■ GAMING
Microsoft cuts Xbox price
Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 video game console was US$50 cheaper in the US yesterday, confirming fuzzy snapshots of leaked advertisements posted by bloggers late last month. The company said its most popular console, which comes with a 20 gigabyte hard drive, will cost US$349. Microsoft has been dodging questions about a console price cut since competitor Sony Corp slashed the price of its 60 gigabyte PlayStation 3 to US$499, from US$599, early last month. Nintendo Corp's Wii, the least expensive of the so-called next-generation consoles, costs US$250.
■ COMPUTERS
Apple updates the iMac
Apple Inc updated its iMac computers on Tuesday with a slimmer design, faster chips and glossy screens, hoping to further propel sales that already outpace the rest of the PC industry. The all-in-one desktop computers now have aluminum casings, replacing the white plastic facade that has defined the computer lineup for years. The new iMacs will come in only 50cm and 60cm versions. In the company's fiscal third quarter that ended in June, Apple shipped a record 1.76 million Macs, up 33 percent from the year-ago period, accounting for US$2.5 billion, or more than 60 percent, of the quarter's revenues.
■ FOOD
Bull-Dog bid revamped
The US investment fund Steel Partners announced yesterday a revamped buyout bid for Japan's Bull-Dog Sauce, pushing ahead with its controversial offer despite a string of legal defeats. Steel Partners said it will lower its tender offer price for Bull-Dog Sauce to ?425 (US$3.60) per share from ?1,700 a day after Japan's top court upheld the condiment maker's right to use a "poison pill" takeover defense. The tender offer, which had been due to expire on Friday, was also extended until Aug. 22 to give investors time to respond to the revised offer, as required by law, a spokeswoman for Steel Partners said.
■ ENERGY
PetroChina mulls IPO
PetroChina Co (中國石油天然氣), China's largest oil company, could raise 40 billion yuan (US$5.3 billion) via a share sale that would be the largest initial public offer (IPO) of the year, state press said yesterday. The Beijing-based group will issue four billion shares in Shanghai at approximately 10 yuan each, accounting for about 2 percent of its enlarged share capital, the China Daily said, citing an unnamed executive at the firm. The newspaper report followed an official announcement in June that the Hong Kong-listed group would seek to sell shares in its home markets as part of plans to ramp up its expansion.
■ ECONOMY
India moves to curb inflows
India has placed curbs on overseas borrowing to cut massive foreign currency flows into the economy that led the rupee to strengthen sharply against the dollar this year, officials said yesterday. The finance ministry said firms that borrow more than US$20 million from overseas must now seek central bank approval. "Henceforth external commercial borrowing [of] more than US$20 million per borrowing company would be permitted only for foreign currency expenditure for permissible end-uses," it said. "Such funds would continued to be parked overseas until actual requirement."
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
WHAT WAS ALL THAT FOR? Jaw Shaw-kong said that Cheng Li-wen had pushed for more drastic cuts and attacked him, just for the outcome to be nearly identical to his bill The legislature yesterday passed a supplementary budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of US military equipment, with the combined amount of spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.8 billion). The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their legislative majority to pass the bill, which runs until 2033 and has two main funding provisions. One was for NT$300 billion of arms sales already approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, the other was for NT$480 billion for another arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The bill, which fell short of the NT$1.25
A former television news host and six military personnel — active and retired — have been indicted on espionage charges, Kaohsiung prosecutors said yesterday. Lin Chen-you (林宸佑), a former CTi News host and YouTuber, last year allegedly made videos at the direction of a Chinese agent criticizing the Democratic Progressive Party’s recall campaign, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office told a news conference in Kaohsiung. He allegedly received 4,325 tether coins for the videos from an unidentified person surnamed Huang (黃), believed to be an agent of a hostile foreign power, they said. Lin, also known as Ma Te (馬德), has a show named
‘CRITICAL MOMENT’: Any delay in the passage of the remaining funds would weaken Taiwan’s security and play into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, the AIT said While welcoming the Legislative Yuan’s approval of a supplementary defense budget, the US Department of State said that further delays to Taiwan military spending are a “concession” to China. The remarks came after the legislature on Friday passed the budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of military equipment from the US, with total spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.82 billion). One package allocates NT$300 billion for arms sales approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, while the other sets aside NT$480 billion for an arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The
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