■ Executives
Ghosn gets another hat
Carlos Ghosn, the turnaround artist who reinvented the Japanese automaker Nissan, will have yet another hat to wear when March rolls around. The president and CEO of Nissan Motor Co., will join the board of directors of the information technology giant IBM effective March 1, the company said Tuesday. "Carlos Ghosn's international business experience and perspective will make him a valuable addition to our board," said IBM chairman and chief executive officer Samuel Palmisano in a statement. "We are very pleased that he will be joining the IBM board." Ghosn, a French national born in Brazil to a Lebanese family, is credited with having rescued Nissan from near-bankruptcy after he was appointed chief operating officer by Nissan's parent company Renault in 1999.
■ Trade
Indonesia bans shrimp
Indonesian will soon ban imports of shrimp from six countries accused by the US of practising dumping, the minister of maritime affairs and fisheries said yesterday. The US administration this month launched an investigation into suspected dumping of shrimp by Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, Thailand and Vietnam. "We hope that the [Indonesian] ban will rejuvenate the shrimping business which has been in the doldrums," minister Rokhmin Dahuri was quoted by the state Antara news agency as saying. Dahuri said he was hopeful the ban would be issued by the trade ministry next week. With the investigation against the six nations, Indonesia could increase its shrimp exports to the US, he said. Dumping means selling goods overseas for less than the cost of production or less than the price in the home market.
■ Electronics
Mitsubishi to build plants
Mitsubishi Electric said yesterday it will invest ?10 billion (US$95 million dollars) to build five factories in Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and the US to boost capacity. The five plants will produce electric auto components including a car navigation system and car audio system, Japan's third-largest electronics maker said. "With the investment, we will increase our production capacity and hope we can supply auto parts to Japanese and foreign auto makers," an official for Mitsubishi Electric said, adding two plants would be built in Japan. The company also hopes to expand its annual sales from automotive parts to ?500 billion over the next four years from ?350 billion in the current financial year to March this year.
■ Statistics
Italy's confidence rises
Italian business confidence unexpectedly rose in January for a second month, a further indication that European executives expect accelerating global demand to help counter the euro's increase. An index based on a survey of 4,000 executives rose to 93.4 from a revised 91.3 last month, the Rome-based Isae institute said. Economists had expected a drop to 90.9. The increase in Italian confidence matches similar surveys from Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium in the past week. Gains in Italy have been less pronounced after strikes against government pension proposals and the collapse of Parmalat Finanziaria SpA, Italy's biggest foodmaker. German business confidence rose to a three-year high in January, the Ifo economic institute said yesterday.
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