■ Software
EU to reprimand Microsoft
The European Commission will soon formally tell Microsoft that the US software giant is charging too much for some of its Windows software licenses, an EU source said on Thursday. The EU competition watchdog is growing increasingly frustrated with Microsoft's failure to apply a March 2004 ruling against the company in their seven-year anti-trust standoff. The EU's executive arm fined the software group in March 2004 a record 497 million euros (US$638 million) for abusing its dominant market power and demanded the company divulge information about its operating system needed by manufacturers of rival products. The commission considers that Microsoft has been overcharging for this information, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The commission will send a statement of objections at the end of July or in the autumn," the source said.
■ Commodities
Gold hits 26-year high in HK
Hong Kong gold prices closed at 26-year highs yesterday at US$722.10-US$722.60 an ounce, up from Thursday's close of US$708.20-US$708.70. The market opened at US$716.20-US$716.70. Overnight, gold hit a high of US$726.70, a level last reached in January 1980. The precious metal has rocketed by almost 40 percent since the start of this year along with others such as silver and platinum, which are supported by a weak US dollar, tensions over Iran and inflation fears prompted by high oil prices. A weak US currency makes commodities priced in the US unit on world markets more attractive to buyers using other currencies.
■ Hotels
Morgans enters Las Vegas
Morgans Hotel Group Co, the luxury hotel company founded by Studio 54's Ian Schrager, purchased the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino for US$770 million in cash as it enters Las Vegas. The 16.6 hectare Las Vegas complex includes a 647-room hotel as well as the 2,787m2 casino, five restaurants, a nightclub and 743m2 spa, said Peter Morton, chairman and founder of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, said in a statement on Thursday. The Hard Rock will be the first of third planned hotels in Las Vegas for Morgans, which operates the Delano in Miami, the Royalton in New York and the Mondrian in Los Angeles. The New York-based company will have more than 2,200 hotel rooms in the city by 2010, when its Delano and Mondrian properties are scheduled to open. The Hard Rock resort, which was built in 1995 and doubled in size in 1999, stands on almost 7 hectares. Morgans said an adjacent 9 hectare piece of land, which includes an apartment complex, may be used to expand the Hard Rock, sold or developed through a joint venture.
■ Oil
Crude settles after big jump
Crude oil futures dropped yesterday in Asian trading after a big jump on the previous day that was caused by supply worries linked to violence in Nigeria, a major oil producer. Light, sweet crude for June delivery fell US$0.38 to US$72.94 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by late morning in Singapore. The contract gained US$1.19 to settle at US$73.32 a barrel Thursday. On Thursday, police said gunmen in Nigeria kidnapped at least two foreign oil workers from a bus in a second day of attacks targeting such workers. Concerns about Iran also continued to support prices.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
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