■Software
Sony to use Sun's Star
Sony Corp will use Sun Microsystems Inc's Star Office software for Vaio computers sold in Europe, replacing Microsoft Corp's Works software, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said, without citing anyone. Sony, the world's second-largest maker of consumer electronics, will start installing the software in the computers by the end of this year at the earliest, the paper said. This is the first time a major computer maker will use Star Office software on a "full scale," the Nikkei said. Sony expects personal computer shipments of 4.4 million units worldwide for the year ending March 31, 2003. Total shipments last year fell for the first time since 1985, market researcher IDC said, due to a global slump in demand.
■ Industry
The Koreas to build park
South Korea has agreed to break ground for North Korea's industrial park this month despite doubts caused by a standoff over Pyongyang's suspected nuclear weapons program, officials said Sunday. The two sides said in a statement, released in Seoul, that construction work should begin sometime between Dec. 26 and 30 in the North Korean city of Kaesong. The agreement came at the end of three-day talks between the two sides. Cash-strapped North Korea has designated Kaeson near the inter-Korean border as a special economic zone and pledged to extend tax and customs privileges to foreign investors. But the project to build a capitalist business enclave has been thrown into doubt since US envoy James Kelly in October said North Korean officials had admitted to him that they were pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
■ Hynix
Write-off plan pending
Hynix Semiconductor Inc lenders will discuss tomorrow writing off at least 95 percent of the chipmaker's shares to keep it in business, Yonhap News said, citing an unidentified creditor official at Korea Exchange Bank. Creditors, who have been urged to swap 1.9 trillion won (US$1.6 billion) in debt for stock, may also discuss whether to lower a 708 won conversion price proposed for a debt-to-equity swap scheduled for March, the report said. The write-off is scheduled for February, followed by the debt-to-equity swap a month later, it said. Hynix creditors are scheduled to vote on the matter by Dec. 16, Yonhap said. Deutsche Bank AG, proposed swapping 1.9 trillion won of debt for new shares and delaying payment on 3 trillion won to 2006 from 2003 and 2004, Korea Exchange Bank said.
■ Internet
Sina.com in Nike alliance
Sina.com, a Chinese Internet company, said it formed an alliance with Nike Inc, the world's biggest athletic shoemaker, for online marketing. Nike will partner with Sina.com for its online sports channel as the Beaverton, Oregon-based company aims to increase its brand recognition in the China market, Sina.com said in a statement distributed by Business Wire. Nike has an endorsement agreement with Yao Ming, a 2.26m inch Chinese national who joined the Houston Rockets as the NBA's No. 1 pick this year. Sina.com, which operates one of China's three biggest Web sites, forecast it will post a profit next year after its net loss in the July-September quarter narrowed 89 percent on higher advertising revenue and a boost from wireless messaging.
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
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
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