■ Semiconductors
STMicro eyes China
STMicroelectronics NV, Europe's biggest chipmaker, may build a chip plant in China that would start production by 2005 to tap growing demand in Asia, the DigiTimes Web site reported, citing Chairman Pasquale Pistorio. The Geneva-based company would build or buy a plant that makes chips from 8-inch instead of 12-inch silicon wafers because China isn't ready for an investment in the latest technology, the report said, citing Pistorio. An investment in chipmaking in China would add to STMicroelectronics' existing chip-design and semiconductor assembly operations in the world's most populous nation, the report said.
■ Internet
NEC, seven others to link
NEC Corp's Biglobe, Fujitsu Ltd's Nifty Corp and six other Japanese Internet-service providers agreed to form an alliance to offer Internet-based phone services, the Mainichi newspaper reported. The companies, including Sony Corp's So-net and two Internet services operated by Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp, will let their customers call each other for free over the network to compete against a similar service offered by Softbank Corp's Yahoo BB high-speed Internet service, the report said, without citing anyone. The eight companies have separately begun their own services, the report said. They agreed yesterday to form a consortium and meet on a regular basis to build a communication system to respond to trouble including disruption of its voice service, the report said.
■ US economy
Consumer confidence fell
US consumer confidence fell this month to the lowest in more than a decade as heightened concern about an Iraq war and soaring energy bills threaten to slow spending and the economy. "The overhang of the war is clearly a damper on the economy," Treasury Secretary John Snow said after a speech in Columbus, Ohio. "When people are nervous they don't spend as much." The University of Michigan's index of sentiment fell to 75, the lowest since October 1992, when the economy had trouble creating jobs, from 79.9 in February. Confidence has declined every month this year and consumer demand is beginning to wane. The university's current conditions index, which reflects Americans' perception of their finances and whether it's a good time to make major purchases, fell to 87.1 from 95.4 in February. The latest reading also was the lowest since October 1992.
■ Breweries
Asahi goes to Beijing
Asahi Breweries Ltd, Japan's biggest brewer, will invest ?5 billion (US$42 million) to build a plant in Beijing to produce its best-selling Super Dry beer and other products sold under local brands, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported. Asahi's new plant, the sixth the company will operate in China through joint ventures, will begin operations next year, the paper said, without citing anyone. The plant will have annual production capacity of 100,000kl and make beer in bottles, cans and barrels, the report said. Asahi's output from Chinese plants totaled 510,000kl last year, the report said. Asahi expects operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold, to rise 5.3 percent to ?73 billion this year helped by increasing sales of low-malt products, the brewer said last month.
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
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
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
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