■ Aircraft
Honda tests new model
Honda Motor Co completed test flights in the US of an experimental Honda aircraft powered by a jet engine developed by Honda, the Japanese automaker said yesterday. The six-seater business jet called HondaJet, scheduled for 200 hours of additional flight-tests, is the first outfitted with Honda's own engine, the HF118, which has been tested on other manufacturers' aircraft. The HondaJet is more fuel-efficient and roomier than conventional jets because of the strategic way the engines are positioned on the wing.
■ Plasma displays
LG to make investment
LG Electronics Inc, South Korea's second-largest electronics maker, said it plans to expand production of large-screen plasma television screens ahead of schedule by a fiscal quarter. LG Electronics plans to start its newest plasma display panel production lines in the middle of next year, compared with an earlier schedule to begin later in the year, said spokesman Lee Eun Sung, confirming an earlier Yonhap News report. The increased production will allow LG Electronics to make 140,000 PDP plasma display screens a month, compared with its present capacity of 65,000 screens each month, Lee said.
■ Memory Chips
Samsung boosts production
Samsung Electronics Co, the world's second-largest semiconductor maker, said it plans to spend 629 billion won (US$529 million) to expand production of memory chips used in computers and digital cameras. Samsung's board approved plans to use the funds to expand facilities in Hwaseong, South Korea, the company said in a regulatory filing. Samsung, which is based in the city of Suwon, expects demand to rise, spokesman James Chung said. He declined to say how much production will be boosted by the investment.
■ Internet
US report upbeat
The American technology industry is showing healthy growth for the first time since parts of the Internet sector collapsed two years ago, but jobs and wages still are down, the US government says in a new report on the digital economy. "This isn't another train coming. This really is the light at the end of the tunnel," Phil Bond, undersecretary for technology at the Commerce Department, said Monday. "Technology is firmly on the comeback trail." In the report, due for public release yesterday, the government predicted steady but moderate growth among technology companies and said technology investments are helping fuel growth in other areas.
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