■ Labor
China offers Americans jobs
China's Ministry of Railroads has reached a US$87 million agreement with two South Carolina manufacturers and the deal could secure and create hundreds of jobs, Representative Jim DeMint said Tuesday. The lion's share of the deal will go to Pennsylvania-based Harsco Corp's track technologies division in West Columbia. The company will receive US$68 million to produce track maintenance equipment for China's rail system during the next three years. Harsco employs about 17,500 people worldwide and more than 400 in South Carolina. The other company benefiting from the deal is ImageMap in Columbia, which produces measure-ment equipment to improve railway safety and reduce maintenance costs. Image-Map employs about 30 people in the Midlands.
■ Trade
US-China trade gap to grow
The US expects its trade deficit with China to widen to a record US$130 billion this year, Commerce Secretary Don Evans said. That's equal to about a 10th of China's GDP. Today's forecast comes after Evans yesterday warned the US will restrict imports from China unless American companies are given improved access to the Chinese market. To help bridge the gap, the two countries today agreed to set up a joint body to look into ways to achieve more balanced trade in textiles. "For every one yard that China buys from the US, China ships back 50 yards of textiles to America. We don't expect parity, but we need to close the gap," Evans said at a briefing in Beijing. The US trade gap with China, which widened to US$77 billion in the first eight months of this year, was a record US$103 billion last year.
■ Automobiles
S&P may downgrade Ford
Standard & Poor's expects to complete a review of Ford Motor Co's financial status for a possible ratings downgrade by mid-November, the credit ratings agency said Tuesday. A lower credit rating can make it more expensive for a company to borrow money. Ford has said it's disappointed with S&P's decision and that its liquidity is exceptionally strong. In a conference call Tuesday to discuss reasons for the review, S&P analyst Scott Sprinzen said his agency planned to meet with Ford officials in the coming weeks and finish the analysis by Nov. 18. S&P said the review reflects concerns about Ford's ability to achieve more satisfactory financial results given increasing competition in North America and Europe and the probability that hefty earnings at Ford Motor Credit will moderate in the next year from record levels.
■ People
Mitsubishi Motors head dies
Mitsubishi Motors Corp chairman Takashi Sonobe, 62, passed away last night in Tokyo from heart failure, said company spokesman Jochen Legewie, confirming a report on the Asahi Shimbun's Web site. Sonobe was president of Mitsubishi Motors for almost two years before he was named chairman of the company that's 37 percent owned by DaimlerChrysler AG. He was appointed to revive Mitsubishi Motors after it admitted covering up customer complaints for two decades, leading to 2 million vehicles being recalled. Rolf Eckrodt, sent from DaimlerChrysler to assist Sonobe's efforts to turn around Mitsubishi Motors, took over as president in June when Sonobe became chairman. Sonobe was born in Tokyo and graduated from Keio University in 1964.
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