■ UNITED KINGDOM
Consumer confidence drops
Consumer confidence plummeted to its lowest level last month since the economic slump of 1992, a survey showed yesterday, making grim reading for Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the eve of local elections. The GfK/NOP consumer confidence index fell to minus 24 from minus 19 in March as people turned gloomier on the state of the economy and personal finances. That was the lowest reading since November 1992, just months after sterling was thrown out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism and the then-Conservative government lost its reputation for sound economic management.
■ INTERNET
Softbank to boost bid in firm
Japanese Internet services and telecommunications company Softbank said yesterday it hopes to boost its stake to 40 percent in a major Chinese Internet company for a total investment of ¥40 billion (US$385 million), eyeing booming demand in the country. Softbank already bought a 14 percent stake in Oak Pacific Interactive (千橡互動) for ¥10 billion earlier this month and has obtained the right to raise its stake to 40 percent, a company spokesman said. It has not made any formal offer to increase its stake. China’s Oak Pacific Interactive has 22 million users.
■ FINANCE
Interbank loans in euros rise
More new credit was made in euros than in dollars in interbank lending in the last quarter of last year, statistics from the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) showed yesterday. New dollar denominated credits almost halved to US$247 billion in the quarter, while credit in EU currency more than doubled to 377 billion euros (US$586 billion), the bank said. Overall, banks increased cross-border lending by US$1.1 trillion in the last three months of last year to US$33.5 trillion. In terms of risk exposure of bank assets, BIS noted a rise of US$1 trillion in what it termed as “other exposures,” mainly because of increased derivatives and to guarantees.
■ IT
Indian sector set to double
India’s IT and IT-enabled services sector will more than double in size by 2012, led by a fast-expanding domestic market, a report released yesterday showed. The industry’s revenues, including those from export markets, will reach 5.3 trillion rupees (US$132 billion) in 2012, from 2.46 trillion rupees last year, the report by market-research firm IDC India said. Two trillion rupees of that will come from the domestic market, which is growing at an average annual rate of 18.4 percent, outpacing overall industry growth of 16.5 percent, it said. Last year, India’s overall IT and IT-enabled services industry logged 22.4 percent growth in revenue to 2.46 trillion rupees, it said.
■ GAMES
Microsoft lowers XBox price
Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday it was cutting prices on the Xbox 360 in four Asian markets by as much as 20 percent in an effort to expand the audience for the video game console. The reductions will take effect this week in Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore, Microsoft said. The price of the main Xbox 360 Premium model fit with a 20-gigabyte hard drive was cut 17 percent in Taiwan, nearly 20 percent in Singapore, nearly 11 percent in Hong Kong and 5 percent in South Korea. The Xbox 360 competes against Sony Corp’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Co Ltd’s Wii consoles.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’