■ Internet
Xmas card carries virus
Security experts warned on Tuesday of a new virulent e-mail worm particularly successful in infecting computers as it is disguised as a multilingual electronic Christmas card. "We think this worm will be big, because of its timing and the fact that it comes in 15 different European lan-guages," said Mikko Hyp-poenen, head of anti-virus research at Finnish firm F-Secure. The virus, dubbed Zafi.D, is a traditional Inter-net worm infecting com-puters by e-mail. Its greeting is in the language of the recipient, decided by the country code at the end of the e-mail address, making it all the more dangerous, Hyppoenen said. It also opens a back door on infected PCs, making it possible for outsiders to use them to distribute spam and launch malicious attacks to close down Web sites, he said.
■ Aviation
AirAsia goes with Airbus
Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia will buy 40 A320 jets from Europe's Airbus and plans to phase out its cur-rent Boeing fleet, a senior industry official said yes-terday. "Yes, AirAsia has picked Airbus. It will buy 40 jets. The contract will be inked on Friday," the source said. Asked why Boeing lost the deal, the source said: "In terms of price and technical specifications, Airbus is better. "All the current Boeing aircraft with AirAsia will either be phased out or sold," the source said. Air-Asia, the region's largest low-cost carrier, currently operates a fleet of 24 Boeing 737 aircraft so the AirBus deal, if confirmed, would represent a setback to the US aerospace giant. The industry source said the first aircraft would arrive in early 2006, followed by one jet each month.
■ Banking
Chinese bank hire US execs
Shenzhen Development Bank (深圳發展銀行) said yesterday that it has appointed a pair of US financial experts as board chairman and president, the first foreigners to hold such positions. The appointment of John Langlois, a Morgan Stanley officer in China, comes as part of a transfer of a nearly 18 percent stake in the state-owned bank to US firm Newbridge Capital Ltd. In a notice posted in the China Securities Journal, the bank said Langlois would serve as acting chair-man while the China Bank-ing Regulatory Commission reviews the appointment. Jeffrey Williams will replace He Ru as acting president during the review period, the notice said. Both men have considerable experience with the Chinese banking industry. Williams opened Citigroup subsidiary Citibank's first Chinese branch in Shenzhen in 1988. Langlois sits on the boards of both Shanghai Bank and Nanjing City Commercial Bank.
■ IPOS
Sands' gamble pays off
Las Vegas Sands Corp priced its initial public offering at US$29 per share on Tuesday night, a dra-matic rise from its previous targets. The pricing far exceeds the company's original target of US$21 per share in October thanks to high-growth expectations in Las Vegas and Macau. The Sands made the announce-ment in a news release late Tuesday. With the offering, the Sands becomes one of the largest gambling com-panies in the world. The Sands was set to begin trading yesterday morning on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "LVS." The company registered about 23.8 million shares of common stock, raising more than US$690 million in the offering.
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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