■ Scandals
Banker jailed for corruption
Wang Yu-yun, former chairman of collapsed Chung Shing Bank (中興銀行) and a former mayor of Kaohsiung, was sentenced to 7 years and 4 months in prison for making illegal loans to former Taiwan Pineapple Corp (台鳳) chairman Huang Tsung-hung, the Liberty Times said, citing the Taipei court's ruling. Huang, who borrowed more than NT$8 billion (US$237 million) from Chung Shing Bank in 1998 for an unsuccessful attempt to stem a plunge in Taiwan Pineapple stock, was sentenced to nine years in prison and fined NT$300 million, the newspaper said. Taiwan Pineapple's shares dropped to NT$39.40 each at the end of 1998 from NT$256 on July 8 of that year. Taiwan's regulators seized Chung Shing Bank in April 2000 after government auditors said the bank had exceeded lending limits to Taiwan Pineapple. The government last month sold Chung Shing's bad loans to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, Lone Star Funds and Taiwan Asset Management Corp (台灣金聯) for NT$37.4 billion.
■ Semiconductors
Spot prices may rise
Spot prices of the most widely used computer-memory chips may rise because personal computer makers including Dell Inc increased orders, while there were some supply shortages, Dram-exchange.com said in a weekly forecast. Spot prices for the 256-megabit, 333-megahertz double-data-rate dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip may rise to as high as US$4.20 until Jan. 25, the Taiwan-based exchange said. Prices rose 0.3 percent to US$3.82 yesterday. Samsung Electronics Co, the world's second-largest semiconductor maker, said this week it has one week's worth of DRAM stock left, while the industry has less than four weeks of inventory. The shortage, combined with expectations that personal computer makers in China would buy more chips ahead of Lunar New Year sales, caused DRAM prices to post their biggest gain in 25 weeks in the second week of January.
■ Energy
Japan, US to make plant
Japan's biggest heavy machinery maker Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) said yesterday it would team up with US firm Westinghouse Electric Corp to bid for nuclear power plant projects in China. The bid is for the construction of two reactors in the southern province of Guangdong and the eastern province of Zhejiang with an output capacity of 1.0 to 1.5 million kilowatts each. "There is growing demand for electric power in China. We hope to win the contracts" estimated at ¥400 billion to ¥500 billion (US$3.7 billion to US$4.7 billion), said Mitsubishi Heavy spokesman Kengo Tatsukawa. The reactors are scheduled to start operating as early as 2010 and the Chinese government is expected to name the successful bidders by the end of this year, Tatsukawa said.
■ Cosmetics
Plastic surgery soars
Shanghai's plastic surgery clinics are fully booked during the Lunar New Year as clients scramble for a new look in the Year of the Monkey, state press reported yesterday. Plastic surgery centres such as the Shanghai Shiguang have never been so busy, the Shanghai Youth Daily said, quoting clinic director Xu Beihua. Shiguang has doubled its business ahead of the holiday, which officially starts today, scheduling some 40 surgeries per day, with procedures starting early in the morning and ending late at night, Xu said. During the holiday people stream into Shanghai to brave the surgeon's knife.
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