■Electronics
Philips shifts jobs to Poland
Royal Philips Electronics NV, Europe's biggest consumer-electronics maker, will move between 500 and 600 Dutch jobs to Poland by 2006, Het Financieele Dagblad said, citing CFO Jan Hommen. The company plans to relocate jobs in financial administration, purchasing and human resources, concentrating those tasks in Lodz, Poland, as part of a program to cut costs by 1 billion euros (US$1.2 billion), the newspaper reported. Philips is moving to Lodz because the city has a surplus of inexpensive and well-educated workers, Hommen told the paper. The CFO said he doesn't exclude firings in the Netherlands, the newspaper reported. Philips wants its financial administration center to be operational with about 300 employees next year, Hommen told the paper.
■ Medicine
GE bids for Amersham
US conglomerate General Electric has approached British medical equipment firm Amersham over a possible takeover, The Wall Street Journal Europe reported yesterday. GE's overture to the British medical imaging group was still "very preliminary" but was likely to provoke other bids, the newspaper said, quoting people familiar with the situation. The British company, a member of the FTSE 100 index of top London shares, revealed Wednesday that it had received a takeover approach from an unnamed suitor, sending its shares soaring as high as 24 percent at one point. Amersham, which employs over 10,000 people worldwide and had sales of ¥1.62 billion (US$2.69 billion) last year, declined to name the possible bidder, leaving analysts to speculate about its identity.
■ Automobiles
Lexus is `best luxury car'
Consumer Reports magazine said Wednesday that its reviewers identified Toyota's Lexus LS430 as the best luxury sedan in a review of five similar vehicles for its November issue. The Lexus scored higher than the Audi A8L, the Jaguar XJ8, the BMW 745Li, and the Mercedes-Benz S430 -- which at US$82,760, retails for US$12,000 more than the Lexus. "The Lexus LS430 is refined, comfortable, and relaxing to drive," said David Champion, director of Consumer Reports' auto test facility. The magazine described the Lexus and the Mercedes as "two of the most comfortable-riding cars," reviewers have road-tested, but said the Lexus has more intuitive, easier-to-use controls than the Mercedes model. The buyers' guide recommended the Lexus to readers based on its performance in Consumer Reports tests and its reliability record.
■ Labor
Singapore gets black marks
Singapore employers lack vision, moral values, a challenging spirit and attitude of self-sacrifice compared with their international counterparts, a study said on Thursday. About 1,000 workers in the city-state from various public and private organizations were polled. The study was sponsored by The Gallup Organization, the Singapore Institute of Management and The Gallup Leadership Institute. Employers were evaluated appreciably lower on all the key areas that drive workforce innovation, engagement and performance, compared with their counterparts in the US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The employers were rated as less visionary, less optimistic, less innovative, more selfish, and less ethical.
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