense of fear or that some-thing will go wrong -- it's not like the telephone, where people will just pick it up when they use it," he said. The anti-virus software will be a standalone product and will ride on the brand recognition of its operating system and software to push sales.
■ Banking
Singapore opens market
Monetary officials are opening up Singapore's banking sector further to foreign banks by giving them more access to the domestic market starting Jan. 1. The three local banks -- DBS Group Holdings, OCBC Bank and United Overseas Bank -- can expect to face intensifying competition both in Singa-pore and abroad, warned Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday. He urged them to look further into Asia. Six qualifying foreign banks can have up to 25 branches or offsite automatic teller machines (ATM) under the plan. They are currently restricted to 15 service locations, of which not more than five can be branches. ABN Amro Bank, Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Maybank and BNP Paribas can now negotiate with the local banks on a commer-cial basis to let their credit-card members obtain cash through the Singapore banks' ATM networks.
■ Banking
Online usage rising in US
Some 22 million people use online banking at the top 10 US financial institutions, up 29 percent from a year ago, a survey showed Thursday. The survey by market research firm comScore Networks, measuring the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year, said usage of online bank bill payment services grew by 37 percent. The survey found some 4.6 million consumers, or about 20 percent of the online banking population, used online bill payment services offered by the top 10 banks.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
The Philippines yesterday criticized a “high-risk” maneuver by a Chinese vessel near the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in a rare incident involving warships from the two navies. The Scarborough Shoal — a triangular chain of reefs and rocks in the contested South China Sea — has been a flash point between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. Taiwan also claims the shoal. Monday’s encounter took place approximately 11.8 nautical miles (22km) southeast” of the Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine military said, during ongoing US-Philippine military exercises that Beijing has criticized as destabilizing. “The Chinese frigate BN 554 was
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