■ Consuming
iPod index unveiled
An Australian investment bank has developed a new indicator for tracking international currency values using the cost of an Apple iPod as a benchmark. Commonwealth Securities Ltd last week announced its iPod Index to assess the value of global currencies by comparing the cost of a 2-gigabyte iPod Nano music player in US dollars across different countries. The index is based on the economic principle that one US dollar should buy the same quantity of goods across all countries and that currencies will fluctuate to close any gaps in purchasing power.
■ Aviation
No offer for Alitalia
Air France-KLM has decided not to make an offer to buy Italy's cash-strapped Alitalia because of the high asking price and conditions set by the Italian government, the French daily La Tribune reported. "The decision was taken on Wednesday by the board the day that Jean-Cyril Spinetta, France-KLM chairman, announced his resignation from the board of Alitalia," the paper said in an article that appeared yesterday, without saying where it got its information. "The terms and conditions set by Rome is judged by France-KLM to be unreason-able," the business daily said.
■ Electronics
Philips' Q4 profit doubles
Royal Philips NV yesterday reported its fourth-quarter net profit doubled due mostly to lower tax costs, even as sales slipped due to weakness at the company's consumer electronics division. Net profit was 680 million euros (US$882 million), up from 332 million euros a year earlier, when Philips paid a one-time tax charge of 240 million euros on shares it holds in Taiwan chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電). Fourth-quarter sales fell by less than 1 percent to 8.13 billion euros from 8.19 billion euros as sales dropped 6 percent at the company's consumer electronics division.
■ Automobiles
Toyota plans low-cost car
Toyota Motor Corp plans to build a low-cost car undercutting Renault's emerging-market Logan through a "radical" rethink in design and production, the president of the fast-growing Japanese automaker said. "The focus is on low-cost technology," Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe told Britain's Financial Times in an interview published yesterday. He declined to set a price for a low-cost car but said it would be "at least" less than the Logan. Renault has started production of the Logan, which will cost from 5,000 euros (US$6,200) on up, touted as a budget model for consumers in emerging economies.
■ Computers
Sun to use Intel chips
Server and software maker Sun Microsystems Inc has agreed to use chips from Intel Corp in some of its servers and for Intel to endorse Sun's Solaris operating system, a person close to the deal said. Specifics of the deal were not disclosed. The deal marks a major design win for Intel, the world's largest computer chip maker, which has been fighting to reverse plunging profits and regain market share lost to archrival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Intel began losing ground to AMD several years ago as customers began migrating to AMD-designed chips that were seen as more energy-efficient. Since 2003, Sun had relied exclusively on AMD.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
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