■ Telecom
DoCoMo offers new service
NTT DoCoMo Inc, the world's second-largest mobile-phone company, said it will start providing international video-phone services in the UK for users of its high-speed wireless Internet access phones. Tokyo-based DoCoMo plans to begin providing the new service on Oct. 1 in the UK in cooperation with partner Hutchison 3G UK Holdings Ltd, the company said in a statement. DoCoMo owns a fifth of Hutchison 3G UK. The service will enable users of DoCoMo's FOMA high-speed service to make video-phone calls and transmit data at speeds of 64 kilobits per second to the UK, the company said. The company said it expects to expand the international video-phone and data service to other countries. DoCoMo's shares rose ?14,000, or 4.8 percent, to ?305,000 as of the 11am morning close in Tokyo Stock Exchange trading.
■ Semiconductors
Infineon to double share
Infineon Technologies AG, Europe's No. 2 semicon-ductor maker, said it will invest US$1.2 billion in China by 2007 as it seeks to double its share of the country's chip market to 10 percent within five years. "That's a signif-icant part of our spending," chief executive Ulrich Schumacher said in Shang-hai, site of the company's new China headquarters. The Munich-based company is stepping up investment in a Chinese chip market that's forecast to triple to US$80 billion by 2007, according to researcher iSuppli. Infineon said today it has held talks with Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (宏力半導體), a rival of its main Chinese partner Semiconductor Manufac-turing International Corp (中芯國際集成電路), after its China sales rose 30 percent in the nine months ended June 30.
■ Development
Indonesia signs LOI
Indonesia has signed a supplemental agreement to its Letter of Intent with the IMF, which will pave the way for another US$450 million loan disbursement, Mahendra Siregar, an assistant to the coordinating minister for economic affairs, said yesterday. The Letter of Intent (LOI) with the IMF contains the government's economic reforms targets for the year. Compliance with the LOI is mandatory to receive IMF loan assistance. A supple-mental letter is signed every quarter, highlighting prog-ress and possible changes to the targets under the orig-inal LOI. Tuesday's supple-mental pact followed the completion last month of an IMF review on the country's reforms progress. Pending approval from the IMF's board of directors, the latest supplement should allow Indonesia access to around US$450 million in loans.
■ Transportation
Catch a Hello Kitty cab
How's this for a relaxing cab ride: slide into the back seat of a pink and baby blue sedan with two Hello Kitty characters painted on the side, sit on a Hello Kitty blanket and listen to Hello Kitty music piped in through the sound system. This mobile paradise for fans of the popular kitten character is the latest service offered by a Japanese taxi company, Kanachu. The 10 Hello Kitty cabs -- equipped with Hello Kitty umbrellas, ponchos, and kleenex for customers -- have been operating since April. Kanachu integrated the new taxis into their fleet of 500 cabs serving suburban Tokyo after deciding they needed a special service targeting children. They also figured there was also no danger of alienating anyone with the cute cat, said Katsuo Habu, a manager at Kanachu.
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