■ Banking
Mizuho to write off loans
Mizuho Holdings Inc, the world's biggest bank by assets, plans to write off as much as ?1.6 trillion (US$13 billion) of its worst loans, the first Japanese bank to respond to the government's call to get tougher on delinquent borrowers. The lender will by March 2004 write off 80 percent of loans to companies that moved into the "near-to-failure" or a worse category in the year ended March 31, spokesman Misao Yoneyama said. About ?2 trillion of lending at Mizuho's two main units entered those categories in the year that ended March 31, the bank said in a May earnings report. Mizuho is taking the initiative two days after top bank regulator Heizo Takenaka outlined measures that may lead to the worst lenders being seized by the state.
■ Motorcycles
Vietnam allows imports
Vietnam said yesterday it would allow the immediate importation of 185,000 motorcycle kits in a bid to end a two-month stand-off with manufacturers that forced two Japanese manufacturers to suspend operations. The directive to ease the import quota restrictions was signed by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Thursday, an official from the Government Office said. "This decision was made to help these assemblers keep their production on track," he said, requesting anonymity.
■ Petro-chemicals
Shell to invest big in China
Royal Dutch Shell said yesterday it will definitely proceed with a US$4.3 billion petrochemicals joint venture in south China, and expects to announce contracts worth more than a billion dollars by the end of the year. The boards of the Anglo-Dutch Oil giant and local partner, China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), gave the formal go-ahead for construction of the complex earlier yesterday, Shell said in a statement. The green light for the 430-hectare facility in Daya Bay, Guangdong province, ends 20 months of talks on design and financing, as well as engineering, procurement and construction bid requirements.
■ Mobile phones
Nokia expects consolidation
Nokia Oyj Chief Executive Officer Jorma Ollila expects consolidation among cellular-phone makers as the cost for research and development rises, the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet said, citing an interview with Ollila. "I think the industry will go through an enormous change," he told the paper. "This is an industry where there are still too many players." Some mobile-phone makers won't make enough money on their own as the cost of research and development increases when handsets become more sophisticated, Ollila said. Espoo, Finland-based Nokia, the market leader, and rivals such as Motorola Inc are counting on new services such as image transmission to lift sales.
■ Computer services
EDS to cut thousands of jobs
Computer services company EDS is to cut 5,000 jobs in a bid to restore its lagging profitability. According to news reports Thursday, work-force cuts came as the world's number 2 technology services company -- only IBM is larger -- reels from a massive earnings shortfall. For its third quarter, EDS said that its profit fell to US$86 million, from US$212 million a year earlier. EDS revenue in the quarter fell 2.7 percent to US$5.41 billion from US$5.56 billion the year before.
Agencies
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
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Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique