■ Labor
Hyundai, union strike deal
The labor union and management of South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co have reached agreement on higher wages and improved working conditions, ending weeks of strikes, officials said yesterday. The settlement, which came shortly before midnight Tuesday, includes an 8.63 percent wage increase, the introduction of a five-day working week from September and other benefits. As part of the agreement, Hyundai Motor workers were also given a say in management's decision-making process. "The agreement is not final because it requires approval from workers," said Hyundai Motor spokesman Park Chan-Yoo. The carmaker has suffered about 1.3 trillion won (US$1.1 billion) in lost production since labor disputes erupted on June 20.
■ Electronics
Samsung gets Sony deal
Samsung Electronics Co, the world's second-largest chipmaker, will start making and selling Sony Corp's Memory Stick data-storage devices in the third quarter this year as part of a new accord between the two companies. The deal extends an August 2001 production agreement and allows Samsung to sell Memory Stick products under its own brand, the two companies said in a statement. Samsung will also expand its line of mobile phones, DVD players and televisions compatible with Memory Stick. Memory Stick is a chewing-gum-sized data storage device used for consumer electronics products such as personal computers and digital still cameras. It competes for market share with the SD memory card, a postage-stamp-sized device jointly developed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, Toshiba Corp and SanDisk Corp.
■ Telecom
US may give Sprint the boot
The government is considering suspending business with Sprint because the telecom-munications company overcharged the Justice Department more than US$2 million. The General Services Administration informed Sprint in the last week that the agency's inspector general urged GSA officials to consider barring the company from new contracts, Sprint spokesman James Fisher said Tuesday. Sprint's government contracts are worth more than US$600 million each year. GSA spokeswoman Mary Alice Johnson declined to comment. Suspending Sprint would remove a second major telecom-munications contractor from federal business. GSA last week barred MCI, formerly known as WorldCom, from new federal contracts. Sprint agreed in June to pay US$5.5 million to settle allegations it knowingly defrauded the government by overcharging the Justice Department for telecommunications services between 2000 and last year.
■ Environment
Report blasts Coke plant
Pollution control authorities in the southern Indian state of Kerala yesterday said sludge generated by a Coca-Cola plant and distributed as fertilizer to local farmers was a "hazardous waste." In a report released in the state capital, the Kerala Pollution Control Board said the sludge had "unacceptable levels" of heavy metals that could cause cancer. Board chairman Paul Tachil said the company was ordered not to use the sludge as manure. Tachil said the board would investigate to assess concentrations of heavy metals cadmium and lead found. But, Tachil rejected the demand of Greenpeace that the plant in be shut down.
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
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
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