■Electronics
China is Samsung's new HQ
South Korean microchip giant Samsung Electronics said yesterday it will make China the main base for production of personal computers and screens so as to reduce costs. Samsung, the world's largest microchip maker, said it was moving production of PCs and TFT-LCD flat screens to China to compete with foreign rivals. "China will become our main PC production base by 2005," a Samsung spokesman said, adding the company would keep core semiconductor lines and research centers at home. He said the relocation of PC operations was prompted by rising costs locally. Samsung's PC business accounts for a fifth of total sales. Last year Samsung launched a TFT-LCD (liquid crystal display) factory in China's eastern city of Suzhou with an initial investment of US$537.9 million and has promised to invest more money in the plant.
■ Banking
Citigroup plan approved
A plan for Citigroup Inc to buy a minority stake in Shanghai Pudong Develop-ment Bank Co has received Chinese government approval, the Shanghai bank said yesterday in a legal announcement. The 556 million yuan (US$67.8 million) deal, initially announced last year, was approved by the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission under the State Council, Shanghai Pudong Develop-ment Bank said in an announcement posted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Web site. With the purchase, New York-based Citigroup will own a 4.62 percent stake, or 180.75 million shares, in the mid-sized Chinese bank, making it the fourth largest share-holder.
■ Media
NYC newspapers at war
The price war among New York's newspapers will hit a new low on Wednesday, when nearly a million copies of The New York Post will be distributed without charge as part of a promo-tion for America Online. AOL is paying The Post an undisclosed fee for the free distribution. It is part of the company's sponsorship of a free concert by the Dave Matthews Band in Central Park that night to benefit New York City public schools and its promotion of the latest version of AOL software. Geoff Booth, vice president and general manager of The Post, said that America Online, a division of AOL Time Warner, had agreed to take out 14 pages of ads in that day's newspaper. The press run that day will be raised to nearly a million news-papers, from about 820,000.
■ Currencies
Shiokawa defends weak yen
Japan's finance minister yesterday defended official efforts to weaken the yen through a dollar-buying campaign that has reportedly topped a record Japanese Yen 10 trillion (US$86.7 billion) this year. Speaking a day after the dollar dove to two-and-a-half year lows against the yen, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa called recent market movements "excessive" and warned that a further strengthening of the Japanese currency could deal a serious blow to his nation's export-dependent economy. According to ministry data, Japan had spent Japanese Yen 9.02 trillion (US$78.2 billion) buying dollars through last month in a yen-weakening effort. The full-year bill is expected to top Japanese Yen 10 trillion (US$86.7 billion) for the first time as market sources estimate the government has spent around Japanese Yen 2 trillion (US$17.3 billion) buying dollars this month, the Asahi Shimbun reported Thursday.
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
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